DFA: 25 more Pinoys due home from Syria Tuesday

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said at least 25 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were expected to return home to the Philippines from violence-torn Syria on Tuesday.   In a news release, the DFA said the latest batch of repatriated OFWs were expected to arrive aboard two flights in the afternoon and evening.   The DFA said the first flight — Emirates Airlines EK-332 — will bring home five OFWs from Syria at 3:55 p.m.    A second flight — Philippine Airlines PR-731 — will carry home 20 more OFWs at 6:20 p.m.    The DFA said three OFWs arrived from Syria on Monday.   The DFA said the arrival of the OFWs on Tuesday will bring to 1,292 the total number of Filipino repatriates from Syria.   Meanwhile, the DFA said the Philippine government will continue to repatriate Filipinos from Syria, especially those from areas outside Damascus, amid fears the tenuous United Nations-brokered ceasefire will not hold.   "The Philippine Embassy in Damascus is intensifying efforts to repatriate OFWs from outside the capital, where the situation is much more fragile. The repatriates were brought to the Embassy's halfway house while negotiations for the issuance of exit visas were underway," it said.   The DFA said the alert level for Syria will remain at "4" and repatriation operations will continue despite the ceasefire because of the uncertainty of the security situation there.   The DFA said the plane tickets of the latest batch of repatriates aboard PAL Flight PR-731 were paid for by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the rest were shouldered by the Philippine government.   It appealed anew to the next-of-kin of OFWs in Syria to provide the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) with information about their relatives by calling (02) 834-3245 or (02) 834-3240. - VVP, GMA News