No more newly–hired Filipino workers will be allowed to go to Syria to work for now as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) announced a deployment ban on the said country.

The deployment ban was issued after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised the crisis alert to level 2 to Syria. However, the deployment ban does not cover returning workers to Syria. The crisis alert level 2 in Syria means restriction of movement in Syria, which includes avoiding large crowds and areas of protest. It also encourages Filipinos to voluntarily relocate or leave at their own cost if they have no pressing need to remain. Non-essential and non-urgent travel is discouraged, including travel for tourism purposes. 

Danilo Cruz, Labor Undersecretary said, “Since it’s just an alert level 2, returning workers are still allowed to leave the country,” he said.

He also informed that the POEA had already suspended the processing of deployment of workers bound to Syria.

Cruz informed, “With the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) already raising the crisis alert to level 2, the POEA immediately issued the advisory restricting deployment of workers to Syria.”

The POEA also seeks the assistance of recruitment agencies that have sent a lot of Filipino workers to Syria so they can easily find overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.   

Cruz informed, “We need the help of the agencies to locate the Filipinos, as well as in shouldering the cost of repatriation in case the need for it arises.”

Cruz, however is confident that the Philippine government would set out a plan for the immediate repatriation of Filipino workers in Syria if it is already necessary.

“However, as of yesterday the POEA has not received any request from Filipinos in Syria for repatriation” he added.

According to government records, there are more or less 17,000 Filipinos in Syria but only 800 of them are members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Apparently, most of the OFWs in Syria are undocumented.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy in Damascus has briefed Filipino community on the embassy’s contingency plans which will be activated once it is necessary.

Ambassador Wilfredo Cuyugan said they have asked Filipinos in Syria to actively monitor developments.

He said, “Keep their communication lines open with the embassy and their community coordinators, and inform them of their whereabouts, as well as restrict their movements only to those which are necessary,” he said.

“We also asked them to stock up on basic necessities such as food, water, and prescribed medicine, as well as have flashlights, mobile phones and radios available and in good condition. They should also have important documents such as passports and money handy,” he added.