CLOSE to 600 overseas Filipino workers and their dependents returned home from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said on Friday.
The 244 OFWs and their dependents returned home from the Gulf state via Dammam, Saudi Arabia, through Gulf Air Flight GF 154, which touched down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Friday morning.
They were assisted by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), OWWA, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the medical team of the Manila International Airport Authority.
The repatriates received food and services, including transportation, temporary accommodations and other assistance, such as domestic flight arrangements and hotel accommodations for those going home to Visayas and Mindanao, and land transportation assistance for those in other parts of Luzon outside Metro Manila.
Also included are training and upskilling packages for their social reintegration, as well as livelihood assistance and special financial aid for OFWs affected by the war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac posted on his Facebook that he was on a flight with 344 Filipinos from Dubai, UAE.
Aboard the government-chartered flight were 228 OFWs with their 68 relatives and 48 stranded Filipinos, who landed at the Villamor Airbase around 4 p.m.
Cacdac said this is the seventh batch of OFWs who have returned home through the government’s chartered flights.
Overall, 588 Filipinos returned to the country from the Middle Eastern countries on Friday.
Also, on Thursday, 193 Filipinos arrived in the country from Kuwait, according to the DMW and OWWA.
OWWA said in a statement that the government’s repatriation efforts under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will continue throughout the Holy Week, amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.