First group of Filipino workers return from Iran amid conflict

The first batch of Filipino repatriates from Iran arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Saturday, June 28. The six overseas Filipino workers are among the initial eight who requested repatriation.

The Philippine government brought home the first batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Iran escaping the ongoing conflict between their host country and Israel. Six OFWs from Iran arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City in the early hours of Saturday, June 28, aboard Emirates flight EK 334. They are the first group of Filipinos to be repatriated from the Islamic republic since the June 13 breakout of the Israel-Iran conflict. Five of them were employed as shrimp hatchery technicians, while the other one was a Dubai-based domestic worker who was accompanying her employer on a trip to Iran.

They were welcomed home by officials and staff of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. OWWA will shoulder their accommodations in Manila and their domestic flights back to their home provinces. The government earlier repatriated 31 OFWs from Israel who were also escaping the conflict. Two more OFWs from Iran are expected to arrive on Saturday night, June 28.

While Iran is home to less than 30 OFWs, around 1,100 Filipinos are spouses and children of Iranians. Only eight Filipinos in Iran have requested for repatriation as of posting time. The DFA on June 20 raised Alert Level 3 over Iran and Israel, implementing voluntary repatriation for Filipinos in both countries, a day after the DMW announced the restriction of OFW deployments in the Middle East.

According to the source: Rappler.