DFA exec: Most of over 4,500 Pinoys in Syria undocumented

Majority of Filipinos in strife-torn Syria are undocumented, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Raul Hernandez said Tuesday.   In a text message to GMA News Online, Hernandez said "90 to 95 percent" of the 4,557 Filipinos in the Middle Eastern country are working there without proper documents.   "Many of them went there with wrong information provided by illegal recruiters," he said, adding that most of the undocumented Filipinos are household service workers.   Statistics from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) show that 710 Filipinos were deployed to Syria in 2010—a significant growth from only 200 in 2009.    Out of this number, nearly 550 were women who fell under the “domestic helpers and related household workers” category.   In a separate interview over radio dzBB on Monday, Hernandez said the government will help repatriate the undocumented Filipinos but they may not be entitled to the benefits it will provide.    Hernandez told GMA News Online that the average cost of repatriation—including refund of deployment cost—is around US$3,000 (or over P131,000).   Asking Syrian officials’ help   After raising the crisis alert level in Syria to "4"—which demands mandatory repatriation—the DFA is currently intensifying its efforts to send home all the Filipino workers there.   Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario arrived in Syria on Monday morning to personally oversee the repatriation efforts there.   He also tapped the Syrian government for assistance in updating the database of the Philippine Embassy in Damascus.   "This is in order to supplement the determination of the exact location and other information of other Filipinos deployed throughout Syria's 13 governorates," the DFA said in a statement.   Repatriation   Last week, Del Rosario appealed anew to the Filipinos remaining in Syria "to remove themselves out of harm's way while there's still time by getting themselves repatriated back to the Philippines."   The Philippine government has repatriated 490 Filipinos from Syria since March 2011, 56 of which arrived over the New Year weekend.   The 56 Filipinos arrived in two batches at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last Saturday, a report over radio dzBB said on Monday.    Del Rosario said they expect to repatriate at least 200 more Filipinos in the next two weeks.   Meanwhile, the DFA said the hotline of the Philippine Embassy in Syria is 00-963-116-132626. Families may also e-mail their requests and concerns through the Embassy's e-mail address pe.damascus@gmail.com, it said.   In Manila, the DFA also activated hotline numbers for families of Filipinos based in Syria, at 834-3245 and 834-3240. - VVP, GMA News