A total of 349 Filipinos touched down at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Friday evening after flying out of Dubai aboard Emirates flight EK334, marking the third wave of repatriations from the UAE since limited flight operations resumed earlier this week.
Among those on the aircraft were 44 overseas Filipino workers, with the rest of the passengers consisting of travelers, residents, and other nationals who had been stranded in the emirate following regional airspace closures triggered by the escalating Middle East conflict.
Government personnel from the Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration were stationed at the arrival area to receive the returnees. The Department of Social Welfare and Development also deployed staff to the terminal to coordinate immediate support services.
The Friday arrival adds to the growing number of Filipinos who have made it home from the Gulf since Dubai International Airport began accepting outbound repatriation flights in early March. Emirates, which had suspended all operations when hostilities erupted on February 28, has been scaling up its flight schedule and expects to reach roughly 60 percent of its route network by this weekend.
The Philippine government has so far stopped short of ordering mandatory mass repatriation from the UAE, where approximately one million Filipinos live and work. Alert Level 4 — the threshold that would trigger a compulsory evacuation — has not been raised for any Gulf state, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Authorities have instead focused on voluntary return coordination and in-country assistance, with OWWA reporting that it has provided temporary shelter to nearly 300 affected workers and arranged land and domestic air transport for those arriving in Manila from provinces outside the capital region.
