The number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been flown home from across the world by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has reached 115,793.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola reported during a recent Congressional Hearing conducted by the Committee on Public Accounts, said the DFA expected to bring home around 50,000 overseas Filipinos for July.
As the month drew to a close, the DFA achieved its target number of repatriates and brought the total number of repatriated Filipinos to 115,793 since the first COVID-related repatriation flight arrived from Wuhan in February 2020.
Of the 50,887 overseas Filipinos brought home in July, 35,656 were from the Middle East – with the greatest number of repatriates arriving from the UAE (14,948) and Saudi Arabia (11,249), DFA said. A total of 6,925 OFWs came from Asia, 4,943 from the Americas, 3,343 from Europe and 20 from Africa, it added.
The DFA also organized 13 chartered flights in July which brought home 4,147 fellow Filipinos from Japan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Malaysia and Vietnam. These chartered flights were shouldered by the DFA through its Assistance-to-Nationals Fund.
“More than any other time in Philippine history, we have embarked on a repatriation program of unprecedented scale to bring home our overseas Filipinos affected by the pandemic. Our duty is far from over as we sustain our efforts to fly home another hundred thousand fellow Filipinos who wish to be repatriated,” said Arriola.
The DFA eyes to repatriate an estimated 100,000 nationals abroad within the next two months, the department said in a media advisory.
The foreign affairs department last month breached the 100,000-mark in the number of overseas Filipinos brought home from all over the world.
“Repatriating more than 100k overseas Filipinos is a first in the history of DFA,” said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola.
“It may look easy but in reality it was difficult. But through the sustained efforts of our dedicated personnel who labored 24/7 since February and the full cooperation of all our Foreign Service Posts, we pulled this feat off,” added the Undersecretary.
Of the 102,519 overseas Filipinos (OFs) repatriated since February, 42.8 percent (43,893 OFs) are sea-based and 57.2 percent (58,626 OFs) are land-based. The most recent repatriates arrived from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the USA.
The Daily Bread 