Some 148 Filipinos stranded in Macau will be repatriated by the Philippine government, the country’s presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo has announced. An official date for the chartered flight, arranged by the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs, is yet to be disclosed.
Panelos said that 48 of the Fillipino nationals will be repatriated by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration – a government agency that protects the interests of overseas Filipino workers.
Stranded Filipinos in Macau have been calling on the Philippine government to assist since flights were first canceled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Earlier, a group of 134 Filipinos sent the government a petition via the Philippine Consulate General in Macau, requesting a chartered flight back to Manila. Among them were elderly people, pregnant women and people with infants.
However, negotiations with the airline could not be satisfactorily concluded. The airline was concerned about quarantine procedures for the flight crew.
These Filipino nationals are mostly tourists stranded in the SAR in the wake of the Philippine government’s decision to restrict travel between the Philippines and China and its SARs after news of the Covid-19 epidemic surfaced.
Currently, there are still no flights connecting Manila to Macau as Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and AirAsia, the three airlines who run the routes, have not yet resumed operations.
Some Filipino nationals wishing to return home have taken a route via Hong Kong or Taiwan. LV
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