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Two hundred and sixty-five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stranded in conflict-wracked Syria will be returning to the Philippines today after they were allowed to leave by the Syrian government even with incomplete exit requirements.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said the OFWs will be arriving tonight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on a flight chartered by the Switzerland-based International Organization for Migration.
The OFWs, most of whom were in Syria illegally, found it difficult to secure exit visas which require the payment of immigration fines and penalties as well as refunds to their employers.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario was in Syria last week to appeal, on humanitarian grounds, for exit permits for the OFWs who had sought shelter at the Philippine Embassy in Damascus amid the escalating civil war in the Middle Eastern state.
Heeding Del Rosario’s appeal, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered that the OFWs at the shelter be allowed to leave “immediately and without preconditions.”
In December 2011, the Philippine government had raised alert level no. 4 in Syria, a signal for the mandatory repatriation of Filipino nationals. Many who wanted to avail themselves of repatriation assistance, however, lacked the proper travel documents and clearances.
OWWA said in a statement it would send a “repatriation team” to the Manila airport to assist the returning OFWs.
The government estimates there are up to 19,000 Filipinos working in Syria, many as domestic help. So far, only a little over 2,000 have availed themselves of the government’s repatriation program.
Some domestic workers reported that their employers did not allow them to leave because they had paid their recruiters in advance for their services. Others did not want to leave for their own reasons, diplomatic personnel had earlier said.
Many OFWs apparently resisted repatriation because they had yet to pay off the debts they incurred when they went overseas. Jerome Aning