Friend of Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines - It wasn’t easy, and sometimes it was dangerous, but Wassim Nanaa, the Philippine honorary consul in Aleppo, Syria did not think twice about saving over 1,000 Filipinos when civil strife broke out in the picturesque Middle East country over two years ago.

“I decided to stay in Syria, not to leave, in order to assist Filipino citizens in Aleppo, in my jurisdiction, because as far as I know, this is the most time that the Philippine government and the Filipino people will need my assistance,” Nanaa tells STARweek, referring to the internal conflict that so far has reportedly killed over 130,000 people since 2011.

“First is my love for the Philippines and the Filipino people, and my duties, so I decided not to leave even when most of the VIP people have already left,” he says.

Last Jan. 21, President Aquino conferred on Nanaa the Order of Sikatuna, the national citation conferred upon diplomats, officials and nationals of foreign states who have rendered exceptional and meritorious service to the Philippines.

Aleppo, the second biggest city in Syria after the capital Damascus, is an industrial and business center. Before the civil strife, there were an estimated 25,000 Filipinos living in Syria.

As the conflict got worse in 2012, Nanaa sent his family to Lebanon but he stayed behind in the consulate, which he put up in his building, to make sure that someone would be there to assist Filipinos who wanted to flee the country.

He says many employers from Aleppo fled the country but brought their Filipino workers with them. Some of the families would drop off their Filipino workers at the consulate on the way to the airport. There were times when he spent his own money for the transport, food and other needs of the Filipinos.

Bringing Filipinos out of Syria was another matter. The route was either straight out of Aleppo airport or they travel by land to Damascus, over 300 kilometers away, and airlifted from there.

They travel only by day and his staff constantly monitors the situation along the Aleppo highway because of the presence of many snipers.

“We also make sure that the road at the time is safe. Sometimes, we say to our OFWs that we will send you today to Damascus, and then we change, because we have news that this day, it’s not so good, so we wait, after two or three days, then it’s okay,” he says.

When armed rebels reached the outskirts of Aleppo in June 2012, he moved the Filipinos in the consulate to his office downtown where it was safer and easier to reach by other Filipinos.

When there was a threat from the US to bomb Syria last year, he moved the Filipinos to where he lives so that “what happens to me will happen to them, this is the best I can do to help, we’ll have the same fate.”

He says the Syrian government was also very helpful, waiving all exit visa requirements for Filipinos. All in all, 1,233 Filipino men, women and children were flown safely out of Syria.

Nanaa has been honorary consul since 2008 and his jurisdiction extends to Idlib. He was “discovered” in 2006 by then Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Al Francis Bichara, now a lawmaker from Albay who chairs the committee on foreign relations in the House of Representatives.

Bichara, who also worked for the repatriation of Filipinos when Lebanon was in turmoil in 2006, says it was easy to convince Manila to get Nanaa as the country’s honorary consul.

“We visited Aleppo, checked everything, his connections with the business, politics, and the prominence in the community, and he passed all these and we decided that this is our guy, this is our man,” Bichara says.

The first time Nanaa came to Manila was in 1997 as a businessman looking for textiles, and he immediately fell in love with the country and its people, whom he describes as “very kind.”

When he got married, he and his wife Shahed spent their honeymoon in Boracay, Cebu and Dumaguete.

“Until now, I keep coming back because the first time I came here, I loved this country, I loved the people, the city, the atmosphere, the food, like lapu-lapu,” he says.

In 2010, he brought the first tourism group from Aleppo composed of around 20 friends and relatives.

“I bring my friends and relatives, just to show them and they were shocked, saying how come this is so beautiful, that we don’t know? How’s that? That’s the advertising of the Philippines in the Middle East area. It needs to be advertised,” he says.

He was organizing a much larger group but it was aborted because of civil conflict. “When they will see this beautiful country, these beautiful people, they will come.”

In 2010, he met with Makati City officials to work on a sister city project, as well as an investment forum, but the internal strife put the programs on hold. It was also that year when he started celebrating Philippine National Day in the consulate where he would invite local political, business and religious leaders and, of course, Filipinos in Aleppo and nearby cities.

The consulate also showcases Philippine products. At one time, he tried to negotiate for Jollibee to set up its branch in Aleppo. “Now, I don’t just import textiles, I import also food, like bananas and pineapples, because Philippine fruits are more delicious.”

When the situation stabilizes in Syria, he will revive all his projects. He says media reports of the conflict in his country are exaggerated.

His impression of the Philippines has not changed. “I just love it more.” He feels “very happy with myself” with what he did.

When asked whether he would do it all over again, Nanaa says: “For sure, but I hope it won’t happen again but if it will happen, I would do it again.”