AMID OMICRON THREAT DFA: Europe-based Pinoys must contact embassy for repatriation

By RICHA ALLYSSA NORIEGA, GMA News Published December 15, 2021 4:19pm The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday urged overseas Filipinos in Europe to contact Philippine embassies in their areas for scheduled repatriation flights amid the Omicron COVID-19 variant threat. “We encourage our distressed kababayans in Europe to contact our embassies the soonest in order for them to join in this repatriation flight,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said in a statement. According to Arriola, the DFA will also mount a chartered flight scheduled on December 23 to bring home more Filipinos from Europe in time for Christmas. “The chartered flight is primarily to aid our distressed kababayans in European countries which are on the [COVID-19] red list,” she said. “We will also extend the flight to distressed stranded Filipino passengers bound for the Philippines as a result of policies put in place to curb the effect of Omicron [coronavirus] variant,” she added. Meanwhile, the DFA welcomed the arrival of nine distressed Filipinos from Russia on Tuesday. Arriola said the repatriates arrived via flight from Amsterdam. She said the group had suffered economic difficulties due to the pandemic's impact on their livelihood and legal status in Russia. “We are relieved that our timely repatriation assistance has given them the chance to fly back to the Philippines,” Arriola added. —LBG, GMA News

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