MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs said 13 Filipinos from crisis-hit Sri Lanka are now back in the Philippines, while more are expected to arrive back home in the coming days.
They are the first batch of the 114 Filipinos who signed up for government-assisted repatriation service. The department is eyeing to repatriate all 114 individuals by the second week of August.
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"The DFA continues to assist all distressed Filipinos overseas, including undocumented contract workers," Foreign Affairs Acting Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said in a statement on Sunday.
The first batch of Filipinos reportedly arrived on Saturday. Officials from the department’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs (OUMWA) welcomed six female individuals, two males, and five minors when they arrived in Manila.
Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis with reports of food, fuel, and medicine shortages going on for months. Protesters ousted Gotabaya Rajapaska from the presidency earlier this month and lawmakers have since voted in six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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“We are coordinating with the Department of Migrant Workers and other concerned agencies during this transition period, as the DMW sets up its Migrant Workers Offices abroad,” de Vega said.
Together with the DFA’s OUMWA, the Philippine Embassy in Bangladesh and the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Colombo continue to monitor the situation in Sri Lanka.