[PHOTO - Ibrahim Hassan from Cotabato with wife Fatima and children Nadin, Nihal and Zaid are among the 26 Filipinos who arrived in the country from Cairo on Emirates Airways Flight EK 332 yesterday. RUDY SANTOS]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 8, 2011 (STAR) By Rudy Santos and Mayen Jaymalin - Twenty-six Filipinos arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Egypt via Dubai yesterday.
Meeting the repatriated Filipinos were Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos, Administrator Carmencita Dimzon of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director Ovais Sarmad. Conejos said the DFA shouldered their air fares.
Dimzon offered the OWWA halfway house in Pasay City to those living in the provinces.
More than 6,000 Filipinos are in Cairo, most of them domestic helpers and students, she added.
Dimzon said the OWWA Board of Trustees has initially approved P15 million emergency fund for the repatriation of workers from Egypt.
It is ready to provide additional funds if the need arises, she added.?Ten of the repatriates from Egypt are children, Dimzon said.?Among those who arrived are: Ibrahim Hassan, Fatima Hassan, Nihal, Nadin and Zaid, Jennifer de la Cruz, Amor Zablan, Sherlyn de Joya Mesina, Diana Cristy Jan,
Victoria Aelara Rosales, Hanafi Mangangat, Abdulnahin Sangkua, Anida Dimalanes, Charlen del Rosario, Miriam de la Paz, Kevin de la Paz Marquez, Jeorgina Marquez,
Kennett Marquez, Rizalina Ramos, Annalyn Saneo Valondo, Joanne Valondo.
Hassan, 37, said the unrest in Egypt might escalate, and that it would take months before the situation returns to normal.
He arrived with his wife, Fatima and three children, Nihal, Nadin and Zaid.
Ramos of Pasig, a domestic helper in Cairo, said on the first day of the unrest she was about to change her money into pesos near Tahrir Square, the center of protests, without knowing the situation.
"I asked other Egyptians in the street and asked why there are so many people in the street, but no one answered me," she said.
"Last Saturday, I was wondering why all of a sudden there was no network or even signals from other networks, so I decided to take a bus going to Tahrir Square when I saw tanks in the street so I panicked and went back to my employers' house.
"Since then, I saw many people (Egyptian) marching in the street shouting 'Mubarak go down.'"
Dimzon said upon the orders of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, OWWA is now working with the Crisis Management Committee for the repatriation of Filipinos from Egypt.?OWWA has allocated an emergency fund for their repatriation, and welfare officers in nearby posts have been placed on alert for any relocation or evacuation, she added.
At OWWA, the workers will be undergoing post-trauma debriefing and counseling.
Filipinos in Egypt wanting to come home are advised to contact and register with the Philippine embassy in Cairo.?OWWA members with relatives in Egypt may also call up the 24-hour OWWA operations center at 551-6641 and 551-1560 or text 0917-TXT-OWWA (or 0917-898-6992). ?Meanwhile, the Philippine embassy in Cairo has already arranged for a second batch of repatriates to fly home on Tuesday.
Reporting to the DFA, the embassy said that the second batch of repatriates will arrive on Wednesday.
The embassy is now conducting a voluntary repatriation program, the DFA said.
In repatriating the Filipinos, the embassy received assistance from the IOM office in Cairo.
Filipino community organizations also actively assisted in the arrangements.
In the embassy's assessment, there is no need for mandatory evacuation of Filipinos in Egypt.
The DFA has directed Philippine embassies in nearby countries to make representations with host governments to allow the safe passage of Filipinos from Egypt in case an evacuation by land becomes necessary. — With Rainier Allan Ronda
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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