Gordon urges IATF to allow more OFW flights from UAE

Senator Richard Gordon has urged the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to permit more flights carrying unemployed and stranded Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to return to the Philippines.

Gordon proposed that airports in Clark, Subic, and Mactan be opened to accommodate these repatriation flights, in addition to existing protocols.

He emphasized that the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) will have testing centers and quarantine facilities ready in these alternative airports.

The PRC Chairman highlighted the difficult situation of stranded OFWs in the UAE, who are facing joblessness and difficulties in meeting their daily needs far from their families.

The Philippine Embassy in the UAE had previously requested the IATF's assistance for hundreds of OFWs stranded due to flight cancellations by Emirates and Etihad airlines.

Airlines canceled repatriation flights to Manila after Philippine airports were temporarily closed to passenger flights because of the pandemic.