(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs has recently repatriated over 300 Filipinos from Kuwait.
The DFA said with the 310 repatriated on Sept. 6, the number of Filipinos repatriated from Kuwait breached the 7,000 mark, or at 7,116, since the COVID-19 outbreak in March.
According to the department, the chartered Kuwait Airways flight, the 15th flight arranged by the embassy since June 2020, was granted clearance to land in Manila by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines upon the endorsement of the embassy and the DFA.
The DFA said employers and recruitment agencies paid for the one-way air tickets of their Filipino workers, upon the request of the embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
The embassy paid for the tickets, through the DFA’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund, of those who had no resources left due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
“The Kuwaiti government also repatriated undocumented and distressed Filipinos from Kuwait, including those who took part in the amnesty program last April 2020, as part of its preventive measures against COVID-19,” the DFA said.
The DFA said 2,466 Filipinos were flown home between March 25 and June 3, at the expense of the Kuwaiti government.
