By JOJO DASS
Published July 2, 2021 8:23am
Part of the 348 OFWs queue in for their travel documents at the Dubai International Airport on Wednesday night, June 30, 2021. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PHILIPPINE CONSULATE GENERAL DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The Philippine Consulate here has over 3,000 pending repatriation requests from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), most of whom have cancelled work visas and thus risk overstaying as they don’t have legal status anymore to remain in the UAE. In light of this, Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes, head of the Philippine mission in Dubai and the neighboring northern emirates, said it’s all hands on deck at the consulate to address the situation as more requests keep coming in.
Published June 14, 2021, 1:21 PM
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday directed the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) to do “whatever it takes” to repatriate the 13 Filipino seafarers who have been left stranded for 17 months onboard their vessel in Southern China.
Screengrab from the video footage of stranded Filipino crewmembers of MV Angelic Power appealing for government help to repatriate them back to the Philippines. (via Twitter/CNN Philippines)
The 13 Filipino seafarers are crewmembers of MV Angelic Power, a Greek-flagged bulk carrier reportedly abandoned by its owners as an offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak last year.
3 OFWs rescued from alleged abusive employer in Kuwait gmanetwork.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gmanetwork.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) will lead the establishment of an inter-agency task force that will oversee the streamlining of the processing of blood money claims.
ARTA Director-General Jeremiah Belgica during the meeting with officials from ARTA, the Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
In a statement, the DFA said they have not received a report of any Filipino casualty in the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians that has so far claimed the lives of over 200 people, including 57 children.
There are more than 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, many of them are in the service sector.
“For now, we are at same alert level, where Filipinos are advised to take precautions. At the moment, still no report of any Filipino among casualties,” DFA Strategic Communications Executive Director Ivy Banzon-Abalos said.
Abalos added that the Philippine Embassy in Tel-Aviv and other embassies in nearby countries are readying contingency measures, in coordination with the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA).