A total of 152 overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) who were rescued from the conflict-torn country of Sudan are expected to arrive in Manila on Thursday, May 4, in two batches, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said.
DMW Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople said the 152 OFWs will be taking commercial flights to Manila from Jeddah and Riyadh via Saudi Airlines.
“The two groups would be composed of 80 and 72 OFWs, respectively. They belong to the 340 OFWs that were assisted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine Embassy in Cairo (PE-Cairo) in crossing over from the Sudan Port into the Argeen Land Port Authority in Aswan, Egypt,” said Ople.
“We are also negotiating with Philippine Airlines for a chartered flight to bring the remaining 188 OFWs from the group of 340 rescued plus an anticipated 104 OFWs that would be arriving this week after successfully clearing the Egyptian border,” she added.
In negotiating with PAL, Ople said they want to take advantage of its partnership with EGYPTAIR that would enable it to come up with flight arrangements from Cairo to Dubai and onward to Manila.
Last month, top DMW officials led by Ople flew to Cairo to personally supervise the repatriation of 340 OFWs who earlier asked the Philippine government to rescue them amid the ongoing conflict between soldiers and paramilitary troopers in Sudan.
Over 700 OFWs and Filipinos have already contacted the nearest Philippine embassy and around half of them earlier asked the Philippine government for repatriation.
Ople also vowed to provide financial and livelihood assistance to the Filipinos who decided to be repatriated.
On the other hand, she said she has been coordinating with his counterpart in Saudi Arabia for the temporary employment of some of the affected OFWs that would be repatriated from Sudan.
“Our DMW and OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) teams continue to look after our distressed OFWs as part of our commitment to bring them home in close coordination, of course, with the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs)” Ople said.
“OWWA and the DMW are committed to bring as many of our kababayans home, so that the process of healing from the trauma of Sudan’s civil war can commence,” she added.