MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos yesterday welcomed the fourth batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their dependents repatriated from the conflict-hit Middle East, as the government continued its ongoing repatriation program.
A total of 343 repatriates – consisting of 317 OFWs and 26 dependents from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – arrived at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at around 6:30 a.m. aboard a government-chartered Philippine Airlines flight.
Marcos met with the returning OFWs and their families and oversaw the distribution of assistance, including financial and medical support as well as psychosocial counseling.
He was joined by Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan, who accompanied the Filipinos from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Manila.
Caunan also led on-ground operations in Riyadh, assisting Filipinos arriving through land crossings.
According to Cacdac, 234 OFWs came from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, while the remaining 109 were repatriated directly from Saudi Arabia.
He expressed gratitude to the Saudi government for facilitating the transit of Filipinos from neighboring countries, noting that the kingdom served as a key hub for evacuation efforts.
“The airspace in Bahrain is closed, while the airspace in Kuwait and Qatar is limited or restricted. So it was a land-crossing effort. It took, on average, about seven to eight hours to get to Riyadh,” Cacdac told reporters.
Government agencies, including the Department of Migrant Workers, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, OWWA and the Philippine Air Force, extended assistance to the returning OFWs.
Support included financial aid, medical services, temporary accommodation and transportation to their respective provinces.
Marcos also led the send-off of OFWs bound for the Visayas and Mindanao, with buses provided by OWWA transporting them to designated hotels while awaiting their flights.
Cacdac said the government would continue mounting chartered flights for Filipinos seeking to return home amid the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
He added that the repatriation efforts are being carried out safely through coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine embassies and consulates and the Department of National Defense.
Cacdac also said the government is preparing to repatriate around 1,200 more Filipinos in the coming days, with two additional chartered flights being eyed from the United Arab Emirates, which hosts around one million OFWs.
Data from the DFA showed that a total of 1,262 Filipinos in the Middle East have requested repatriation as of March 23.
Of this number, 613 have been assisted, while 649 requests are still pending.
Authorities said that as of the latest count, a total of 1,763 OFWs and their dependents affected by the regional tensions have been safely repatriated under the government’s whole-of-government approach. — Christine Boton, Pia Lee-Brago