With the recent repatriation of 66 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Kuwait, the total number of distressed Filipinos brought home from Kuwait has risen to 425 so far this year, said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in the Philippines.
Revealing this figure, the DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola noted, “Our repatriation program is part of our mandate to protect Filipinos in distress abroad.” This is the eighth batch of OFWs that availed of the Embassy-Assisted Repatriation Program (EARP).
The EARP helps OFWS with expired visas or who have absconded from employers to exit from Kuwait legally. The program is funded through the DFA’s P1-billion Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund. The Embassy has so far spent a total of P9.2 million for the repatriation of OFWs from Kuwait.
