3rd repatriation flight brings home 204 more Pinoys from Japan

REPATRIATION EFFORTS. Some 204 Filipinos depart from Tokyo Narita Airport on Saturday (July 4, 2020). This is part of repatriation efforts by the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, in partnership with Cebu Pacific, to assist Filipinos amid the coronavirus outbreak. (Contributed photo via PNA)

MANILA – The Philippine Embassy in Tokyo repatriated a total of 204 Filipino tourists, students, and overseas Filipino workers stranded in Japan via a chartered flight on Saturday.

The embassy mounted the repatriation flight in close coordination with the Philippine Consulates-General in Osaka and Nagoya, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO)-Tokyo and Cebu Pacific.

The 204 passengers, some coming from as far as Okinawa, departed from Narita International Airport onboard the third repatriation flight organized by the embassy since travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) resulted in multiple cancellations of commercial flights stranded Filipinos in Japan.

This latest flight brings the total Filipinos repatriated from Japan to 815 since February, following the return of some 445 seafarers onboard the M/V Diamond Princess and a batch of 166 stranded individuals last June 1.

“As far as I know those who requested to be repatriated to the Philippines were all accommodated through the two flights we mounted — June 1 and July 4,” Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robespierre Bolivar told the Philippine News Agency.

The embassy last month also assisted the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka in facilitating the repatriation of over 300 overseas Filipinos, 209 of whom are technical intern trainees while 126 are seafarers onboard the M/V Costa Atlantica in Nagasaki.

In addition, Bolivar said all Filipinos who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in Japan based on embassy records have recovered.

“So far all the Filipino Covid cases that the Embassy and our two Consulates General are aware of have been discharged from hospital,” he said.