The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday said the remains of the 274 dead overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Saudi Arabia will be brought home in batches.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the first batch of 44 dead OFWs will arrive at 9:15 a.m. at the Villamor Airbase this Friday, July 10.

In a virtual press briefing, Bello said 19 of the 44 dead OFWs died of COVID-19 while 25 died of natural causes.

"We apologize and ask for understanding because even if we want to bring them home all at the same time, we were unable to complete all the requirements," he said.

Bello also explained that the plane they chartered can only accommodate 44 bodies.

"So, we decided in the inter-agency to do it in batches so as not to further delay it (repatriation)," he said.

Bello said the remains of the dead OFWs will be immediately brought to a crematorium upon arrival.

The remaining bodies, the labor chief said, will be brought home as soon as all the requirements have been completed.

"If we can complete the papers of another 44 dead OFWs, we will bring in another batch of 44 OFWs on Sunday," Bello said.

"We will see to it that we will bring them home because they deserve to buried in their homeland. After all, they are our own modern day heroes," he added.

The Labor chief said the Saudi government understands the situation and has been very accommodating to their requests for extension of time.

Meanwhile, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Hans Leo Cacdac listed the assistance that the bereaved families will receive.

"A bereavement financial assistance as the minimum for the inactive OWWA members, while active members will get additional burial benefits in addition to other related benefits," he said.

According to DOLE, the first batch of dead OFWs are from Riyadh and Al-Khobar while the second batch are from Dammam and Jeddah.