Second Batch Of OFWs Granted Amnesty By UAE Arrives In Manila

(DFA photos)

26 August 2018 – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) today welcomed the second batch of overseas Filipino workers who were repatriated from Dubai after availing themselves of the ongoing amnesty program of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The 116 repatriates were welcomed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac and other officials.

The latest batch brings to 216 the number of Filipinos repatriated from Dubai as part of the amnesty program. The first batch of of 100 repatriates arrived on 16 August 2018.

The repatriates, composed of 89 females, 27 males, including nine children, arrived from Dubai aboard a Philippine Airlines flight. They were accompanied by Vice Consul Elizabeth Picar Ramos of the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai.

“The President gave very clear instructions for us in the Department of Foreign Affairs to help our kababayan overseas in any way that we can and our ongoing repatriation efforts in the UAE is part of that," Undersecretary Arriola told the repatriates.

The Undersecretary, at the same time, appealed to undocumented Filipinos in the UAE to take advantage of the amnesty program. “Our Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai are ready to assist them," she said.

According to Executive Director Enrico Fos of the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs, the DFA provided the airfare and P5,000.00 cash assistance to the repatriates. The DFA also covered the domestic airfare of 25 of the repatriated workers who were mostly from Mindanao. END