Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. earlier met with Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Manila Abdullah Al Bussairy to discuss, among others, how to bring back the remains of the deceased OFWs.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 21) — The bodies of the 50 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who died due to COVID-19 will be buried there, the Department of Labor and Employment said Sunday.
Labor Chief Silvestre Bello III told DZMM Teleradyo that King Salman of Saudi Arabia gave the Philippines 72 hours to bring home the remains of the OFWs who died in his country.
There are about 282 OFWs who died in Saudi, with 50 of them losing their lives to COVID-19, according to Bello. He said that the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force has decided to bring home only those who did not die from COVID-19.
Three flights will be chartered to return to the Philippines the cadavers of the remaining 232 OFWs, he added. The causes of their deaths remain unclear.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said concerned government agencies have already been directed to extend aid to the bereaved families.
“The Palace commiserates with the families and loved ones of the 282 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who died in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement. “We offer our prayers to the deceased and to those they left behind.”
The latest data from the Department of Foreign Affairs shows that the “Middle East/Africa” has logged the most COVID-19 cases among Filipinos abroad, with almost 4,000 infections so far, out of the 6,141 total confirmed cases. The agency did not specify exactly how many were registered in the Middle East and in Africa.
“The difficulty is as much with us—we have few flights and they’re erratic—as it is with their administrative process,” Locsin said in a tweet posted on June 15.
MET with the ever helpful Amb H.E. Abdullah Al Bussairy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia his Ministry's help to bring back the remains of our Filipino dead. The difficulty is as much with us—we have few flights and they're erratic—as it is with their administrative process.
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) June 15, 2020
15 June 2020 – Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. meets with Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the Philippines H.E. Abdullah Al Bussairy for follow-up discussions on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Filipinos in Saudi Arabia. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/a0JcNvtha2
— DFA Philippines (@DFAPHL) June 15, 2020
