315 Filipinos fleeing Syria

In this Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, file photo, a boy stands in front of a shop destroyed from Syrian Army shelling in the center of Idlib, in northern Syria. A total of 315 Filipinos will be repatriated in batches from the strife-torn country this week as the government undertook to bring citizens back to safety in the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012. AP PHOTO/RODRIGO ABD

A total of 315 Filipinos will be repatriated in batches from strife-torn Syria this week as the government undertook to bring citizens back to safety in the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

The first batch of 261 Filipinos will arrive Thursday morning via a Jordanian Aviation flight chartered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the second such flight to be facilitated for overseas Filipinos by the intergovernmental organization.

The IOM also chartered a flight for some 263 Filipinos from Syria in September, the DFA said.

Three or four batches more of Filipino repatriates will be arriving in the next few days in commercial Emirates Airlines flights. The IOM also sponsored their air tickets, the DFA said.

The repatriations follow recent high-level DFA missions to Syria, including trips led by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and undersecretary Rafael Seguis.

DFA officials from the home office and the embassy in Damascus have been working to locate Filipinos trapped in conflict zones and to negotiate with employers for the release of those still bound to contracts.

The Syrian government has agreed to waive exit visa requirements and penalties for outbound Filipinos, the DFA said.—Tarra Quismundo