Most of the 17,000 Filipino workers in Syria have opted to remain in the strife-torn country and ignore the Philippine government’s call for them to leave, Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz said yesterday. “The number of OFWs requesting for immediate repatriation remained at four and has not increased even after our government already raised the alert level to three,” Cruz said.

He said the Philippine government has already deployed a team to Syria to assess the condition of Filipinos particularly in known hotspots like Latakia, Homs and Daraa. He said the team also hopes to determine the actual number of OFWs as well as their whereabouts.