At least 299 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Saudi Arabia are scheduled to return to the Philippines between October 19 and 25, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced.
The workers hold confirmed flight bookings, while travel arrangements for more than 100 additional OFWs are currently being finalized to facilitate their return through alternative air routes via Hail, Al Qassim, and Dammam.
The 299 OFWs are part of a larger group of nearly 400 Filipino workers receiving government support after their original flights out of Riyadh were canceled or delayed.
The DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) are coordinating repatriation efforts through their field offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar, in collaboration with the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah.
While awaiting their return flights, the affected workers received temporary accommodation, food, transportation, financial aid, and medical and psychological services funded by the DMW’s AKSYON Fund and OWWA’s Emergency Repatriation Fund (ERF).
The assistance is being distributed under the Saving Lives program, an initiative under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) Assistance Program.
On Monday, October 19, at least 34 OFWs were expected to land in Manila, while another 50 workers were scheduled to depart Saudi Arabia for the Philippines.