30 March 2014 – On March 6, the Philippine Embassies in Damascus, Syria and Beirut, Lebanon with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Damascus and Lebanon once again facilitated the successful repatriation to the Philippines of another batch of 37 Filipinos from Syria. IOM provided the airfare, land transportation and meals of the repatriates.
A team from the Philippine Embassy composed of Vice Consul Dennis John Briones and Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) officer Dexter Macaraeg, along with representatives from the IOM, assisted the repatriates at the Masna’a border crossing. After completing immigration procedures, the Embassy team escorted the repatriates directly to the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut where another team from the Embassy and IOM assisted them in going through airline and exit formalities. Vice Consul Rona Beth Goce and Collecting Officer Alberto Bansil composed the Embassy airport team.
The repatriates left Beirut for Dubai where they took their flight to Manila. The group arrived in Manila on March 7.
This was the 47th cross-border operation undertaken by the two Embassies. The departure of this group of 37 Filipinos brought to 5,249 the total number of Filipinos brought home from Syria. Of that number, 2,222 were repatriated via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut. END