MANILA, Philippines — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wants the Philippines to bring home the remains of 282 overseas Filipino workers there, including 50 who died after contracting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Sunday.
“We received communication from King Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and they gave us 72 hours to bring home our dead,” Bello said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
“Bawal ang cremation that’s why ang directive ni King Salman is for us to bring them home,” the labor secretary added.
(Cremation is not allowed so the directive of King Salman is for us to bring them home.)
However, Bello said the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has decided not to bring back the remains of those who died of COVID-19 and have them buried in Saudi Arabia instead. The other OFW remains will be sent back to the Philippines in batches.
Bello said the Department of Labor and Employment and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will charter three flights for the return of the bodies.