(File photo)
MANILA – Over 9,000 overseas Filipinos, including migrant workers, have so far returned to the country via the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) in Olongapo City three months after it reopened, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Monday.
In her report to Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI-Clark International Airport (CIA) head supervisor Maan Krista Lapid-Legaspi disclosed that a total of 9,111 passengers arrived at the SBIA since July after reopening to accommodate special commercial flights from abroad.
All of the flights were mounted by Philippine Airlines (PAL) to ferry overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other Filipinos who were stranded abroad due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Our immigration officers in Clark are serving these Subic flights that arrive two to three times a week, each of which carries an average of 200 to 300 passengers,” she said in a statement.
She added that a total of 33 flights have already arrived in Subic from the time these repatriation flights started. The flight came from several cities in the Middle East, China and Palau.
On the other hand, Morente welcomed the opening of the SBIA, since it continues to serve as a hub that assists the arrival of thousands of OFWs.
“We assure PAL and our stakeholders in Subic that our officers will always be available to process the passengers of these repatriation flights. Upon receiving the advanced notice on the schedule of these flights, we designate the number of immigration officers to provide arrival formalities,” the BI chief added.
Last July, the Subic airport has resumed international flight operations after more than a decade of halted service.
The government granted PAL's request to mount flights at the former United States naval base so it could serve as an alternative entry point for Filipinos wanting to return to the country amid the pandemic. (PNA)
