OFWs start streaming into Cyprus

At least 70 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now out of the war zone in Beirut, Lebanon and safely in Cyprus, but consular officials in Cyprus are hard- pressed to help them for lack of funds.

OFWs fleeing the war-torn Lebanese capital of Beirut are streaming into neighboring Cyprus, where the Philippines has no embassy and consular officials are struggling with a lack of funds.

Domestic helper Brylyn Ecoy, 26, who fled to Cyprus from Beirut and was repatriated via a regular commercial Gulf Air flight last Friday afternoon, said she saw many OFWs from Beirut, about 70 of them by her count, who had also escaped the violence of the daily bombings in the Lebanese capital and who were being given shelter by consular officials in Cyprus.

Ecoy, a single mother of a one-year-old daughter and resident of Bacolod City, was unfortunate enough to have arrived in Beirut from Manila to work as a domestic helper on July 11, a mere four days before the Israeli military began bombing Beirut, triggering a
mass evacuation of foreigners out of Lebanon.

She said her Lebanese employers, a married couple, took her with them when they fled Beirut and crossed the border to Cyprus, but when they got to the Cyprus’ Larnaka port on July 22, her employers disappeared leaving her alone in a strange land and with no money to boot.

Ecoy said a kindly old Cypriot lady named Anna came to her aid and gave her shelter until she was able to contact the Philippine consulate there.

She said Anna had been planning to hire her as a domestic helper, but Anna changed her mind upon learning that there will be great difficulty in getting Ecoy a visa.

At the Philippine consulate, where she was given assistance by honorary consul Vantola Constantinedes, Ecoy said she learned there was much difficulty in finding homeward passage for her because of a lack of funds.

Ecoy said she was only able to head home when Constantinedes reached into her own pocket to buy airline tickets for her while awaiting funding from he Philippines.

“(Constantinedes) advanced the money for my plane ticket,” Ecoy told airport reporters in Filipino. “I was asked to sign a document that stated (Constantinedes) paid for my ticket so she could reimburse the money when the funds reach them.”

While awaiting passage home, Ecoy said she was also given shelter by a Filipino couple in Cyrus, whom she only identified as Rex and Anna.

“Nagtutulungan naman ang mga Pilipino doon. Mababait sila sa mga katulad kong nakatakas sa Lebanon (The Filipinos there are helping each other. They are good to those of us who fled from Lebanon),” Ecoy said.

She aired a call for the Philippine government to help Philippine consular officials in Cyprus who are hard pressed yet are working to help OFWs evacuated out of Beirut through Cyprus.

“Sana tulungan ng gobyerno yung mga opisyal natin doon na tumutulong sa mga OFWs na galing ng Beirut dahil kailangan talaga nila ng pera (We hope the government will help the officials there who are assisting OFWs fleeing from Beirut because they really need money),” Ecoy said.–Rainier Allan Ronda, Philippine Star