FM: Filipinos Refuse to Flee Strife-torn Syria

Most of the 10,000 Filipinos working in strife-torn Syria have refused to leave despite mounting violence in the country, the Philippine foreign minister said Wednesday.

Albert del Rosario said he tried to convince more Filipinos to leave during a recent visit to Syria, but "I did not see too many people who were enthusiastic about being repatriated."

"I did not talk to anyone who wanted to be repatriated," he told a press briefing.

"The reason being there are no economic opportunities in the Philippines."

Del Rosario added that Filipinos were even entering Syria illegally to find work although he did not provide a figure.

The minister said many Filipinos -- most working as domestic helpers-- did not think they were in danger.

"They feel that if they have a good employer, he will protect them. They don't particularly feel threatened," he said.

U.N. humanitarian officials estimate that at least 5,000 Syrians have been killed in the nine months since a popular uprising erupted against President Bashar Assad's regime, most of them killed by security forces.

However some Filipinos have accepted a government offer to fly them home with about one thousand likely to return over the next several weeks, del Rosario said.

The Philippines is a major labor-exporting country, with about 10 percent of its 94 million population working abroad, many as maids, seamen, construction workers and laborers due to lack of well-paying jobs at home.