137 Filipinos stranded in Macau coming home Saturday

By Joseph Almer Pedrajas

Hundreds of Filipinos are scheduled to be repatriated on Saturday afternoon after they were left stranded in Macau over concerns on the possible spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

The DFA said that its department and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will be fetching a total of 167 stranded and distressed Filipinos in Macau, who will board a chartered Air Macau flight.

These will be 137 undocumented and irregular Filipino workers and 30 OWWA members, whose arrival is expected by late afternoon, the department added.

According to the DFA, the new set of repatriates were the ones left stranded in the Chinese special administrative region since February following the travel restrictions imposed by the Philippine government on various countries.

Although the restriction was eventually relaxed, the DFA had not been able to send back the Filipinos in Macau as there were no flights available.

The DFA has given assurance that the repatriates are asymptomatic, and will undergo a two-week home quarantine.

But if some will show signs of COVID-19 symptoms upon their arrival, they will immediately be brought to a medical facility for investigation, the department added.