Manila: The Philippines has banned the deployment of new overseas workers to Syria, due to the intensified unrest there, officials said.
The ban covers deployment of newly hired and returning overseas Filipino workers, said Carlos Cao, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The ban was issued after the Department of Foreign Affairs has raised the alert level for Syria, to three, said Cao.
“We have a contingency plan to force repatriate some 17,000 OFWs in Syria, if that is needed,” said Raul Hernandez, spokesperson of the foreign affairs department.
No OFW from Syria has gone home after the Philippine government has issued a mandatory repatriation for them last year. Many of them, specially the domestic helpers, feel they are still safe in Syria, said Hernandez.
Many OFWs have been advised to return home since the unrest in Middle Eastern and African countries began. There are nine million OFWs worldwide.
The Philippine economy is buoyed up by an estimated $ 18 billion remittances sent by OFWs to their loved ones every year.
