PH Embassy in Qatar suspends repatriation of OFWs

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Embassy in Qatar has put on hold its repatriation efforts since more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are choosing to stay and work in Qatar despite the pandemic.

Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Alan Timbayan said the embassy was unable to fill up the required seats in the last three chartered flights it arranged for OFWs.

“We suspended the online registration of our repatriation. Many OFWs are no shows and backed out [of the flight]. In the last three flights, we failed to fill the seating capacity of 354 seats,” Timbayan told an online press briefing on Friday.

The Philippine Embassy in Doha has repatriated 3,753 Filipinos on 12 flights since June.

—Julie M. Aurelio

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