10 April 2014 – 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 26 Filipinos from Syria on Sunday, March 30. The IOM provided the airfare, land transportation and meals of the repatriates.
A team from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, composed of Vice Consul Rona Beth G. Goce and Collecting Officer Alberto Bansil assisted the repatriates at the Masna’a border. IOM representatives were also on hand at the border to extend assistance. After undergoing entry immigration procedures in Masna’a, the Embassy team escorted the repatriates directly to the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut where another team from the Embassy and IOM facilitated airline and immigration formalities. Vice Consul Dennis John Briones and Protocol Officer Antonio Cruz composed the Embassy airport team.
At 6:30 p.m., the repatriates left Beirut for Doha where they took their flight to Manila. The group arrived in Manila on March 31 at 4:00 p.m. via Qatar Airways flight QR 926.
This was the 48th cross-border operation undertaken by the two Embassies. The departure of this group of 26 Filipinos brought to 2,248 the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut since the first cross-border operations began on 12 December 2012. END