RP authorities map out repatriation route for Pinoys in Haiti

Filipinos to be repatriated from earthquake-ravaged Haiti will have the Dominican Republic as their transit point while on their back home. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the repatriation route was mapped out during a meeting of the Philippine task force and the Filipino community in Haiti last Tuesday. "The repatriation will be by land transport from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and thereafter an air flight to Manila," the DFA said on its Website. Also, the embassy-led task force will issue travel documents to those without passports and those with expired ones. Philippine Ambassador MacArthur Corsino, head of the Philippine recovery-relief-repatriation task force in Haiti, met with Filipino community leaders in Delmas 41 in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. Delmas 41 is one of the four evacuation centers where sizeable numbers of the Filipinos are housed. Community leaders coordinating with the task force are Francisco Bagadiong, Filipino Community President, and Godofredo Edquiban Jr. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo had instructed Corsino, who is based at the Philippine Embassy in Cuba, to ascertain the condition of Filipinos in Haiti. The task force to Haiti is overseeing relief operations for the Filipino community there and making arrangements for repatriation of those who want to return to Manila. As of Wednesday, the DFA said some 193 community members have been accounted for and found to be in good physical condition after last weeks devastating quake.- LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV