Del Rosario flies to Syria yet again

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario. AP FILE PHOTO

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario flew on Monday to Syria to extricate more Filipinos trapped in parts of the war-torn country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said Del Rosario and Undersecretary Rafael Seguis flew to Damascus to check on the condition of the Filipinos there and to meet with Syrian officials to “secure their safe, immediate and unhampered” return to the Philippines.

“We were given a clear mandate by President Aquino to ensure the safety and welfare of the Filipinos in Syria. We want to facilitate the immediate repatriation of as many Filipinos as possible,” said Del Rosario in a statement.

This was the third time Del Rosario flew to Syria to oversee the repatriation of Filipinos, having been there in April and December last year.

Seguis, for his part, was returning to Syria where he had led the DFA’s Rapid Response Team that tracks down both documented and undocumented Filipino workers in the country to fly them home.

Team remains in country

The team, composed of departments of foreign affairs, labor and interior officials, remained in Syria “to extract Filipinos from conflict areas and help speed up repatriation efforts” by the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, the DFA said.

The team continues to negotiate with Syrian employers to let their Filipino employees out of their contracts early and to process exit visas for their flights back to the Philippines.

1,000 being processed

At least 1,000 Filipinos in Syria are currently undergoing repatriation procedures, the DFA said. The Philippine government is expediting their repatriation amid narrowing options to fly out of Syria due to the escalating conflict.

Since last year, close to 2,200 Filipinos have been repatriated from Syria. A batch of 26 Filipinos is scheduled to arrive in Manila Wednesday.

More than 5,200 Filipinos were waiting to flee the fighting in Syria but bureaucratic requirements were delaying their return, Seguis said Monday.

Seguis said a total of 5,228 Filipinos had signed up at the Philippine Embassy in Damascus for repatriation, the largest number recorded since the outbreak of the fighting in Syria.

Seguis, a special envoy to help speed up the repatriation of the Filipinos, said foreign workers leaving Syria were required to complete documentary requirements and obtain an exit visa before they could leave.

Some 1,493 Filipinos are currently having their papers processed and could return home “in a few weeks,” he said.

The rest are still hoping the fighting will die down but Seguis warned this was unlikely.

“It’s going to be a long drawn-out internal conflict among the Syrian people,” he told reporters. With reports from AFP, AP