The Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday that 16 overseas Filipino Workers stranded in China are back home Tuesday.

The DFA Office of Migrant Workers' Affairs said the 16 stranded OFWs are scheduled to arrive in Manila at around 1 a.m. on board a chartered flight arranged by the department.
Eleven of them are from Ocean Star 86 who have been stranded in Dongshan since March 2020. They will be joined by five seafarers from M/V Maria P who have been stranded in Ningde since July 2020.
The DFA said Ocean Star 86 and M/V Maria P are Chinese fishing vessels that were affected by China's "no disembarkation" policy as a precautionary measure due to the pandemic and the unavailability of commercial flights.
The DFA had earlier received flak regarding the plight of the 11 Ocean Star 86 seamen. But the DFA said it has been monitoring the condition of the seafarers since they were stranded through the Philippine Consulate in Xiamen.
“The Consulate has been providing them welfare assistance and ensured that their salaries and other entitlements are provided for by their employer,” it said.
Last week, migrant workers group Migrante International demanded the immediate repatriation of the Ocean Star 86 seamen and sought the filing of charges against their employers for subjecting them to “horrendous suffering.”
Migrante said the contracts of the seafarers had expired in 2019 but they were reportedly “forced to drink seawater and fed inadequately for many months.”