Stranded OFWs anxious for flights as re-entry visas near expiry

Some overseas Filipino workers pleaded with airlines and government help desks so they could secure flights to their work places abroad before their re-entry visas expired.

Migrant workers are among the hardest hit by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport's runway closure that ran from almost midnight on Thursday until almost noon on Saturday.

A Xiamen Air flight overshot the runway and was disabled, causing the lengthy airport disruption.

According to Maki Pulido's report on "24 Oras", OFWs Cherry Tagupa and  Elvisa Fuentes were among those who were blessed to secure flights to their destinations on Tuesday before their re-entry visas expired on Wednesday.

Two OFWs from Mindanao bound for Jeddah said they had been at the airport since Friday.

"Kung bumibili kami ng cup noodles, nagshe-share nalang kami. Sa tubig naman, ganu'n din, nagshe-share din kami," one of them said.

Officials of the Manila International Airport Authority said the agency was were helping airlines issue certificates that OFWs could present to their employers to notify them about the delay in their flight schedules. —Margaret Claire Layug/NB, GMA News