Philippines refuses to cut ties with Syria for sake of 17k OFWs

MANILA, Philippines—Concerned about the 17,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Syria, the Aquino administration is not about to cut political and economic ties with Damascus amid calls from the United States to do so in protest of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s harsh crackdown on anti-government protests.

Instead, President Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda appealed on Monday for the Syrian government to come up with a “peaceful resolution of the situation in Syria.”

“This is the same situation that we encountered in Libya …  where we also have several thousands OFWs,” Lacierda told reporters on Monday.

Reading a statement from Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario, Lacierda expressed Manila’s “deep concern” over the escalation of violence in Syria and for the Syrian government to “hold the violence and ensure the safety and security of its people and all foreign nationals.”

“We therefore urge the Syrian government to address the Syrian people’s concerns and to immediately implement the reforms promised to them,” Lacierda quoted Del Rosario’s statement.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had called on the world over the weekend to cut economic and political ties to Syrian, saying that the Syrian president had lost his legitimacy to lead.