Thirteen more Filipino, including a child, arrived in the country on Tuesday night, Mar. 1, after days of struggles to get out alive from Ukraine amid the bombings and intense fighting following Russian's decision to invade the country.
Cherry Baldoza, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was in Ukraine since 2014, said that she had long desired to go back to the Philippines since Russian forces started to mass up in Ukraine borders.
But she said their employer would not allow them to leave.
Baldoza said the opportunity to get out came when she learned of the arrangement for Filipinos to meet at the Philippine consulate office for repatriation process.
"We were scheduled for a flight to the Philippines at 3 p.m. on February 24 but there was a change of plan because there were already bombings and fighting in the morning," Baldoza told the Manila Bulletin.
She said she was among the 39 Filipinos who eventually crossed the border heading to Poland. As soon as they reached Poland, she said Philippine officials started attending to them for the repatriation process.
"Nagpapasalamat aka sa ating gobyerno dahil ginawa talaga nita tung efforts, young best nila. HIndi nila kami pinabayaan. (I thank our government for exerting all its efforts. They really did their best and they really took care of us)," said Baldoza.
Baldoza, along with 12 others arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 at around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They were received by Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sara Lou Arioal and other representatives of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
On Feb. 18, a total of six Filipinos arrived in the country and was the first batch of those who were repatriated from Ukraine.