Gov’t arranging 2 flights out of troubled MidEast
Two flights are being arranged by the Philippine government to bring home overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who wish to be repatriated amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, President Marcos said on Wednesday.
One of the flights will be coming out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for Filipinos coming from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The other flight will be from Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for those leaving from Dubai, said Marcos in a forum in New York City, where he was on a two-day working visit.
The flight from Fujairah is expected to depart the UAE on Friday, March 13, and arrive in Manila either on Friday night or early Saturday morning, he said.
“We have made many arrangements. We are arranging charter flights because the situation has somewhat eased up,” he said. “In fact, I know that Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac is taking the flight to Dubai. I told him to accompany them so that he can report accurately on what the situation really is.”
A number of Filipinos had been repatriated on at least three Emirates flights as the crisis entered its second week, he added.
Latest arrivals
On Tuesday night, 32 Filipinos, including 23 workers and nine dependents, arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 on an Oman Air flight, the Department of Migrant Workers said.
Secretary Cacdac said 20 of them were workers from the UAE; three were workers from Muscat, Oman.
Four from Dubai and Saudi Arabia arranged their own travel, but also received assistance from the government agencies upon arrival.
