Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has facilitated the return of a total of 8,591 stranded and distressed overseas Filipinos in the first week of November alone.
In its weekly report, the DFA said the bulk of this week’s repatriates were from the Middle East (6,947), Asia-Pacific (948), and Europe (693) separately flown through 39 special commercial repatriation flights arranged by the department.
It also completed the medical repatriation of overseas Filipinos from Cuba, Brunei, Pakistan, and Bahrain.
Likewise, there were victims of trafficking-in-persons from Syria who were repatriated with the help of the Philippine Embassy in Damascus. The victims were welcomed by representatives of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking upon their arrival at the NAIA.
To date, the DFA has brought home a total of 245,954 overseas Filipinos since it began its COVID-related repatriation efforts at the onset of the pandemic in February 2020.