DFA Begins November Repatriation Efforts by Bringing Home 8,591 Overseas Filipinos

PASAY CITY 08 November 2020 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) marked the first week of November with the return of 8,591 stranded overseas Filipinos (OFs).

The bulk of this week’s repatriates came home from the Middle East (6,947 OFs), Asia-Pacific (948 OFs) and Europe (693 OFs) on board 39 special commercial repatriation flights facilitated by the DFA.

Despite the pandemic, the DFA also successfully completed the medical repatriation of overseas Filipinos from Cuba, Brunei, Pakistan, and Bahrain. Victims of trafficking-in-persons from Damascus, Syria were also repatriated this week through the efforts of our Philippine Embassy in Damascus. Representatives from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and the DFA welcomed the OFs upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

As of today, the DFA has brought home a total of 245,954 OFs since it began its COVID-related repatriation efforts in February 2020. END