THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has intensified its repatriation efforts as the holiday season nears with 9,981 overseas Filipinos (OFs) arriving in the first week of December.
Between 1 and 5 December 2020, the DFA repatriated its highest 5-day total since July 2020 bringing the total number of repatriated overseas Filipinos to 287,301.
Returning overseas Filipinos from the Middle East continue to comprise the majority of DFA’s repatriates. The breakdown per region is as follows: 8,432 (84.48%) from the Middle East; 843 (8.45%) from Asia and the Pacific; and 706 (7.07%) from Europe.
Five medical repatriations from Bahrain, Japan, Oman, Russia, and Thailand were successfully facilitated by the Department and its foreign service posts.
The DFA also assisted in the return of a Filipino family, including two minor children, from Iraq, 11 distressed students from Indonesia, and three undocumented OFWs/trafficking victims from Syria.
The DFA said it stands ready to assist the distressed overseas Filipinos who wish to come home, wherever they are in the world.
