25 OFWs to be Repatriated from Syria
MANILA, Philippines – Twenty-five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Syria will be arriving in Manila on Tuesday afternoon.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the 25 OFWs will arrive at 4 p.m., March 10 at the NAIA via Emirates Airlines flight EK-332, as part of the government’s on-going mandatory repatriation program.
This would bring the total number of Filipinos repatriated from war-torn Syria to 5,604, of which 2,560 were repatriated through Lebanon.
The 25 OFWs will travel by land from Damascus to Beirut on Monday. Personnel from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut will assist the repatriates during their transit at the Lebanese Masna’a border while the International Organization for Migration in Damascus (IOM-Damascus) shouldered their airfare.
There is another group of 22 OFWs who have already been given exit visas by the Syrian Immigration and Passport Directorate (SIPD). Their repatriation is being coordinated with IOM-Damascus and the Philippine Embassy in Beirut.
The Philippine Embassy in Damascus strongly encourages the next-of-kin of Filipino workers who remain in Syria to provide information on their family member’s whereabouts so that immediate assistance can be extended to them.
The Embassy’s contact details are as follows: telephone numbers 00963-11-6132626, 00963-949155557, 00963-934957926 and e-mail address: pe.damascus@gmail.com