DFA intensifies repatriation of OFWs from Syria

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday said that it would be re-deploying a Rapid Response Team (RRT) of experts to intensify the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Syria.

“We are concerned about the escalating violence and worsening security condition in Syria and we will be re-deploying immediately our Rapid Response Team (RRT) composed of officials from the DFA, DOLE and from DILG to assist our embassy in Damascus in our efforts to repatriate or OFWs and get them out of harm’s way out from Syria,” Raul Hernandez, DFA spokesperson, said in an interview with reporters.

Tensions continued to escalate in the strife-torn country after rebels on Wednesday killed three of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s top officials and wounded several others.

Hernandez said that there are still about 8,000 to 9,000 OFWs in Syria and that some of them were concentrated in critical areas like Homs, Daraa, Idlib, and Hama.

He said 1,806 OFWs have been repatriated from Syria since March 2011. A mandatory repatriation and a deployment ban have been implemented in Syria since they were declared under Crisis Alert Level 4 on December 2011.

Hernandez said that he had no information on the exact time of departure of the team but the instructions were for them to leave “immediately.”

On Tuesday, Hernandez said that the increasing cost of employers’ demand for refund hampered the repatriations from Syria, and that employers charged up to $10,000.

Hernandez also mentioned that flights from Syria were limited, but that the government had prepared a contingency plan.

“There’s always a contingency plan for such events. There’s a need to repatriate a big number of OFWs so this contingency plan is now being considered by our embassy in Damascus,” he said.

“I’m not privy to the plan but they have identified exit points for mass repatriation,” he added.

He said that they continued to seek the assistance of the Syrian government to ensure the safety of OFWs.

“What’s important is to bring them out of the areas which are critical and to bring them to our embassy and we will continue with our negotiations with the employers and also with government of Syria so they could be given and granted the exit visas that they need in order to get out from that country,” he said.