Eight more Filipino seafarers stranded for seven months in China were finally sent back home.
(Photo courtesy of DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola) The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the seafarers arrived in the Philippines on Sunday, Dec. 5, three days after the arrival of six of t
(Photo courtesy of DFA) MANILA - Six Filipino seafarers are now back home after getting stranded for at least half a year in southeastern China, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. The group was among the 29 Filipinos onboard the Chinese-flagged vessels Han Rong 362, 366, and 369, which ceased operations last May 2021. The seafarers were left stranded as coronavirus restrictions stalled the ships in southeastern China, the DFA said. With the department's assistance, the initial six seafarers safely arrived in Manila from Shanghai on December 2. They transited Hong Kong on Wednesday night. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said the rest of the Han Rong fishers who are still in Shanghai would be brought home "in the following days". Since receiving a report about the distressed fishermen's plight, the Philippine Consulates General in Shanghai, Xiamen, and Guangzhou attended to their needs and made representations with the ships' pri
Published May 15, 2021, 4:37 PM
Despite closed borders and the lack of commercial flights available, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday night brought home 155 distressed overseas Filipinos from China, bringing the total number of Filipinos the agency has brought home from around the world since the pandemic started to 400,958.
The Department of Foreign Affairs repatriates 155 overseas Filipinos from China (DFA photo)
The agency’s repatriation program is funded by its assistance-to-nationals (ATN) budget.
“Most of the recent arrivals were assisted with their overstaying fees in the country by the Philippine Embassy in Beijing and the various Philippine Consulates General in Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xiamen,” DFA said in a statement Saturday, May 15.