23 December 2013 - The Philippine Embassies in Damascus, Syria and Beirut, Lebanon with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) once again facilitated the successful repatriation to the Philippines of another batch of 22 Filipinos from Syria on December 20. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) again provided the airfare, land transportation and meals of this batch of repatriates.
Two teams from the Philippine Embassy assisted in the repatriation of this batch of Filipinos repatriates. The first team composed of Vice Consul Dennis John Briones and Assistance to Nationals (ATN) officer Dexter Macaraeg assisted the group in the morning of December 18 at the Masna’a border. With the assistance of the IOM, Vice Consul Briones and ATN officer Macaraeg received the 22 Filipinos from the team from the Embassy in Damascus. After being processed at the General Security (immigration) in Masna’a, the 22 Filipinos were escorted directly to the Embassy where they stayed overnight. Four Embassy personnel namely: Cultural Officer Gladys Perey, Finance Officer Dorotea Apostol, Consular Staff Melissa Mancenido and Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Resource Center Houseparent Gina Murillo took turns taking care of the repatriates during their stay in the Embassy.
Another Embassy team composed of Vice Consul Rona Beth Goce and ATN/Legal officer Junaid Ali brought the repatriates to and assisted them at the Rafik Hariri International Airport where they took their flight out of Beirut. At exactly 4:30 p.m., the repatriates left Beirut for Abu Dhabi where they would be taking their flight to Manila. The group was scheduled to arrive in Manila on December 20 at 03:15 p.m. via Etihad Airways flight EY 424.
This was the 42nd cross-border operation undertaken by the two Embassies. The departure of this group of 22 Filipinos brought the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria to 2,064 via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut since the first cross-border operations on December 12. END