DFA Brings Home over 135,000 Overseas Filipinos In the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic

PASAY CITY 15 August 2020 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has remained steadfast in its COVID-19-related repatriation efforts and has brought home an additional 10,573 overseas Filipinos this week. This brings the total number of repatriated Filipinos to 135,290. Of the total, 38.9 percent (52,639 OFs) are sea-based while 61.1 percent (82,651 OFs) are land-based.

The DFA continues to bring home our distressed nationals from all over the world. This week, the DFA repatriated 8,112 OFs from the Middle East through 27 special commercial repatriation flights and two DFA-chartered flights. A total of 3,072 repatriates arrived from UAE, many of whom availed themselves of the amnesty for overstaying residence and tourist visa holders. The DFA also brought home fellow Filipinos from Iraq and Israel this week.

With regard to the repatriation of seafarers, the DFA facilitated the return of 2,984 sea-based OFs this week, including two medical repatriations from Seychelles and Brazil. The repatriated seafarers came from all over the world including Canada, USA, Japan, India, China, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, and Greece.

Earlier in the week, the DFA also brought home 250 of our stranded nationals in Papua New Guinea and Melbourne, Australia on board two special commercial repatriation flights.

This Monday, the DFA will be welcoming our distressed nationals from Lebanon on board a DFA-chartered flight. This is the first in a series of chartered flights organized by the DFA to bring home our fellow Filipinos affected by the explosion at the Beirut Port early this month.

The DFA remains fully committed to bringing home our distressed nationals abroad wherever they are in the world. END