400 undocumented Filipinos in Kuwait to be repatriated this week

FILE: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday more than 400 Filipino undocumented workers are expected to arrive in Manila within the week as the Kuwaiti amnesty expires on April 22. (PNA photo)

KUWAIT — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday more than 400 Filipino undocumented workers are expected to arrive in Manila within the week as the Kuwaiti amnesty expires on April 22.

The Philippine Embassy on Saturday will repatriate 113 workers via Philippine Airlines on Saturday while, 326 will be flown home on board two Qatar Airways flights on Sunday.

These are the last three flights for those who availed of the extended amnesty program of the Kuwaiti government for undocumented foreigners.

DFA Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato said Friday “the last three batches will bring to almost 5,000 or 4,933 the number of overstaying Filipinos reunited with their families in the Philippines since the start of the government’s repatriation program for Kuwait on February 11.”

On Friday morning, a DFA team led by Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola arrived in Kuwait to supervise the repatriation.

OFW Sectoral Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz III also arrived in Kuwait to look into the situation of runaway Filipino workers staying in embassy shelters in Kuwait.