MANILA, Philippines —Thirty-eight Filipino missionaries stranded in West Africa were among the more than 1,000 overseas Filipino workers repatriated over the weekend amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 38 missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were stranded in Cotê d’Ivoire, Ghana and Sierra Leone where the Philippines has no diplomatic posts.
The Philippine Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, worked with the country’s honorary consulates in Cotê d’Ivoire, Ghana and Sierra Leone to secure passes and overfly and landing clearances to allow sweeper flights to fetch the missionaries.
The chartered plane that fetched the Filipino missionaries arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport late Saturday, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. —Dona Z. Pazzibugan