Twenty-four Filipinos who spent months locked up in Russia are back in the Philippines after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. raised their case directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The workers landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 in two batches. Six arrived aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR 737 at around 12:05 a.m. Sunday, while the remaining 18 came in on Flight PR 733 at 4:05 a.m., according to the Presidential Communications Office.
The group had earlier departed Krasnoyarsk on Aeroflot Flight SU 814 bound for Bangkok, where the Philippine Embassy assisted with their transit before their connecting flight to Manila, the embassy in Moscow said.
Government officials met the returnees on arrival. The Department of Migrant Workers said the Filipinos lacked proper documentation while employed as cleaners, which triggered the immigration cases against them.
“Wala silang mga papeles bilang trabahante o workers sa Russia, so umabot sa punto ng immigration cases sa kanila, humantong sa deportation,” said DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac.
The DMW intends to coordinate with the Department of Justice to determine whether the workers were trafficking victims and to identify who recruited them illegally.
“Kung mayroong kailangang masugpo rito na illegal recruitment o human trafficking activity ay agaran natin bibigyan ng lunas ito. Makikipag-ugnayan tayo kay Secretary Vida sa DOJ at sa law enforcement,” Cacdac added.
The returnees will receive post-repatriation assistance and livelihood support for their reintegration. The repatriation was carried out in coordination with Russian authorities, with help from the DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
The Department of Foreign Affairs described Russia’s swift response to Marcos’s request as a meaningful gesture of goodwill.
“This is I think first of a kind na nailabas, na lumabas from Russia. Noong hiningi ni Pangulong Marcos, ibinigay kaagad. So that’s a very important act of goodwill also ni President Putin,” said DFA Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro.
Marcos said the Filipinos had been held in Irkutsk in southeastern Siberia for about nine months without formal charges before the matter was settled during his meeting with Putin at the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Kazan.
