Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that at least 14 Filipinos will be flying home from Iraq this weekend.
They will be the first batch of Filipinos to be repatriated by the government amid tensions in the Middle East.
Lorenzana told reporters on Saturday that the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad will transport the Filipinos to Doha, Qatar.
From Qatar they will board a commercial flight to Manila on Sunday.
“This number may increase, however, as the Embassy continues to call on other OFWs who wish to come home,” Lorenzana said in a statement.
Special Envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu previously said that there are about 1,600 Filipinos who have expressed to avail repatriation but only a few actually went to the embassy.
The Department of Labor and Employment showed there are 2,191 OFWs in Iraq, while the Department of Foreign Affairs counted 4,204.
Last week, Iranian missiles hit the military bases of the United States in Iraq in response to the killing of a top Iranian military official.
Both Iran and the U.S. also expressed their intention to work towards de-escalation of war.
