171 More Overseas Filipinos Home from Myanmar and Cambodia

The Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed, today, 171 overseas Filipinos from Myanmar and Cambodia, via a Philippine Airlines flight chartered by the Philippine government to assist Filipinos stranded abroad by pandemic travel restrictions. The flight, which arrived at 5:20 pm at NAIA, flew home 115 Filipinos who boarded from its stop in Yangon, and 56 from Phnom Penh.

“The DFA stands ready to assist our overseas Filipinos who remain affected by COVID-19 restrictions in their host countries,” said Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, through the ATN Fund, funded the chartered flight to repatriate the Filipinos from Myanmar and Cambodia. The Philippine Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar provided transportation and accommodation assistance for 16 Filipinos who travelled from cities 620 to 990km outside Yangon to join the flight, and assisted 1 Filipino in paying overstaying fees. The 115 Filipinos from Myanmar included 60 males, 55 females, 10 senior citizens and 3 infants.

Among the 56 repatriated from Cambodia were two infants and a medical case evacuated through stretcher. The Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh negotiated with Cambodian authorities for the waiver of a repatriate’s overstay fees in time for the flight. 

From their ports of departure in Yangon and Phnom Penh, the repatriates were briefed by the respective Philippine Embassy personnel on arrival and quarantine protocols in the Philippines. They will undergo quarantine procedures as required of all travelers arriving in the country.

“A year after we first started COVID-19-related repatriations, the Department remains fully committed to ensuring that distressed Filipinos overseas have the option to come home through these flights arranged by the Department and its Foreign Service Posts in coordination with foreign governments,” said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola.

As of 13 March 2021, the Department has repatriated 387,606 overseas Filipinos since it first started repatriating Filipinos affected by the pandemic. This is the third chartered flight from Myanmar. END