9 OFWs repatriated from Iran amid Middle East conflict

Nine overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been successfully repatriated from Iran amid the Middle East conflict, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

The first batch of returning OFWs from Iran arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, the DFA said.

Repatriation efforts were coordinated by the Philippine embassies in Tehran, Iran and Ankara, Türkiye through land crossing and onward flights back to the country.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Wednesday (Manila time) that the government has been preparing chartered flights to repatriate Filipinos back to the Philippines as the conflict between US-Israeli forces and Iraq continues to affect regional security.

He noted that the situation had eased, and that there had already been some flights carrying Filipinos back to Manila.

"And there are two flights that we are being–, that we are planning. One is out of Riyadh para sa mga nasa Saudi, sa Kuwait, and Bahrain [for those in Saudi]... 'Yung isa naman out of Fujairah in the UAE to transport 'yung mga Dubai OFWs (The other one is out of Fujairah in the UAE to transport those OFWs in Dubai)," Marcos said. 

As of Wednesday last week, more than 1,000 OFWs in the Middle East had expressed their intent to return home. — VDV, GMA Integrated News