Pinay hero in Syria to arrive in PHL Thursday

Alma Bella Guiao, a domestic worker who helped get her fellow Filipino household helpers out of strife-torn areas in Syria, is expected to arrive in the Philippines on Thursday.   In a news release, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Guiao "successfully brought at least 25 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) from Homs and Latakia to the Philippine Embassy in Damascus since last year." The DFA said Guiao will arrive aboard an Etihad Airlines flight, with nine other female OFWs who availed of the Philippine government's offer to repatriate them because of the ongoing tensions in Syria.   The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Damascus provided for the plane tickets of all the OFWs.   "We commend Ms. Guiao for her unyielding courage and perseverance in saving fellow OFWs caught in the conflict-stricken governorate of Homs," DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said. "She is a role model for the Filipino community in Syria because of her steadfast dedication in getting Filipino household service workers out of harm's way. She is an example of a Filipino who is truly patriotic and dedicated to the service of her fellow Filipinos," Del Rosario said.   Meanwhile, the DFA said four of the OFWs, who are overstaying workers, will be repatriated directly from the Kaffarseuseh prison in Damascus.   Their cases were handled by the Embassy who made representations with the appropriate Syrian government agencies.   Six other OFWs, including Guiao, were temporarily sheltered at the embassy's halfway house while negotiations with their Syrian employers and with Syrian authorities were conducted by the Embassy for the immediate issuance of their exit visas.   Meanwhile, a Rapid Response Team composed of DFA, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) personnel remains in Syria to help in the repatriation and to extract Filipino nationals in the country's conflict-stricken areas, especially in the governorates of Homs, Hama, Idlib and Dara'a.   The DFA raised crisis alert level 4 in Syria last December 22, and mandatory repatriation of all Filipinos in the country is underway. According to its guide on the Syrian crisis, the news site BBC said: "The Syrian authorities have responded to anti-government protests with overwhelming military force since they erupted in March 2011. The protests pose the greatest challenge to four decades of Assad family rule in the country."

Citing figures from the United Nations, the report said "more than 5,000 civilians have been killed by security forces and 14,000 others detained. The (Syrian) government says 2,000 members of the security forces have died."  - VVP, GMA News