(Eagle News) –Over 59,000 overseas Filipinos have been repatriated to the country since February when the first flight from WUhan, China had brought home Filipinos from abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
Last week alone, the DFA said it had repatriated almost 8,000 overseas Filipinos (OFs) or 7,928 OFs to be exact.
This brought to 59,041 the total number of repatriated overseas Filipinos since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Of the total, 53.67 percent (31,688) are sea-based and 46.33 percent (27,353 OFs) are land-based, with the most recent repatriates arriving from Barbados, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the UAE on Friday, June 26.
Last week, the DFA facilitated seven flights from Saudi Arabia which brought home a total of 2,055 OFs. There were also six flights from the UAE which brought home 1,526 fellow Filipinos.
The department also facilitated a special flight to repatriate over 300 Filipinos from Qatar on June 25.
The DFA is also working closely with the governments of Papua New Guinea and Myanmar, in arranging special sweeper flights to bring home almost 170 stranded overseas Filipinos. The sweeper flights also brought home stranded PNG and Myanmar nationals in the Philippines back to their countries.
One of the heartwarming stories of repatriation was on how DFA assisted the safe return of Baby Danice, who recently underwent a liver transplant in India and got stranded with her parents due to the lockdown in the country. She was included in the special repatriation flight AI 1310 from New Delhi on June 23, the DFA said.
The Philippine government, through the DFA, also worked closely with the governments of Papua New Guinea and Myanmar, in arranging special sweeper flights to bring home almost 170 stranded overseas Filipinos. The sweeper flights also brought home stranded PNG and Myanmar nationals in the Philippines back to their countries.
The DFA celebrated its 122nd founding anniversary last week.
In a statement, it said that it “remains fully committed to bringing home our nationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Overseas Filipinos who wish to seek assistance in repatriation may contact the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate in their area,” the DFA said.
The Philippine government said that it expects around 300,000 overseas Filipinos who were affected by measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic abroad are expected to be repatriated to the country.
(Eagle News Service)
