Left Photo: The Resource Persons and Host of Team Tayo International Ltd 

Right Photo: Chargéed’Affaires, a.i.Vida Soraya S. Verzosa speaks before the participants during the virtual dialogue

DAMASCUS, Syria- Chargée d’affaires, a.i. Vida Soraya S, Verzosa served as one of the Resource Persons in the virtual dialogue entitled “Migrant Workers & Financial Inclusion: The Unseen Challenges of Temporary Migrants” organized and hosted by Team Tayo International, Ltd. and #TeamTayoFilipinoDomesticWorkersGroup on 18 November 2021 via Zoom.  The Blas Ople Policy Center and the Voice of Domestic Workers United Kingdom participated in the virtual dialogue by providing video messages and a talk on the key issues that migrant workers experience and its financial inclusion particularly during the time of pandemic.

Team Tayo International Ltd. is a non-government organization based in the United Kingdom that supports the migrant workers and their families in their home countries to grow and manage personal finances through education content and community interaction.

During the said event, CDA Verzosa presented a video on the program of the Embassy to combat Illegal Recruitment and Human Trafficking through online Case Build-up entitled “The Syria Model.”  The video showed a story of one of the wards who was sheltered at the Philippine Embassy in Syria and was later on repatriated to the Philippines.  The said ward was a victim of illegal recruitment and human trafficking in Syria.  Her employer chained her and kept her inside the toilet for seven years and maltreated her physically, emotionally and psychologically.

CDA Verzosa also shared her implementation of the Re-Entry Action Plan (REAP) on the various aspects and projects of the Philippine Embassy in Syria such as preparation of the Affidavit of Complaints of the human trafficking victims in Syria in preparation for their repatriation, with the help and collaboration of the different government agencies in the Philippines such as the Philippine Overseas Employment and Administration (POEA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other Non-Government Organizations such as the Blas Ople Policy Center.  

After the talk, the panelists answered questions of the participants and shared their contributions and interventions to Overseas Filipinos on how to be financially independent while earning abroad.  END.