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| Some of the 120 OFWs who managed to fly home today after getting help from the Consulate (photos by Suzette Bagatua) |
A second batch of Filipino domestic workers who were stranded
in Hong Kong because of flight cancellations flew to Manila
According to Deputy Consul General Germinia Usudan who led
the team that saw off the group at Hong
Kong International Airport
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| Pindutin para sa detalye! |
DCG Usudan was accompanied by other staff of the Consulate
at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, who helped the OFWs to check in their
bags, and stayed until the repatriates were all cleared to board.
This is the second big group of stranded OFWs who managed to
leave for home after getting stuck in Hong Kong
due to repeated flight cancellations.
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| Call us! |
The first group of 80 OFWs took the same early-morning CX flight
on Jun 6, and were sent off by a large contingent from the Consulate, led by
Consul General Raly Tejada.
Congen Tejada said then that the Consulate helped coordinate
with the airlines to get a fixed schedule for the departing OFWs, many of whom got
stuck because of repeated flight cancellations by Cathay and
Hong Kong Airlines.
He said the passengers were a mix of those with cancelled
bookings and those who had booked for future flights.
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| DCG Usudan (second from left) and Consulate staff who assisted the returning OFWs |
Unlike in other mass repatriations carried out by the
government in various posts abroad, the tickets of the OFWs in Hong Kong were paid for by their respective employers.
Other big groups of Filipino repatriates had been flown home
from different countries at various times in the past after they appealed to
the government for help.
All were stuck in their jobsites for months, jobless and
with cash running out, either because of lockdowns or travel restrictions.
The latest group of OFWs to be flown home at government expense
was made up of 181 OFWs who were repatriated today from Indonesia
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| OFWs repatriated from Indonesia are welcomed by DFA staff in Manila |
In the Philippines
The facilities had to be cleared first before Ninoy Aquino International Airport was reopened to incoming flights.
Up to half a million OFWs, many of them sea-based, are
expected to lose their jobs abroad as a result of the pandemic.
In Hong Kong alone, nearly 7,000
Filipino domestic workers have lost their jobs since February, when the coronavirus swept across the city.
OFW numbers declined the most between March and April,
when more than 3,000 lost their jobs.
