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Christine Boton - The Philippine Star
March 20, 2026 | 12:00am
Overseas Filipino workers from Bahrain and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday night.
OWWA
MANILA, Philippines — A total of 317 Filipinos from the Middle East returned to the Philippines yesterday aboard the government’s third chartered flight from the Middle East.
The latest batch of returnees flew from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and included 153 overseas Filipino workers, 114 dependents and 50 stranded Filipino passengers who chose to return home due to continuing tensions in the Middle East.
The third repatriation flight brought the total number of repatriated overseas Filipino workers and their dependents to 2,099 since March 5.
Upon arrival, the repatriates received immediate assistance from government agencies, including financial and welfare aid from the Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, medical assistance from the Department of Health, and psychosocial support from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said the President ordered agencies to simplify the immigration processing of the Filipinos so their families could immediately fetch them.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People (CBCP-ECMI) asked their diocesan offices to extend concrete pastoral care for the families of OFWs affected by the war in the Middle East.
In a letter dated March 18, CBCP-ECMI chairman Socrates Mesiona asked their diocesan counterparts to provide support to the civilians, OFWs and their families “who bear the heaviest burden in such tragedies.” – Alexis Romero, Evelyn Macairan
