41 more Pinoys home from strife-torn Syria

Another batch consisting of 41 Filipinos has been repatriated from Syria with the help of Philippine officials in Lebanon and Syria, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The DFA said the Philippine embassies in Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria, worked with the International Organization for Migration to repatriate the 41 last May 6.

“The departure of this group of 41 Filipinos brought to 2,305 the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut since the first cross-border operations began on 12 December 2012,” it said in a news release.

“This brings the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria to 5,334,” the DFA added.

The DFA said the IOM shouldered the airfare and expenses for land transportation and meals of the repatriates. It added the May 6 operation was the 50th cross-border operation.

A Reuters report said more than 150,000 people have been killed in the Syria conflict, which has become increasingly sectarian as rival regional powers have backed either President Bashar Hafez al-Assad, a member of the Shi'ite offshoot Alawite sect, or the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels who oppose him.

Millions more have fled their homes and fighting regularly kills more than 200 people a day.

The road home

For the May 6 operation, the DFA said a team from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut composed of Vice Consul Dennis John Briones and Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) Officer Dexter Macaraeg assisted the repatriates at the Masna’a border, where representatives of the IOM were present.

“After undergoing entry immigration procedures in Masna’a, the Embassy team escorted the repatriates directly to the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut where another team from the Embassy and IOM assisted them in going through airline and immigration formalities. Vice Consul Briones and Embassy Collecting Officer Alberto Bansil comprised the Embassy airport team,” the DFA said.

The repatriates then left Beirut for their flight to Manila via Dubai (United Arab Emirates), and arrived in Manila on May 7 at 3:55 p.m. via Emirates Airlines flight EK 332.

Meanwhile, the DFA appealed anew to Filipinos still in Syria to seek immediate repatriation.

It said they may call the Philippine Embassy in Damascus at 00963-11-6132626, 00963-949155557, and 00963-934957926 or send an email to damascus.pe@gmail.com.

Also, it said families of Filipinos in Syria may provide the it with updated information regarding their next-of-kin’s location and contact details in Syria.

They may call the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) at (02) 834-3240 or 834-4583 or the DFA’s 24-hour Action Center at (02) 834-3333. —Joel Locsin/KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday
Read more

Russia captures town after 2 years of Ukrainian resistance --- Reuters

Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more