Metro Manila, Philippines – The fourth government-chartered with Filipinos from the Middle East arrived in Manila early Monday, March 23, with 343 people as tensions remain high in the region.
The 317 workers and 26 dependents from Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, landed at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at around 6:30 a.m. on a Philippine Airlines flight, part of ongoing evacuation efforts ordered by the government.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally met the arriving passengers and oversaw the rollout of government assistance, including financial aid, medical services and psychosocial support.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said many had to travel by land to Saudi Arabia for the flight because of airspace restrictions in parts of the Middle East.
“Sarado ang airspace in Bahrain and limited or restricted ang airspace sa Kuwait and Qatar. So it was a land-crossing effort. It took, on average, about seven to eight hours to get to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” Cacdac said.
[Translation: Airspace in Bahrain is closed, while airspace in Kuwait and Qatar is limited or restricted, so it required land crossings that took around seven to eight hours to reach Riyadh.]
Among those on board were Jeffrey and Fides Aputen, a couple who had spent years working in the Middle East before deciding to return home due to the worsening situation.
“Twenty years na po kami sa Kuwait, nag-turn kami sa Bahrain this year. This is the first time na naranasan namin na ganito ka-intense na giyera,” said Jeffrey Aputen.
[Translation: We spent 20 years in Kuwait and moved to Bahrain this year. This is the first time we have experienced a war this intense.]
His wife, Fides, said the conflict had taken a toll on their sense of safety.
“Affected kasi kami talaga ng war in the Middle East, hindi talaga kami makatulog even in the middle of the night,” she said.
[Translation: We were really affected by the war in the Middle East. We couldn’t sleep, even in the middle of the night.]
The group received cash aid and access to reintegration programs such as livelihood support, job facilitation and skills training. The government is also providing temporary accommodation and domestic transport for those returning to the provinces.
Buses were deployed to transport some to designated hotels while waiting for flights for the Visayas and Mindanao, while transportation was free for those traveling within Luzon.
Authorities said it is mounting more repatriation flights in the coming days for around 1,200 more Filipinos.
The arrivals have so far totaled over 1,700.
