16 November 2015 - Through the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Philippine Embassies in Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria successfully repatriated to the Philippines a total of 31 Filipinos, among them four children travelling with their mothers, from Syria via Lebanon on 10 November 10.
Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) Section Head Vice Consul Enrik Fort E. Revillas, accompanied by a Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center (CLMC) personnel, traveled to the Lebanon-Syria border to receive the transiting 31 Filipino nationals and escort them all the way to the Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) in Beirut, where ATN Officer Julie Rose Pasco was also waiting to assist them as they boarded their flight to Manila. This group of repatriates was scheduled to arrive in Manila on November 11 at 03:10 P.M. via Qatar Airways flight number QR932.
IOM, apart from funding the airline tickets and Syria-Lebanon bus transport of the 31 Filipinos, also provided support to the Embassy team at the Masna’a border and the airport. The CLMC staff assisted in the processing of documents at the border.
This is the 65th cross-border repatriation operation undertaken by the two Embassies since it started in December 2012. The departure of the 31 Filipino nationals brings to 2,681 the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria via Lebanon. END