DFA repatriates 256 Filipinos from Macau, Thailand

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Photo from their Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines – Some 256 overseas Filipinos from Macau and Thailand have been brought back to the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Monday.

In a statement, the DFA said the additional 203 repatriates brought to the total of 5,761 Filipinos who have been repatriated from Macau through the 29 repatriation flights facilitated by the Philippine Consulate in Macau since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

The flight also returned the remains of three Filipinos who died in Macau from causes unrelated to COVID-19.

The DFA said similar flights will be organized by the Philippine Consulate in Macau until the Macau government declares it safe to enable international commercial flights to resume.

Meanwhile, a sum of 53 overseas Filipinos from Thailand arrived in Manila on March 24 through the Philippine Government repatriation flight facilitated by the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.

“The repatriated overseas Filipinos were mostly working in Thailand’s education and tourism industry but lost employment due to the pandemic, facing difficulties in supporting themselves while looking for new employment. The repatriates included infants, children, and those with medical conditions,” the DFA said in the same statement.

There have been 808 repatriates from Thailand since the embassy’s first repatriation flight in April 2020, the DFA said. – Jericho Zafra, INQUIRER.net intern

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JPV