12 OFWs return from strife-torn Syria; 973 so far repatriated

MANILA, Philippines—A new batch of 12 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Syria who availed of the Philippine government’s offer to repatriate them arrived in Manila Thursday afternoon.

This brought to 973 the total number of OFWs in the Middle East country to be flown back to the Philippines by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The latest batch of repatriates, all women, arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on board an Etihad Airways flight.

Last February 14, another 37 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Homs and other protest hubs in Syria were repatriated by the DFA.

The foreign office has also deployed a “rapid response team” composed of personnel from the Philippine National Police, Department of Labor and Employment and the DFA to “help out in the extraction and repatriation of OFWs in Syria’s conflict areas,” Del Rosario said.

Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, earlier said that the foreign office would evacuate more OFWs based in the conflict areas, where “the violence has become very alarming.”

Hernandez said they received “a total of 278 repatriation applications from the conflict areas and 222 of them were from Homs,” a city in central Syria.

The OFWs vowed never to return to Syria again as they recalled their harrowing experiences there.

Maria May Bacheo, 46, who was among the previous batch of OFWs who arrived from Syria last week said “chaos was everywhere.”

“I and my 85-year-old employer would always hide in the comfort room because there were explosions left and right,”  narrated Bacheo, who worked as a domestic helper in Homs for a year and a half.

She admitted that she was able to go to Syria through illegal means. “My passport carried a different name.”

Another OFW, Marilou Dalisay, 32, likewise vowed never to return to the the troubled Middle East country.

Dalisay said she could not forget the day when she was almost hit by a bullet while doing her chores at her employer’s house.

“I was cleaning at the terrace when a bullet suddenly landed near my foot. I was so scared,” a teary-eyed Dalisay narrated. “And you could really feel the building shaking because of the explosions.”

She said that that particular incident prompted her to call and seek help from Philippine government officials there.