MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs and its foreign offices to check the status of Filipino seafarers who may have been stranded at sea due to the c
oronavirus pandemic.
According to Duterte, he has received reports that some Filipino seafarers have been stranded at sea, after their ships were not allowed to dock at their intended destinations due to local lockdown laws. "There are Filipinos who are, itong mga seafarers, karamihan ito na-stranded, naiwan sa barko, when they were not allowed to dock or magdiskarga ng intended cargo nila for a certain destination because of COVID and they were contaminated and some who were not escape, and others just stayed in the ships, just bear it all," he said.
"I would like to direct the foreign affairs department, 'yung mga commercial attache natin, and even the police, we have police and military guys who are assigned in the different embassies, kindly check and do a validation report kung mayroon bang mga Filipino na na-stranded sa inyong lugar. In your area of responsibility in other countries where you are assigned.
According to Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, a total of 200,431 OFWs have been repatriated as of September 13. Another 80,000 are expected to go home within the year.Once they arrive, there will be around 2,000 Filipinos who have returned from Sabah, while around 3,000 are still waiting to go home.
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