Manila Standard Today
August 19, 2011
PHILIPPINE Airlines has offered to help the government bring home some 17,000 Filipinos workers trapped in strife-torn Syria, an official said Thursday.
Airline president Jaime Bautista made the offer through a letter to President Benigno Aquino III, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
“PAL is ready to coordinate with the government to map out repatriation efforts,” Lacierda said. He noted that the airline also helped to fly home Filipinos in Libya a few months back.
The government has raised the alert to Level 3 in Syria, marking the start of the voluntary repatriation of Filipinos there of whom 95 percent are domestics.
The Philippine Embassy in Damascus is required to obtain the consent of the employers in Syria before the Filipinos can be given exit visas.
The Philippines has rejected calls from the United States to cut political and economic ties with Syria over the harsh crackdown by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad on anti-government forces.
In Washington, US officials said the Obama administration was ready to make an explicit call for Assad to leave power and has notified Arab and European allies that an announcement was imminent.
The timing was still in flux, but preparations were in place for the White House to issue a statement Thursday demanding that Assad step down, the officials said.
This would be accompanied by an announcement of new sanctions on the Assad regime and followed by an on-camera appearance by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to reinforce the US position, the officials said. AP
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