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MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday said they were expecting about 100 more Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to be repatriated from strife-torn 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 these two weeks from 28 of July onwards,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez told reporters in an interview.
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 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 Albert del Rosario to assist the Philippine Embassy in Damascus in its repatriation efforts.
“What they are doing is actually intensifying the repatriation efforts and our rapid response team members are going the rounds to make sure that people know that we have this program and hopefully we could bring more of those who would like to be repatriated,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said that the OFWs might come in batches since they have received reports that there were only three airlines leaving Damascus.
“So kumokonti na ang mga flights (The flights are getting fewer) and that’s why maybe it would be harder for us to bring back people in big batches,” Hernandez said.
When asked by reporters if we could expect big batches of OFWs in the next days, Hernandez said that it would depend on the outcome of the negotiations with employers and the granting of exit visas.
“The team there, and specifically with Usec Seguis there, who is undertaking some talks with government officials of Syria, are trying to look at that angle wherein we could ease some of the requirements for them to be able to be repatriated from Syria with great ease and great speed,” Hernandez said.
When asked if they were having difficulty convincing Filipinos to leave Syria for fear of losing their jobs, Hernandez stressed that there were other reasons why some Filipinos did not want to leave.
“Some of them still feel safe in those areas specially yung meron namang mga good employers and the safety is attached to the safety of their employers who usually guarantee their protection and their safety so that’s one of the reasons,” Hernandez said.