HOME. The latest batch of Filipino human trafficking victims from Syria arrives in Manila on Saturday (April 17, 2021). Representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed the trio at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. (Photo courtesy of DFA)
MANILA – Three Filipino survivors of trafficking and who stayed as wards of the Philippine Embassy shelter in Damascus, Syria arrived Saturday afternoon at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Philippine government agencies, led by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (DFA-OUMWA), welcomed the repatriates, all females, and briefed them on Covid-19 arrival protocols.
The DFA and other government agencies will assist the repatriates as they start anew.
Representatives from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, Bureau of Immigration and Philippine Coast Guard also welcomed the trio.
They will be assisted in the filing of criminal complaints for violation of Republic Act (RA) 9208, or Anti-Human Trafficking in Persons Act, and RA 8042 (Migrant Workers Act).
The DFA, through OUMWA and the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, is using a whole-of-government approach to repatriate remaining Filipinos in the Embassy shelter. (PR)
