Philippines arranging flight home for 340 Sudan OFWs who fled to Egypt
MANILA, Philippines — Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople announced on Friday that the Philippine government is arranging repatriation flights for around 340 overseas Filipinos who were evacuated to Egypt from Sudan.
"We are now focused on booking their flights home… We are anticipating the approval of the papers of around 340 Filipinos in two to three days' time," Ople said in a virtual press briefing with the media.
Ople said that delays in the process of securing their flight back to the Philippines are due to the sheer volume of Filipinos returning, as well as the lack of working personnel during the weekend.
"Why is it taking a while? Number one, sheer volume… Number two, it’s a weekend now. It's Friday here, so it's not a working day. Our course of action is to bring them food and water while they are still there," Ople said in Filipino.
Ople, who is currently in Aswan, Egypt, also explained that the DMW had trouble booking hotels for Filipino evacuees due to the “spillover” of people fleeing from Sudan.
"It’s difficult finding a place to stay and booking travel outside of Cairo (Egypt)," Ople said.
Ople said about 777 Filipinos have sought help from the migrant workers department in crossing the Sudan-Egypt border following a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group that began 12 days ago.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday that about 496 Filipinos have evacuated the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, 414 of them are either at the border between Egypt and Sudan, or have already crossed the border into Egypt.
The DFA has raised Alert Level 3 in Sudan, a status that is issued when "violent disturbances or external aggression occur in a limited area" and which involves voluntary evacuation and repatriation. — Cristina Chi with reports by Kaycee Valmonte
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