Marcos: Charter Flights Underway For OFWs In The Middle East

The government will provide chartered flights to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in conflict-hit Middle East so they can return to the Philippines safely, President Marcos said on Tuesday, March 10.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Marcos said that while the Philippine government has to depend on the host countries for the protection of the OFWs, it can repatriate those who want to come home.

“For that, we have made many arrangements. We are arranging charter flights because the situation has improved somehow,” the President said.

Marcos said three flights carrying Filipinos have already left from Dubai. “Now that the (United Arab) Emirates (UAE) has decided that it is safe for them to fly, it should be safe for us to charter airplanes to repatriate other Filipinos who wish to return home,” he added.

The administration is planning to arrange two flights, one of them from Riyadh to serve those in Kuwait and Bahrain and the other from Fujairah in UAE to carry those in Dubai. The government also plans to bring defense department and civil aviation authority personnel on those flights.

According to Marcos, a group from the UAE was expected to arrive on Wednesday night, March 11, while another batch from Israel is scheduled to land in the Philippines tonight, March 12.

The target date of departure of the flight from Fujairah and the UAE is on March 13. It is expected to land in Manila on the evening of March 13 or early morning of the 14th.

More than 400 Filipinos have returned to the Philippines since the war in the Middle East started.

OFW arrivals

On Tuesday night, 32 repatriates from the Middle East arrived in Manila onboard an Oman Air flight.

Of the 32 repatriates, 24 were OFWs (21 from Dubai and three from Oman), while eight were family dependents.

Likewise, the first batch of nine repatriates from Iran has also arrived in Manila, following efforts by Philippine Embassies in Tehran and Ankara.

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) assured lawmakers that there are sufficient funds to assist OFWs and support repatriation efforts in the Middle East.

During a joint hearing of the House committees on foreign affairs and on overseas workers affairs, DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the agency’s Aksyon Fund has P200 million ready for deployment, with another P800 million expected from the Department of Budget and Management.

Managed by the DMW, the Aksyon Fund is a multi-billion-peso welfare fund designed to provide rapid assistance to OFWs in distress. It covers legal, medical, repatriation and humanitarian support, particularly for workers who require rescue or are caught in crisis or conflict situations abroad.

For its part, OWWA reported that its Emergency Repatriation Fund (ERF) remains largely intact and available if large-scale evacuation becomes necessary.

OWWA administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan said only a portion of the ERF has been utilized so far.

“We are at a utilization rate of 18 percent as we speak. So that would bring us down to a balance of P1.4 billion,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cacdac reported that the government has already extended 4,600 forms of welfare assistance to OFWs in affected areas, including temporary accommodation, food, financial support, medical services and psychosocial counseling.

Cacdac said authorities have also assisted 885 OFWs through pre-departure and transit support, including those stranded in airports and transit hubs such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Manchester in the United Kingdom and Ethiopia, as well as some OFWs who had been traveling as tourists and later got stranded abroad.

He added that 679 OFWs have received repatriation assistance, including 110 who have already returned to the Philippines, while 380 more have signified readiness to be repatriated as the government prepares charter flights and land-border evacuation options amid airspace disruptions in parts of the region.

Social welfare help

For its part, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will provide psychosocial, financial and other appropriate aid for returning OFWs, said spokesperson Irene Dumlao.

Through the help of the department’s employees, the Angels in Red Vests, the DSWD conducts stress debriefing sessions, counseling and interviews to address the emotional and psycho-logical needs of the returning workers and to assess whether they require additional medical support.

The agency will also extend temporary shelter, as well as financial aid through its Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program. OFWs can receive transportation assistance to be able to return to their provinces.

At the same time, the DMW stressed that withholding OFWs’ passports is illegal and is a ground for contract violation.

“That is why if there are distressed OFWs and the employer withholds them (passports), our defense is that it is a contract violation,” DMW Undersecretary Jainal Rasul Jr. told lawmakers. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Delon Porcalla, Christine Boton, Pia Lee-Brago