Secretary Locsin Welcomes 139 Filipinos from Myanmar

PASAY CITY, 15 February 2021 — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. welcomed the arrival of 139 overseas Filipinos from Myanmar at the NAIA Terminal 3 today. The Philippine government chartered a special flight amid the current COVID-19 travel restrictions, as well as the recent political situation in Myanmar. The Air Asia special flight arrived at past 6:00 this evening.

“This is a testament to our government's steadfast commitment to assisting our people across the globe. We at the DFA are doing our best to do just that by bringing our people home amid the pandemic,” said Locsin.

Among those repatriated were eleven (11) dependent children and four (4) dependent parents, including two (2) senior citizens, of the repatriated Filipinos who worked as professionals in Myanmar and whose contracts were seriously affected by the COVID-19 restrictions in the country.

Since the start of its pandemic-related repatriations in March 2020, the DFA, through its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Yangon, has repatriated a total of 509 overseas Filipinos from Myanmar via DFA-chartered flights. Today’s flight was the second DFA-chartered flight from Yangon, while 12 other special flights were facilitated by the DFA in collaboration with airline companies. END