Over 30 OFWs return home from Syria

A batch of over 30 overseas Filipino workers returned home from troubled Syria Wednesday afternoon, with another batch due home Thursday afternoon. The "more than 30" OFWs arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) aboard an Etihad Airways flight (EY-424), radio dzBB reported early Thursday. Welcoming them at the NAIA were labor officials. The report said another batch of at least 41 OFWs was due to arrive at 4:20 p.m. Thursday at the NAIA. The second batch is to fly in on an Emirates flight, it added. An earlier dzBB report quoted the Department of Foreign Affairs as saying the International Organization for Migration shouldered the OFWs' travel expenses. Last January, 76 Filipinos also arrived from Syria in two batches. The Philippine government is undertaking the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Syria after raising the alert level there to "4" amid escalating violence there. — LBG, GMA News