DOLE: Over 500 Pinoys remain in strife-torn Syria
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said more than 500 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain in strife-torn Syria.
The figure is based on data from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) which Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz tasked to gear up for the repatriation of the remaining OFWs from the war-torn country.
“Majority of the OFWs in Syria have already been evacuated safely back to the Philippines, thanks to the mandatory repatriation program of the government through the Philippine Embassy in Damascus in coordination with the POLO," Baldoz said in a news release.
Citing an update from POLO on May 20, Baldoz said 864 OFWs have been repatriated in the first five months of 2013.
In 2012, at least 2,756 OFws have returned to the Philippines.
In 2011 when the crisis in Syria began, 548 OFWs were repatriated from that country.
Based on the POLO-Syria’s report, majority of the repatriated OFWs are undocumented migrants, while only 310 were documented overseas Filipino workers.
As the Syrian civil war rages, Baldoz reiterated her warning to OFWs that a total deployment ban remains in effect on Syria.
“The highest Crisis Alert Level imposed by the Philippine government since December 2011 continues to be maintained,” she said.
Heavy fighting
According to a Reuters report, heavy fighting raged around the strategic Syrian border town of Qusair and the capital Damascus on Monday and further reports surfaced of chemical weapons attacks by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on rebel areas.
Intensified government offensives are widely seen as a bid to strengthen Assad's position before a peace conference proposed by the United States and Russia for next month.
The Syrian military pounded eastern suburbs of Damascus with air strikes and artillery and loud explosions echoed around al-Nabak, 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, where fighting has cut the highway running north to the central city of Homs, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said.
Opposition activists said Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters were pressing a sustained assault on Qusair, a town long used by insurgents as a way station for arms and other supplies from Lebanon.
The sides in the conflict, now in its third year, have accused each other of using chemical weapons. France's Le Monde newspaper published first-hand accounts on Monday of apparent chemical attacks by Assad's forces in April.
The newspaper said one of its photographers had suffered blurred vision and breathing problems for four days after an attack on April 13 on the Jobar front, in central Damascus.
Another video from Harasta overnight showed at least two fighters being put into a van, their eyes watering and struggling to breathe while medics put tubes into their throats. - with a report fromReuters, VVP, GMA News
The figure is based on data from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) which Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz tasked to gear up for the repatriation of the remaining OFWs from the war-torn country.
“Majority of the OFWs in Syria have already been evacuated safely back to the Philippines, thanks to the mandatory repatriation program of the government through the Philippine Embassy in Damascus in coordination with the POLO," Baldoz said in a news release.
Citing an update from POLO on May 20, Baldoz said 864 OFWs have been repatriated in the first five months of 2013.
In 2012, at least 2,756 OFws have returned to the Philippines.
In 2011 when the crisis in Syria began, 548 OFWs were repatriated from that country.
Based on the POLO-Syria’s report, majority of the repatriated OFWs are undocumented migrants, while only 310 were documented overseas Filipino workers.
As the Syrian civil war rages, Baldoz reiterated her warning to OFWs that a total deployment ban remains in effect on Syria.
“The highest Crisis Alert Level imposed by the Philippine government since December 2011 continues to be maintained,” she said.
Heavy fighting
According to a Reuters report, heavy fighting raged around the strategic Syrian border town of Qusair and the capital Damascus on Monday and further reports surfaced of chemical weapons attacks by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on rebel areas.
Intensified government offensives are widely seen as a bid to strengthen Assad's position before a peace conference proposed by the United States and Russia for next month.
The Syrian military pounded eastern suburbs of Damascus with air strikes and artillery and loud explosions echoed around al-Nabak, 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, where fighting has cut the highway running north to the central city of Homs, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said.
Opposition activists said Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters were pressing a sustained assault on Qusair, a town long used by insurgents as a way station for arms and other supplies from Lebanon.
The sides in the conflict, now in its third year, have accused each other of using chemical weapons. France's Le Monde newspaper published first-hand accounts on Monday of apparent chemical attacks by Assad's forces in April.
The newspaper said one of its photographers had suffered blurred vision and breathing problems for four days after an attack on April 13 on the Jobar front, in central Damascus.
Another video from Harasta overnight showed at least two fighters being put into a van, their eyes watering and struggling to breathe while medics put tubes into their throats. - with a report fromReuters, VVP, GMA News
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