MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs last week repatriated a record-high 13,537 overseas Filipinos, pushing its tally of migrants who have returned since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic past 300,000.
"As of today, the DFA has brought home 300,838 overseas Filipinos from all over the world. 90,621 (30.12%) of them are sea-based workers while 210,217 (69.88%) are land-based," DFA said in a Sunday bulletin.
Last week's repatriates, the agency said, marked the highest weekly total since efforts to bring home overseas Filipinos started in February.
"Among the 59 flights facilitated by the Department this week was a Philippine Airlines flight chartered by the DFA which brought home 319 distressed overseas Filipinos from Dammam, Saudi Arabia. This is the 5th DFA-chartered flight which repatriated stranded compatriots from Saudi Arabia’s eastern region," it said.
An undisclosed number of Filipinos from the Solomon Islands also returned home with the assistance of the Philippine Embassy Port Moresby.
Meanwhile, 18 Filipinos from Jordan came home through the collaborative efforts of the Philippine Embassy in Amman and the International Organization for Migration.
The following were also repatriated by the DFA last week according to its bulletin:
— Bella Perez-Rubio