MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday said that 20 more Filipinos may be repatriated from Egypt next week.
DFA spokesman Ed Malaya said that the 20 Filipinos, who have availed of the Philippine government's offer to leave Egypt, may leave the violence-stricken country either Monday or Tuesday next week.
Malaya, meanwhile, clarified that only 26 Filipinos will depart from Cairo International Airport at 6:55 p.m. (Egypt time) on Saturday (Feb. 5) abroad an Emirates Airlines flight.
Of the 26 repatriates, 14 are women, 10 minors and 2 men.
From Cairo, the Filipinos will be brought to Dubai, where they will take a flight to the Philippines. They are expected to arrive in Manila at 4:20 p.m. Sunday (Feb. 6).
The first batch of repatriates consists of Filipino scholars from Al Azhar University and their families, 3 nurses from Dar Al Faoud Hospital and household service workers.
He said that the original number of Filipinos that was supposed to leave Egypt on Saturday was 27, but a family of 4 backed out.
The 4 Filipinos were replaced by 3 more, bringing the number of those to be repatriated this weekend to 26.
Malaya said that a number of Filipino nurses working in a hospital near the Tahrir Square are "relatively safe."
He said that the number of Filipinos availing of the voluntary repatriation was still minimal because majority of them are staying in safer areas in Egypt. At least 6,500 Filipinos are based in Egypt.
The DFA has set aside a P25-million emergency fund for the repatriation of Filipinos from Egypt.
Malaya said that a Philippine Airlines plane on standby in Riyadh can be dispatched to Egypt anytime.
"We have the resources para madaling maiuwi ang mga kababayan natin (We have the resources for the immediate repatriation of our fellow Filipinos)," he said.
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