MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 6, 2011) – The family of a pregnant Filipina working in Syria has appealed to President Benigno Aquino to help them rescue the woman in the strife-torn country.
But the group Migrante-Middle East said dozens of Filipino workers, some of them sickly, are still trapped in Syria and wanted to come home. John Leonard Monterona, the group’s regional coordinator, said some of the workers are staying at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) in Damascus.
Monterona said many Filipinos have sought assistance from the Migrante and among them is the family of the pregnant woman, Shally Marr Cruz, 26, who is a native of Cavite province.
“Her mother sent me an electronic mail asking help for her daughter as she is on a very volatile condition being 4 months pregnant,” Monterona said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
The woman works as a domestic helper in the port city of Latakia since last year. The city is only one area in Syria where security forces continue its crackdown on protesters who are calling for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.
Monterona said the woman and other Filipino workers ran away from their employers because of abuses and maltreatment, and to escape from the strife in Latakia and are now staying at the Philippine Embassy in Damascus.
“We have received reports from overseas Filipino workers who arrived in the Philippines last week that there are about 70 to 85 distressed OFWs still staying at the Embassy’s FWRC in Damascus pleading for their immediate repatriation.”
“We are urging the Department of Foreign Affairs and its diplomatic post in Damascus to immediately arrange the repatriation of sickly OFWs including the pregnant OFW Cruz in respect to their health condition,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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