OFW killed in Syria

MANILA, Philippines - An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was killed in an ambush in Syria last Feb. 24, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Citing a report of the Philippine embassy in Damascus, the DFA said Meran Prieia Montezor, 23, of Camarines Sur and the family of her Syrian employer was shot at in the district of Homs at around 11 a.m.

 An embassy team led by Charge d’Affaires Olivia Palala is arranging for the transfer of the body of the OFW from Homs to Damascus and to meet with her employer. The team will also meet with Syrian authorities. 

The embassy said it would continue to make representations with Syrian authorities for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the suspects.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon said they are coordinating with the Philippine embassy for the immediate repatriation of the body of the Filipino worker.

Dimzon said OWWA would provide assistance to the OFW even though she was an undocumented worker.

A rapid response team composed of representatives of the DFA, Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Interior and Local Government are also working out the repatriation of Filipinos in conflict-stricken areas in Syria particularly in the districts of Homs, Hama, Idlib and Dara’a.

The DFA raised crisis alert level 4 in Syria on Dec. 22 and the mandatory repatriation of OFWs amid the rising tension there. As of March 12, the embassy repatriated 1,120 Filipinos.

As this developed, Vice President Jejomar Binay warned OFWs again not to seek jobs in Syria.

“The situation in Syria right now is very dangerous. In fact, many OFWs who are already there are seeking help from the Philippine embassy in Syria to enable them to be repatriated to the country,” Binay, presidential adviser on OFW concerns said.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center urged Congress to conduct an investigation into the state of rescue operations in Syria following Montezor‘s death.

”We join the nation in mourning the death of an OFW in Homs, Syria. Another hero has fallen in a war that I‘m sure she barely understood and was hardly prepared for,” Susan Ople, the head of the policy center said. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Jose Rodel Clapano