Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario is now in Damascus, Syria to facilitate the repatriation of some 4,000 Filipinos there, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said Del Rosario arrived in Damascus on Monday morning (Manila time) and was scheduled to meet with Syrian officials to ensure the Filipinos' safety.
"About five hours ago he landed in Damascus. Makikipagusap siya about 10 a.m. with (the) Syrian foreign minister at ibang opisyal sa Syria para humingi ng tulong sa Syrian government para i-facilitate ang repatriation ng OFWs doon," Hernandez said in an interview over radio dzBB.
Del Rosario is also slated to talk to Filipino community leaders in Syria to disseminate the DFA's appeal to Filipinos to comply with mandatory repatriation.
Del Rosario will also review possible exit points in Syria should the airport be inaccessible and commercial flights be unavailable, he added.
"Titingnan din ang contingency plans in place ng embahada doon," he said.
90 to 95% Pinoys undocumented
Hernandez said "90 to 95 percent" of Filipinos in Syria are undocumented and may not be entitled to government benefits, but will get help in repatriation.
He said the Philippine government is preparing to request employers who refuse to release Filipino workers to allow the Filipinos to be repatriated.
"May kaso na ayaw payagan ng employer kasi kailangan sa household work. Pero pagtawag sa embahada we try to contact the employers negotiate with them," he said.
56 Pinoys home from Syria
Over the weekend, at least 56 overseas Filipino workers arrived home from Syria amid intensified efforts by the Philippine government to repatriate them.
The Filipinos arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in two batches from Syria, according to a report on radio dzBB early Monday.
One batch arrived aboard an Etihad Airlines flight while the other arrived aboard a Qatar Airlines flight, the report said.
For its part, the DFA said this brought to 490 the number of OFWs the government has helped bring home from strife-torn Syria since the start of the political crisis there in March 2011.
Last week, the DFA made a fresh appeal to some 4,557 Filipinos still in Syria to heed the government's call for mandatory repatriation due to the tension there.
"We are appealing to our kababayans in Syria to remove themselves out of harm's way while there is still time by getting themselves repatriated back to the Philippines," del Rosario said last week.
His call stemmed from the Philippine Embassy in Damascus' report that the capital remains on high alert following back-to-back car bombings there on December 23.
Last Dec. 22, the DFA cited the escalating violence in Syria in raising the crisis alert level there to "4," and calling for the mandatory repatriation of Filipino workers there.
The DFA said del Rosario went to Syria Saturday to ensure the conditions of Filipinos affected by the increasing tensions can be made as secure as possible.
Meanwhile, the DFA said the hotline of the Philippine Embassy in Syria is . Families may also e-mail their requests and concerns through the Embassy's e-mail addresspe.damascus@gmail.com, it said.
In Manila, the DFA also activated hotline numbers for families of Filipinos based in Syria, at 834-3245 and 834-3240. - VVP, GMA News