(Eagle News) — Over 100 more Filipinos have been repatriated from Saudi Arabia amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the 179 distressed Filipinos were repatriated on December 23 via a Philippine Airlines (PAL) chartered flight, and arrived in Manila the following day.
Of the total passengers, four are minors, including one infant, two were pregnant women, and one a medical case.
The DFA said the rest were distressed Filipinos, many of whom were economically displaced.
After departing from Jeddah, the PAL-chartered flight went to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates first to pick up distressed Filipinos from European countries classified as COVID-19 “red” and “yellow” zones who had gathered there.
The department did not say, however, how many Filipinos these were.
Consul General Edgar Tomas Auxilian said the Philippine government was doing its best to safely bring back home distressed overseas Filipinos who have lost their jobs in their host countries, or those who no longer have the means to return to the Philippines for good.
Since 2020, some 4,000 distressed Filipinos in Jeddah and the Western Region of Saudi Arabia have been successfully repatriated through chartered repatriation flights.