100 more Filipinos to return from Syria, says DFA

DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday said it was expecting about 100 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to be repatriated from Syria in the next two weeks.

“The Charge d’Affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Damascus Olive Palala told me yesterday that we should be expecting about 100 plus OFWs to be repatriated within this two weeks from 28 of July onwards,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said in an interview with reporters.

Earlier, media reported that Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis left for Syria on Sunday to request the government there to simplify exit requirements for Filipino workers trying to escape the escalating violence in the Middle East country and facilitate their repatriation to the Philippines.

The report said Seguis and six members of the government’s Rapid Response Team—composed of officers from the DFA, Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of the Interior and Local Government—were deployed to Syria on orders of Foreign Affairs Secretary del Rosario to assist the Philippine Embassy in Damascus in its repatriation efforts.