(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs has recently repatriated over 200 Filipinos from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The DFA said the 234 Filipinos arrived via a chartered Philippine Airlines flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 at 2 a.m. today.
Of the 234, the DFA said 121 were from Dubai, 51 from Abu Dhabi and 62 from Manama.
It said the group included special cases in need of immediate repatriation: one medical stretcher case, an amputee, and 23 infants, 14 of which were from the UAE, while the remaining nine were from Bahrain.
The chartered sweeper flight Manila-Dubai-Manama-Manila was funded by the Bayanihan II augmentation of the DFA’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund, the DFA said.
“We at DFA are humbled by this experience. It’s a different feeling altogether. We are grateful that we are given the opportunity to help bring home our kababayans especially at this time when everyone is looking forward to the new year and a new beginning,” Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola said.
The DFA has said it has repatriated over 300,000 Filipinos since the start of repatriation efforts in February 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
