DFA’s blanket directive for OFW repatriation in Syria not enough – Migrante

DFA’s blanket directive for OFW repatriation in Syria not enough – Migrante

“It is not for the DFA to raise an alert level and declare that there is a directive for ‘voluntary repatriation.’ What should our OFWs do? Who should they call? Where should they go?” – Migrante International
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO

MANILA -– To leave or not to leave Syria, that is the question.

Contrary to reports of the Department of Foreign Affairs that overseas Filipino workers in Syria do not want to leave, Migrante Middle East said there are many who are calling on the Philippine government to immediately bring them home.There are 17,000 OFWs in Syria, 15,300 are women.

Migrante coordinator John Leonard Monterona said that in talks with an OFW based in Syria, it was revealed that more OFWs are desperate to come home and avoid the escalating conflict in the said country.

Monterona forwarded to Bulatlat an Mp3 file of his conversation with OFW Judith Pingol, 41, who originally hails from Manila. Pingol works as a domestic worker for a Syrian family based in Homs, northwest part of Syria. She arrived in Syria in 2008 and has already completed her employment contract.
According to reports, Homs is among the places in Syria where there are heavy clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces.

Monterona explained that he got OFW Pingol’s mobile number from another OFW who is currently staying at the Philippine Embassy’s Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) in Damascus. Pingol is reportedly asking for help from the embassy because she wants to leave as soon as possible.

“The peace and order situation in Homs is getting worse as clashes happen on an almost daily basis. We hear reports of increasing number of casualties,” Pingol said. “It’s terrible here. Every day we can hear guns being fired; we hear reports of people getting killed. We don’t leave the house anymore. We stay indoors out of fear for our safety.”

Pingol said there are at least 300 OFWs in Homs.

“Some fellow OFWs have already been taken by their employers to relatives living elsewhere. Many employers themselves have left the country,” she added.

Asked with whom she is staying now, Pingol said, there are only two of them — herself and the elderly woman she is looking after.

Pingol said her family back in the Philippines is aware of the situation in Syria, but she has not said anything about how grave it is.

“I don’t want them to worry,” she said.

When Monterona asked the OFW if the Philippine embassy in Syria is giving any assistance, she answered that embassy officials do call them, advising them to take extra precautions. This moral support, Monterona said, seemed to be the extent of the Philippine authorities’ assistance.

According to Pingol, many OFWs in Syria want to leave. “We want to go home,” she said.

When Monterona asked Pingol how she thought the embassy could arrange to rescue OFWs like herself who are stuck in Syria when there’s increasing conflict, the OFW gave a wistful answer.

“Those at the embassy said they are unable to come here. They said we OFWs could get on a taxi and go to Damascus. Some of us OFWs believe that the embassy should make the effort to come and rescue us,” she said.

Repatriation assistance to all distressed OFWs

According to Monterona, the Philippine embassy currently finds it very difficult to put together an evacuation plan in areas where there is ongoing conflicts such as Homs, Latakia, Banaas and Dara’a.

“But then again, Migrante has been asserting that the Philippine government should form an evacuation plan at the soonest possible time. We first said this when the conflict in Syria first erupted. We called on the Aquino administration and the DFA to get an evacuation plan ready and make sure it is ready for immediate execution. We also said it was not right for the government to sit back and wait for the situation to worsen,” he said.

Monterona nonetheless said Migrante is constantly communicating with the Philippine embassy in Syria and the DFA so they could all coordinate in finding means to evacuate the stranded OFWs..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/08/17/dfas-blanket-directive-for-ofw-repatriation-in-syria-not-enough-migrante/