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Rep. Walden Bello to join PHL mission to Syria


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To ensure the safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Syria, Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello said on Friday he is headed to the conflict-ridden country as part of a mission of the House Committee on Overseas Workers' Affairs.  
Bello will depart for Syria on March 17 and is expected to return to the Philippines on March 22. In a news release, Bello explained that the situation OFWs in Syria prompted the committee to undertake the mission, with the approval of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Damascus. 
Bello's itinerary includes several dialogues with:
  • the Syrian Ministry of Labor,
  • Filipino workers' organizations in Syria, 
  • international humanitarian agencies (such as the Red Cross), and
  • representatives of the delegation of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-states to Syria.
 
"We want to assure our kababayan in Syria and their families here in the country that the government is doing everything we can to secure all the migrant Filipino workers who are in Syria and bring them to safety," Bello said.
"There is an urgent need for the executive and the legislative to work together for the safety of our kababayan in Syria, and this mission is part of that effort," Bello noted.
"It is our responsibility to ensure the welfare of overseas Filipino
workers who remain in Syria," he said. "We need to see the conditions on the ground so we may provide our kababayan more effective assistance for their safe repatriation." 
 
Three OFWs have been killed as the situation in Syria continues to become increasingly critical, Bello noted, adding that there were also reports of OFWs jumping from buildings to escape their employers.
 
"This reminds me of Lebanon during the Israeli shelling of Beirut in the summer of 2006 when domestic workers who were locked in had to jump from buildings to escape war," Bello said. He explained what he witnessed when he joined a civil society mission to Lebanon at the onset of the Israel- Lebanon war.
 
"I hope that OFWs in Syria will all be brought to safety in the similar manner that OFWs from Beirut were successfully evacuated in 2006, led by then Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Al Francis Bicharra," Bello added. - VVP, GMA News
Tags: waldenbello, akbayan, ofws
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