By Samuel P. Medenilla & Recto Mercene
THE Philippines is chartering a cargo plane to bring home the bodies of hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who perished in Saudi Arabia, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
“We’re getting a cargo flight to bring home bodies of about 200 OFWs from Saudi Arabia,” Locsin said during an interview Monday on ANC’s Headstart.
The 200-plus figure that Locsin provided is the same one cited at the weekend by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and excludes 52 OFWs who died from Covid-19. Their remains will not be repatriated and they will be buried in Saudi Arabia.
Later on Monday, however, Manila’s ambassador to the kingdom said the number of OFW Covid deaths was actually at 107; and the total of OFW remains being processed by the embassy in Riyadh is at 353.
The Philippines is being pressured by Saudi Arabia to bring home the OFW bodies following the 72-hour deadline given by King Salman. The Kingdom’s ultimatum was prompted by the pressures it also faces from its overflowing morgues, as bodies piled up in the past weeks owing to lockdowns at airports both in Saudi Arabia and the home countries of foreign workers.
In his TV interview on Monday, Locsin eased the fears of relatives in the Philippines that the Kingdom would cremate the bodies if these are not brought home to the country sooner.
“I’ve met the [Saudi Arabia] ambassador who assured me there’s nothing to fear that they will dispose of the bodies,” Locsin said, quoting the Saudi ambassador as saying: “No we don’t do that, there is no cremation.”
Muslim practices strictly forbid the cremation of the body as it is written in the Koran, but also require speedy burial.
Meanwhile, in an online press briefing on Monday, Ambassador for KSA Adnan Alonto said there are now 107 OFWs who are among the Covid-19 fatalities in KSA, and the total of the deceased that they must process is 353. During the weekend, the DOLE said the figure of OFW Covid deaths was only at 52.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will provide benefits to the deceased OFWs’ families.
Roque said the OFWs who died from Covid-19 will no longer be repatriated since they will be buried in KSA instead.
As for the 246 other OFWs who died from natural causes, Alonto said the Philippine government is now processing their repatriation since the Saudi government gave them 72 hours to do so.
He said the Saudi government made the decision because its morgues and hospitals are suffering from overcapacity as KSA also deals with its own Covid-19 crisis.
Alonto explained the number of OFWs’ remains in KSA piled up because of the lockdown implemented by the Saudi government in the last three months, reducing the number of available flights to and from the Middle East country.
DOLE earlier said it is now coordinating with the OWWA to charter flights to repatriate the OFWs’ bodies.
When asked if it is true that there are two countries in the Middle East with the highest number of infections among overseas Filipino (OFs), Locsin said he is not allowed to name any country in particular but could generalize that it is in Africa and the Middle East.
He said, so far “there are around 3,000 overseas Filipinos in Africa and the Middle East that have been infected, 373 in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, 492, and Europe 305.”
Committed to bring them home
Asked about the challenges of repatriating thousands of Filipinos rendered jobless by the pandemic, Locsin said his policy has been to bring home as many OFWs as possible. He said he could feel how it is to be left jobless and waiting in a foreign land.
So far, as of Sunday, the DFA was able to repatriate more than 51,000 overseas Filipinos.
Of those rendered jobless by the pandemic, estimates vary from 50,000 to 100,000 land-based and sea-based OF who are waiting for any mode of transport to bring them back to the Philippines.
“The challenges in repatriating OFWs is this: my order is to bring them home as fast as possible. At the same time, there’s the other side: the reception here. I’ve been told we’re bringing in so many, so fast,” he said.
Locsin admits he was cautioned by colleagues in the inter-agency task force (IATF) “to moderate your enthusiasm” in airlifting OFs because of the limited capacity of the various agencies to subject the returnees to testing.
That was the reason the IATF ordered the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to limit arrivals to 400 OFWs per day, since the medical authorities doing the testing on Terminal 1 have very limited capability.
“There are also lockdowns in the country of origin and in the Philippines,” the DFA chief pointed out.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
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