25 Pinoys to come home from Syria on Tuesday

Twenty-five more Filipino workers from Syria are expected to return to the Philippines on Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
 
In a news release on Monday, the DFA said the workers, who will be coming home under the government's mandatory repatriation program, will arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on board Emirates Airlines flight EK-332 at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
 
On Monday, they will travel by land from the Syrian capital Damascus to Beirut in Lebanon, where they will be assisted by the Philippine embassy there during their transit at the Lebanese Masna'a border, the DFA said.
 
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Damascus shouldered their airfare.
 
This brings the total number of Filipino repatriates from war-torn Syria, where an Alert Level 4 status is in place, to 5,604, with nearly half of them going through Lebanon.
 
The alert level also bans the deployment of Filipino workers to Syria, which has been under severe political turmoil for months. 
 
The DFA also said 22 Filipino workers have been granted exit visas by the Syrian Immigration and Passport Directorate, with authorities coordinating their repatriation.
 
The Philippine Embassy in Damascus is also working with the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates for exit visas of Filipino workers currently sheltered at the halfway quarters, it added.
 
Families of Filipino workers who are still in Syria are encouraged to provide information on their family member's whereabouts to the embassy through the following contact details:
00963-11-6132626
00963-949155557
00963-934957926
pe.damascus@gmail.com — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/RSJ, GMA News


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