
(Eagle News) – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) marked a milestone on April 10 as it passed the 11,000-person mark in assisted repatriations of overseas Filipinos from around the world.
In a Twitter post, the DFA said that as April 10, the total number of land-based and sea-based overseas Filipinos repatriated since February 2020 already reached 11,148, with the arrival of the last batch of seafarers of Mystic Cruises from Lisbon, Portugal Friday night.
On April 10, the DFA was scheduled to repatriate “more than a thousand overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the United States and Europe”, a DFA statement said.
The overseas Filipinos who were among those repatriated on Friday included 440 seafarers of the Norwegian Pearl, Sky, and Sun cruise ships from the USA, who arrived early morning of April 10 and were the “first of five scheduled repatriations” that day.
They were followed by 450 seafarers of the Carnival Fantasy, Freedom, Glory, Legend, and Valor cruise ships from New Orleans, USA who were welcomed on Friday morning too.

Next were 275 OFWs from London, composed of 128 Filipino crew of MV Oceana and 147 Filipino crew of MV Aurora, who arrived Friday noon.
They were followed by 265 crewmen from United Kingdom, Germany, and the US, who arrived in Manila late afternoon.
“The group, which arrived in Manila late afternoon, is composed of 126 crew of Norwegian Jewel, 10 crew of MS Albatros, 33 crew of MV Viking Star and 96 crew of Carnival Cruises (Ecstacy, Horizon, Legend and Sunrise),” the DFA said.
The DFA, along with the CF Sharp Crew Management Inc., BSM Crew Service Centre Philippines Inc., Magsaysay Maritime Corporation and United Philippine Lines Inc. , the local manning agencies of the said vessels, facilitated the said repatriation, in coordination with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Philippine Embassies in London, Berlin and Washington D.C. and the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, the department said in a release.
Last to arrive were 16 seafarers from Lisbon, Portugal, who were crew members of Mystic Cruises’ MS World Explorer. They arrived at NAIA past nine in the evening, Friday, April 10
All Filipinos underwent appropriate medical protocols as required by the Department of Health, and will undergo the mandatory quarantine before returning home to their families.
(Eagle News Service)