25,000 OFWs, mostly from cruise ships, repatriated

MANILA, Philippines — More than 25,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been repatriated so far, after nearly 700 more cruise ship crew members arrived on Sunday just as the government banned incoming international flights for a week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said 688 seafarers from three flights from Frankfurt, Germany, arrived just as airports closed for a week.

This brought the total repatriates to 25,110 since February, consisting of 17,624 seafarers and 7,486 land-based OFWs displaced by global lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

OFW arrivals are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine at facilities designated by the Department of Health.

—Dona Z. Pazzibugan