446 more repatriated from ME

A TOTAL of 446 Filipinos from the Middle East (ME) have returned to the Philippines late on Tuesday and early Wednesday, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported.

In a Facebook post late on Tuesday, OWWA said that 125 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their dependents from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have flown back to the Philippines on the evening of April 14 carried by the Emirates Flight EK334.

This was followed by a batch of 321 OFWs from Kuwait and their dependents, aboard the Kuwait Airways Special Flight KU417, which landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday.

“This flight is a part of the Kuwait Airways Special Flight coordinated by the government and the airlines where they prioritize and provide their available seats to the OFWs and their dependents amid the tension in the Middle East,” OWWA said in Filipino in a separate Facebook post on Wednesday.

OWWA said the newly repatriated Filipinos have been given post-repatriation assistance through food, transportation, temporary accommodation, and monetary aid.

The repatriation efforts of OWWA and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is part of the government’s measures in ensuring the safety of Filipinos abroad amid the tensions in the Middle East.

Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac on Monday reported that over 5,000 Filipinos have been brought home by the repatriation program for Filipinos in the Gulf region, primarily from countries like Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Lebanon.

The DMW has been facilitating the repatriation of the Filipinos through identifying exit points and pick-up locations for those in areas with closed airspace before they do the land-crossing.

The repatriation assistance began on March 5, a week after the US and Israel launched a joint missile attack on Iran targeting to curb the latter’s nuclear assets.

Since the war, some 4,778 work-disrupted OFWs have been given financial assistance worth $200, while more than 13,243 OFWs have been given grocery packs, 1,549 were provided medical assistance, and 2,015 Filipinos requiring overnight stay due to land-crossing have been given temporary shelter, according to Mr. Cacdac. — Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel