The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) repatriated 9,671 overseas Filipinos (OFs) from various regions around the world this week.

This brings the total number to 174,039 since the DFA began its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) repatriation efforts in February 2020. Of the total, 61,716 OFs (35.46 percent) are sea-based while 112,323 (64.54 percent) are land-based, according to the DFA’s press release issued on Saturday.

“The DFA remains relentless in facilitating more flights, particularly from the Middle East. This week, the DFA brought home more than 7,500 of our nationals from the said region via 27 special commercial repatriation flights. Eleven of these flights arrived from the UAE, seven from Saudi Arabia, four from Qatar, three from Bahrain, and one each from Kuwait and Oman,” it said.

The return of Filipino seafarers also continues as the DFA facilitated the repatriation of more than 2,800 sea-based workers, including a Filipino fisherman who drifted to the waters of Central Sulawesi in April 2020.

The DFA also extended assistance to a cancer patient who finally arrived home in Manila on board a special commercial repatriation flight from Thailand last Wednesday.

Together with its Philippine embassies, consulates and attached agencies around the world, the DFA remains fully committed to bringing home our nationals abroad amid the Covid-19 pandemic. (PNA)