DFA says it brought home over 37,000 Filipinos in October
MANILA, Philippines — More than 237,000 Filipinos have been forced to return home by the lingering COVID-19 crisis, the foreign affairs department said Tuesday night.
In the month of October alone, the DFA said it repatriated a total of 37,095 overseas Filipinos.
"This brings the total number of repatriated OFs to 237,363 since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the total, 77,326 OFs (32.58%) are sea-based while 160,037 (67.42%) are land-based," a statement released by the agency reads.
The department further said that it expects to bring home more than 107,000 Filipinos before the year is out.
"October’s repatriations were marked by several 'firsts'— the mass repatriation of more than 500 Agrostudies students from Israel, the safe return of 92 OFWs from Benghazi, Libya, and the first-ever repatriation by sea from Indonesia of 40 Filipino fishermen via the BRP Tubbataha," DFA added.
Three flights from Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were also chartered by the department to bring home 920 overseas Filipinos, including migrant workers with chronic medical conditions. "The DFA also facilitated several medical repatriations from Australia, Brazil, French Polynesia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Oman, Spain, and the USA."
The following is a breakdown of the regions from which Filipinos were repatriated in October:
- 31,849 or 85.86% from the Middle East
- 2,716 or 7.32% from Asia and the Pacific
- 2,406 or 6.49% from Europe
- 92 or 0.25% from Africa
- 32 or 0.09% from the Americas
— Bella Perez-Rubio
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