BACK HOME. A DFA officer oversees the arrival of repatriates from the United Arab Emirates in this undated photo. As of July 31, over 3,500 distressed Filipinos were sent home using the DFA's Assistance to Nationals Fund. (Photo courtesy of DFA)
MANILA – A total of 3,724 distressed Filipinos from the United Arab Emirates were repatriated through nine government-funded flights since the pandemic started, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Tuesday.
The DFA said the four flights in July and three in June raised to nine the total number of repatriation efforts for Filipinos in the Gulf state, the most recent was on July 31, which sent home some 374 Filipinos, including 78 pregnant women.
“We recognize the efforts of the men and women in our Posts overseas and at the Home Office, as we see in the increased number of the total number of Filipinos repatriated in July. We also recognize the assistance of other government agencies who work closely with us in this repatriation process,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said.
“While the DFA continues to mount more flights in the coming months, we also recognize the importance of special commercial repatriation of Bayanihan flights, as we call them, which will really supplement the repatriation efforts. We expect to bring home most stranded Filipinos from the UAE by the end of August,” she added.
From 1,037 arrivals in June, the July figures reached 1,415, all of whom received USD200 (estimated PHP10,000) as reintegration assistance from the department and have undergone the mandatory 14-day facility-based quarantine.
The DFA-chartered repatriation flights are all funded by its Assistance To Nationals Fund. (PNA)
