The government’s overseas workers welfare agency is bracing for a surge in returning Filipinos from the Middle East, with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration projecting total repatriates could reach roughly 2,000 by the close of this week or the early part of next.
OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan disclosed the figure on Tuesday as chartered and commercial flights continue to ferry distressed workers back to the Philippines amid the ongoing regional conflict triggered by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
Seventy-five more returnees are expected to land in the Philippines within the day. Their arrival would push the cumulative number of OFWs repatriated since early March to nearly 1,200.
The projected 2,000 figure represents a fraction of the Filipino workforce spread across the region. The Department of Foreign Affairs places the total number of Filipinos living and working in the Middle East at approximately 2.4 million, with the UAE alone accounting for close to one million — the largest single concentration in any affected country.
Repatriation flights have drawn from multiple countries. A chartered flight organized by OWWA departed Riyadh on March 14 carrying 341 distressed workers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain — with Bahraini-based OFWs having crossed land borders to reach the Saudi capital before boarding. That flight was expected at Ninoy Aquino International Airport the following day.
Earlier, 299 Filipinos arrived at NAIA Terminal 3 on March 5 from Dubai following the reopening of its airspace. Among them were 23 OFWs whose employers had advised them to leave or who had concluded their contracts.
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac, who flew to Dubai to assess conditions firsthand, has said the government prioritizes workers located nearest to missile and drone strike zones when determining evacuation order. Mandatory mass repatriation has not been triggered, as the crisis alert level for Gulf states has not reached Level 4 — the threshold that compels government-sponsored evacuation.
Funding the operation remains a pressing concern. OWWA’s Emergency Repatriation Fund under the 2026 General Appropriations Act holds an initial allocation of approximately P1.76 billion, of which around 15 percent has already been drawn down. Agency simulations estimate the remaining balance could sustain roughly 10,000 repatriations at a per-head cost of P150,000 — a figure that has climbed from the pre-crisis average of P135,000 to P140,000. Should requests escalate further, the DMW and OWWA have signaled they will seek supplemental congressional funding.
