OVERSEAS WORKERS WELFARE ADMINISTRATION
PRESS RELEASE
13 JANUARY 2012
MORE OFWS ARRIVE FROM SYRIA
Another batch of 75 Filipino nationals, mostly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), will arrive from
Syria today, Friday, 13 January 2012 via Qatar Airways (QR646). Estimated time of arrival is 3:30
P.M.
The OFWS availed of the mandatory repatriation program of the government as it raised the alert
level TO 4 LAST December. The scheduled arrival of the OFWs was reported to Labor Secretary
Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz by OWWA Administrator Carmelita S. Dimzon.
Dimzon said that the composite team of DFA, DOLE and OWWA officials negotiated the release of the OFWS from their respective employers. Exit clearances were issued to the workers after the
employers agreed to let the workers leave Syria. More repatriates are expected to arrive in the
next few days with more registrants expected to flock to the Philippine Embassy in Damascus in the
coming days.
Some 570 Filipinos have been repatriated from Syria since March 2011. According to the report
from the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, about 1,098 are waiting to be flown home.
The OWWA Repatriation Team will be at NAIA to provide assistance through immigration and customs formalities. The arriving workers will be offered temporary shelter at the OWWA Halfway Home and will be assisted with their domestic transportation needs. A counseling expert will be conduct stress debriefing for the repatriates.
The OFWs will be briefed on the reintegration options, including business entrepreneurship under
the Php2B OFW Reintegration Program. Starter kits under the “Balik-Pinay, Balik-Hanapbuhay” and
livelihood assistance program will likewise be offered.
Dimzon said the “Libreng Tawag” of OWWA continued to assist family members of OFWs in Syria to
communicate with the spouses, children or relatives whose whereabouts or condition they would like to ascertain. The facility is open at the OWWA-National Capital Region at Pasay city and in all
OWWA regional offices throughout the country.
On 7 January 2012, 56 OFWs arrived from Syria. OWWA extended post-repatriation services to the
group. -END-
ADVOCACY AND SOCIAL MARKETING DIVISION (ASMD)
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
(632) 891-7601 loc. 5414, 5603 or (632) 891-7741
email address: [email protected]/ [email protected]
website: www.owwa.gov.ph