PH Government Successfully Brings Home 163 Stranded Filipinos in Macau

March 8, 2020

A total of 163 Filipinos who were stranded in Macau following the cancellation of commercial flights as a result of COVID-19 restrictions arrived in Manila this afternoon.

130 overseas Filipinos, consisting of workers, tourists, minors, senior citizens, plus five infants along with 28 OWWA members were brought home by the DFA and OWWA.

All 163 passengers passed screening procedures at the Macau International Airport prior to boarding. Their flight was chartered by the DFA.

The flight concluded weeks of inter-agency coordination efforts led by the DFA to implement the directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and DFA Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. to bring home affected Filipinos in Macau.

“We thank President Duterte and Secretary Locsin for the endearing concern and assistance they have provided that allowed us to implement their directive to bring home our kababayans from Macau,” Philippine Consul General to Macau SAR Lilybeth R. Deapera said.

  Consul General Deapera also expressed her appreciation to the Government of Macau SAR for the assistance it provided in making the chartered flight possible. “Our efforts would not have been successful without the assistance of the Protocol Office, the airport, civil aviation, immigration and public security police authorities of the Government of Macau.”

The repatriates were received at the airport by officials from DFA and its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA).

Pursuant to guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID), all passengers on the chartered flight underwent quarantine procedures by the Bureau of Quarantine upon their arrival at NAIA. DMS