23 more Filipinos return home from Syria — DFA

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said that 23 more Filipinos were repatriated from Syria, bringing to 2,060 the total number of Filipinos brought home since violence broke out in the strife-torn country in March last year.

In a statement emailed Tuesday, the DFA said that the 23 Filipinos arrived in Manila in four batches last week. It said 10 repatriates, including two minors, arrived in Manila on August 7; one Filipino arrived on August 8; four Filipinos arrived on August 9; and eight more Filipinos arrived on August 12.

“Most of of the repatriates are from the Syrian capital Damascus and from Aleppo, one of the cities worst-hit by recent violence,” the statement said.

Syria has been under the DFA’s crisis alert level 4, or mandatory evacuation of OFWs, since late last year.

The DFA intensified its repatriations due to the worsening violence in the country, and was able to cut a deal with the Syrian government when its authorities agreed to waive the exit visa fees, penalties, and requirements for 140 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The DFA has said the deal was able to save the Philippine government over $100,000.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis left for Syria on July 22 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.

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.