(Eagle News)–The Department of Foreign Affairs has repatriated over 223,000 overseas Filipinos since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The DFA said the 223,294 total repatriates were after it repatriated 9,352 more overseas Filipinos this week.
Of this, the DFA said 8,444 were from the Middle East, 512 from Asia and the Pacific, 394 from Europe, and two from the Americas.
They arrived via 38 special commercial repatriation flights.
The DFA also chartered two flights from Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which returned 603 overseas Filipinos, including five OFWs with chronic medical conditions, the DFA said.
Of the 8,444 overseas Filipinos who came home from the Middle East, 260 were Agrostudies students from Israel, an undocumented OFW and her minor child from Iran, and two possible victims of trafficking-in-persons from Syria.
The DFA, through the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, also repatriated 92 OFWs from Benghazi, Libya, which marked the DFA’s first repatriation from Benghazi since 2017.
Through the Philippine Consulate General in Manado, the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta and the Consular Office in General Santos City and in partnership with the Philippine Coast Guard, the DFA said it also brought home 40 Filipino fishermen from North Sulawesi, Indonesia to General Santos City on board the BRP Tubbataha.
“This is the DFA’s first repatriation effort by sea from Indonesia since the start of the pandemic,” the DFA said.
Of the total number of repatriates, 73,870 or 33.08% were sea-based, while 149,424 or 66.92% were land-based.
“The DFA reassures our fellow Filipinos, especially those who remain stranded overseas, whether on land or on sea, of its continuous efforts to safely bring them home,” the DFA said.
