02 January 2014 – 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 27 Filipinos, including one minor from Syria on Friday, 27 December 2013. 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. Vice Consul Dennis John Briones with POLO driver Mr. William Marvida assisted the group in the morning of 26 December 2013 at the Masna’a border. With the assistance of the IOM, Vice Consul Briones received the 27 Filipinos from the team from the Embassy in Damascus. After being processed at the General Security (immigration) in Masna’a, Vice Consul Briones escorted the 27 Filipinos directly to the Embassy where they stayed overnight. Five (5) Embassy personnel namely: ATN Officer Dexter Macaraeg, Cultural Officer Gladys Perey, Finance Office Dorotea Apostol, Consular Staff Melissa Mancenido and Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Resource Center Houseparent Gina Murillo took their turn in taking care of the repatriates during their stay in the Embassy.
Another Embassy team composed of Vice Consul Rona Beth Goce and Information Officer Edwin Batallones 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 28 December 2013 at 03:15 P.M. via Etihad Airways flight EY 424.
This was the 43rd cross-border operation undertaken by the two Embassies. The departure of this group of 27 Filipinos brought to 2,091 the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut since the first cross-border operations on 12 December 2012. END
