DFA says 124,717 Filipinos have been repatriated as of Aug. 8

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday said a total of 124,717 overseas Filipinos have been repatriated as of August 8 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This number was reached after 8,924 overseas Filipinos were brought back to the country this past week. Of the 124,717 Filipinos repatriated, 39.8% or 49,655 are sea-based while 60.2% or 75,062 are land-based. Meanwhile, of those repatriated this past week, 3,660 were from UAE who were flown in via 13 special commercial repatriation flights and one DFA-chartered flight. "The DFA reaffirmed its commitment to bring home our overseas Filipinos from the UAE as the deadline to leave the country, for those with expired tourist visas, drew near," the department said in a statement. A total of 2,349 seafarers also arrived this past week from Bangladesh, Italy, Spain, Japan, Singapore, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others. The DFA also facilitated the repatriation of stranded Filipinos from Mongolia, Palau, and the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, through the help of foreign service posts and Filipino communities abroad. As for distressed Filipinos in Lebanon and Uzbekistan, the DFA said it is working with Philippine embassies in Beirut and Tehran. "The DFA remains unwavering in its commitment to bringing home our distressed nationals abroad wherever they are in the world," the department said. —KG, GMA News

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