More than 569,000 Filipinos, who have been living abroad, were repatriated back to the Philippines during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
The total 569,159 repatriated Filipinos are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who returned home after being dismissed from their jobs or because they were on vacation,” Lorenzana stated in a report to President Rodrigo Duterte.
This figure also included 3,132 Filipinos brought home from Sabah, he said, adding that thousands of Filipinos in Sabah had earlier sought government assistance in their repatriation even as Malaysia struggled to battle against COVID-19.
The repatriation of Filipinos from Sabah had begun in July 2020 with eight trips bringing Filipinos back to Zamboanga in Mindanao, and the last trip arriving in May this year with around 500 Filipinos, Lorenzana said.
