47 distressed OFWs from Jeddah arrive home


A batch of 47 distressed Overseas Filipino Workers  from Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Saturday morning.
The Manila International Airport Authority’s Media Affairs Division said the 47 OFWs arrived at NAIA Terminal 1 at 6:50 a.m. aboard Philippine Airlines flight PR663. 
They were welcomed home by members of the Repatriation Team of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which will also provide them livelihood assistance.
The newly-repatriated OFWs is the most recent batch of returning migrant workers from Jeddah  amid Saudization, or the prioritization of Saudi nationals in the Middle Eastern country’s workforce, resulting in a crackdown on Saudi Arabia’s overstaying, undocumented, and runaway foreign workers.
Saudi Arabia in late March offered a 90-day amnesty for illegal expatriates, allowing them to apply for exit travel permits.
Over 2,000 OFWs who applied for the amnesty got exit visas in May, and have since been returning to the Philippines in batches. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/LBG, GMA News

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