5th batch of Saudi OFWs’ remains to arrive Sept. 27: OWWA

FILE: Mortuary personnel carry the cadavers of dead overseas Filipino workers from Saudi Arabia at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday (July 19, 2020). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The fifth batch of the remains of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who died in Saudi Arabia (KSA) is set to be repatriated on Sunday, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said on Friday.

“And if I may care to add this coming Sunday there will be the 5th batch of mass repatriation of human remains of OFWs. There will be caskets, human remains, OFWs in caskets that will be brought back to the country this coming weekend and because of this, the number of all human remains from the Kingdom will now be at 320,” OWWA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in a Laging Handa briefing.

Cacdac added that this mass repatriation of human remains back to the Philippines is the first in the country’s history.

“The bodies were stranded in the host country because of the lockdown,” he said.

However, he did not reveal the exact number of the bodies that will be repatriated, as well as the causes of death.

“So that means that we have assisted 320 families, we help them to have closure and healing for themselves as we were able to bring home their loved ones,” Cacdac said.

Earlier, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said a total of 267 bodies of Filipinos have been brought back to the country, as of late August.

The cause of death of the previously repatriated four batches of OFW remains are coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) related diseases and other causes.

The latest batch numbering to 75 dead OFWs, majority of whom died of Covid-19, arrived in the country last August 28.