Over 1,300 Filipinos Repatriated from Middle East Conflict

More than 1,300 Filipinos have returned home from the Middle East over the past week as the Philippine government ramps up evacuation efforts amid escalating regional conflict that began with United States and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. The latest group of 342 overseas Filipino workers and their dependents arrived safely in Manila on Sunday morning via a government-chartered Philippine Airlines flight from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The flight, the second such operation under the government's action plan, landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 around 7 a.m. It carried 328 overseas Filipino workers and 14 children who had traveled overland from cities including Riyadh, Al Khobar, Dammam in Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac welcomed the arrivals alongside representatives from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and other agencies. "We are very grateful that they landed safely," Cacdac said during a briefing at the airport.

Upon arrival, the repatriates received immediate assistance, including medical checkups, temporary hotel...