Syria allows over 250 Pinoys to leave without exit requirements



MICHAELA DEL CALLAR 
Syria has agreed to allow more than 250 Filipino workers to leave the strife-torn country without the mandatory exit requirements, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday.
 
The decision was undertaken by the Syrian government after Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario met with Syrian officials on Tuesday.
 
Del Rosario, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, made a sudden trip to the violence-plagued country late on Monday to oversee the Philippine government’s ongoing evacuation efforts there.

Cleared for departure
 
In a text message, Seguis said 255 Filipino workers sheltered at the Philippine Embassy in Damascus have been cleared for departure.
 
“The Syrian government has waived all exit visa requirements to facilitate their immediate return to Manila,” Seguis said.
 
The completion of exit requirements is compulsory for all foreign workers leaving Syria.
 
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has agreed to provide a chartered flight back to Manila for the Filipinos sheltered at the embassy, Del Rosario said in an interview over ANC Tuesday night.
 
“We hope to be able to get this group back to the Philippines by the end of this week at the very latest,” said Del Rosario, who is flying back to Manila on Wednesday.

Seguis said Del Rosario instructed him to remain in Syria to continue coordinating with the Syrian government.

Mostly illegal domestic helpers

Filipinos in Syria are mostly women, majority of whom are illegal domestic helpers, making it difficult for the Philippine government to track down all of them.
 
“We try to locate the employers but we can’t find them,” Del Rosario said. “So the first request was that we be allowed to bring the 260 or so people that are here at the embassy without the benefit of any requirement for their exit.”
 
Another batch of 1,300 Filipinos who are not at the embassy also expressed a desire to go home to the Philippines, he said.
 
Del Rosario said his Syrian counterpart, Walid Al-Moallem, whom he met in Damascus on Tuesday, said the Philippines must demonstrate its allegations that these Filipinos have been abandoned by their employers before Syria could decide if they could also waive their exit requirements.
 
“We’re trying to find a way to be able to do that so that we also can afford them the benefit of being repatriated,” Del Rosario said.

Mandatory repatriation
 
More than 2,220 workers from Syria have returned to the Philippines since the Philippine government executed its mandatory repatriation plan in March 2011, as the violent uprising against the Al-Assad government escalated.
 
According to the latest estimates from the Philippine and Syrian governments, only 4,000 Filipino workers remain in Syria, Del Rosario said.
 
Del Rosario admitted that there are Filipinos who refused to join the government-organized repatriation, citing lack of job opportunities in the Philippines. Others say their employers are taking good care of them. 
 
The Philippine government buys out the employment contracts of Filipino workers wishing to leave Syria.
 
Manila has already spent at least $4 million for the repatriation of Filipino workers in Syria.

This covers the refund of the deployment cost to employers, penalties, exit visa fees, and air fare.
 
The average cost per head is between $2,000 to $4,000, Del Rosario said.
 
“We don’t want to leave anyone behind who wishes to be repatriated,” said Del Rosario, who has travelled twice to Syria last year and journeyed to other conflict-torn states like Libya and Iraq in the past to personally check on the condition of Filipino workers.
 
Good relations
 
In his meetings with Syrian officials, Del Rosario underscored the Philippines’ good bilateral relations with Syria and Manila’s previous support to Syrian resolutions and initiatives in the United Nations.
 
“It is on the basis of these positions we have undertaken that we are able to get these concessions for our people,” he said.
 
Syria is in a state of civil war, with the al-Assad regime continuing to step up offensives against rebels despite an array of sanctions and condemnations by the United Nations, the United States, and its Western and Middle East allies.  - VVP/YA, GMA News

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