REMEDIOS Ilagan, a 58-year-old housekeeper of an African diplomat in Brussels, was excited to fly back to the Philippines. Her years of hard work abroad was finally paying off. Her son is graduating at the AFP Officer Candidate School this December 20.
But when she was about to check in her luggage at the Emirates Airlines at the Brussels International Airport, she was told she could not be allowed to board the plane.
“I did not expect this to happen to me, to be stranded, on the spot,” Ilagan told BusinessMirror, partly in Filipino.
Ilagan’s flight was on December 10 and 12, four days after the Philippine government announced a ban on travelers from Brussels and six other countries in Europe.
Ilagan admitted that she heard about the travel ban in news and thought that she can still make it because her flight was Brussels-Dubai and then Dubai-Manila. She called the airlines and was told her flight was not cancelled She also asked her travel agency if she can still fly. She was told, “Yes, you can go.”
“I even had my pictures taken pushing my luggage,” she mused.
She reached the Philippine Embassy in Brussels and was told there may be a flight specially chartered for Filipinos like her who need to fly back to the Philippines this month.
Ilagan added she would go to Amsterdam, “by plane or train,” if she had to “because it’s so important for me to be at my child’s graduation.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs is mounting Bayanihan repatriation efforts for around 100 Filipinos stranded in Europe and Africa.
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said they are eyeing the schedule of repatriation flights to be on December 10 and 13.
Prior to this, the Philippine Embassy in the Netherlands — the first European country placed on red list—has also facilitated the repatriation of 150 Filipinos.
“We have been able to arrange flights with KLM for weeks already. Filipinos from here as well as transiting seafarers are being allowed entry to the Philippines on humanitarian basis,” Philippine Ambassador to The Netherlands Eduardo Malaya told BusinessMirror.
Aside from land-based Filipino expatriates in Europe, some Filipino seafarers were stranded due to the Philippine government’s travel ban.
Arnel Pangatungan, a seafarer who came from Pisa, Italy, shared in his YouTube channel that he was also held at the Amsterdam airport. He was able to fly from Pisa to Amsterdam, but the KLM staff told him he came from a Red List country.
“The KLM staff who assisted me explained that since I came from a Red Flag country, which is Italy, I must quarantine for 14 days in the Netherlands. I was so dismayed. Imagine, 14 days of quarantine in the Netherlands and then another 14 days in the Philippines. When I computed, it means I’ll spend Christmas ko—in quarantine [facility]!!” Pangatungan said.
He was profusely thankful for a fellow Filipino, a KLM employee, and the Philippine Embassy in The Hague who helped him take a special repatriation flight on December 1.
Besides the The Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, the other countries in Europe on the Red List are Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Switzerland.
Seven countries in Africa —South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique—are also in the Red List. Arriola said 49 Filipinos are stranded in those countries and waiting to be repatriated too by the Philippine government.