In the past week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) successfully facilitated the return of 11,688 overseas Filipinos, bringing the staggering total number of repatriated OFs to 90,497 since the DFA began its COVID-19 repatriation efforts back in February 2020.
Of this number, 44.8% (40,540 OFs) are sea-based and 55.2% (49,957 OFs) are land-based, with the most recent repatriates arriving from the Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and USA yesterday.
The DFA remains true to its promise to bring home Filipinos from the Middle East. In the past week alone, the DFA facilitated a total of 31 flights from the region: 13 from the UAE, nine from Saudi Arabia, three from Qatar, two from Bahrain, two from Kuwait, one from Lebanon, and one from Oman, which repatriated over 8,500 OFs. Two of these flights (Saudi Arabia and Lebanon) were chartered by the DFA using its Assistance-to-Nationals Fund. The flight from Lebanon was the largest single mass repatriation flight for land-based workers in Philippine history.
Sea-based OFs from all over the world likewise continue to come home as the DFA welcomed repatriated seafarers from Canada, Cyprus, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Pakistan, Singapore, and the USA.
Lastly, the DFA also welcomed this week overseas Filipino repatriates from Shanghai, China; Kathmandu, Nepal; Zanzibar, Tanzania; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The DFA, together with its Philippine embassies and consulates around the world, remains fully committed to bringing home nationals abroad amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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