The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) repatriated a total of 761 Filipinos from the Middle East — Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) via two separate chartered flights on June 15.
The first batch of repatriates was composed of 405 stranded OFWs in Lebanon, most of whom are household service workers (HSWs). They arrived safely in NAIA Terminal 2 on board Qatar Airways. Meanwhile, the second batch, comprised of 356 stranded Overseas Filipinos in UAE, arrived soon thereafter via Cebu Pacific Airlines.
The Filipino repatriates were subjected to COVID-19 testing upon their arrival. They were also briefed on all of the quarantine protocols prior to being transported to designated facilities where they will undergo mandatory quarantine in accordance with the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force.
The Middle East is home to over 2 million overseas Filipinos, 29,676 of whom are in Lebanon and 618,726 are in the UAE as of 2019. The DFA, together with Philippine embassies and consulates around the world remains fully committed to bringing home Filipinos abroad amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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