The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait has reached the 7,000-mark in the repatriation of overseas Filipinos to the Philippines, since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak began in Kuwait in March 2020.
A chartered Kuwait Airways flight, the 15th flight arranged by the Embassy since June 2020, left for Manila early morning on 6 September 2020. The chartered flight, which carried more than 310 overseas Filipinos, was granted clearance to land in Manila by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) upon the endorsement of the Embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Through the initiative of the Embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office asking employers and recruitment agencies to pay for the one-way air tickets of their Filipino workers, the Embassy mounted these chartered flights at little cost to the Philippine government. The Embassy only paid for the tickets of those who literally have no money left due to the COVID-19 lockdown, through the DFA’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund.
The Kuwaiti government also repatriated undocumented and distressed Filipinos from Kuwait, including those who took part in the amnesty program last April 2020, as part of its preventive measures against the COVID-19. 2,466 Filipinos were flown home between 25 March and 3 June 2020, at the expense of the Kuwaiti government. (Kuwait PE photos)
Source DFA
