A government-chartered flight carrying hundreds of distressed and stranded overseas Filipino workers has touched down at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, adding to the growing number of Filipinos brought home amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The flight originated from Riyadh and carried 343 passengers in total — 328 adult OFWs, 11 children above two years of age, two infants, and two escorts.
Upon arrival, teams from the Department of Migrant Workers, the Department of Health, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and other partner agencies were already on the ground to receive them. Workers were provided with food and drinks while awaiting processing, financial assistance, and transportation and hotel accommodation for those traveling onward to their home provinces.
The Riyadh flight is part of a broader repatriation push being coordinated across multiple Gulf countries. Earlier this week, a separate OWWA-chartered operation brought home 341 OFWs from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, with workers from Bahrain crossing land borders to reach Riyadh before boarding. The government has said additional charter flights are being arranged as demand for repatriation continues to rise.
More than 1,400 Filipinos across the region had formally requested to return home as of early March, a figure DMW officials described at the time as a moving count. The DMW has committed to covering immigration fines and penalties incurred by returning workers.
