14 September 2017•Update: 14 September 2017
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
More than 200 Filipinos living on several islands in the Carribean that were devastated by Hurricane Irma last week sought repatriation, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement on Wednesday.
“There are now as many as 236 of our kababayans from various parts of the Caribbean who have asked to be repatriated,” said Cayetano as quoted by Inquirer News. “We assure them that we will bring all of them home.”
Citing the report from the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C., Cayetano said the government is prepared to bring home around 160 to 180 Filipinos from the British Virgin Islands, 20 from the British territory of Anguilla and 36 from St. Martin.
Cayetano said the government is set to charter an aircraft that would transport the affected Filipinos to Manila starting Monday.
Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Patrick Chuasoto also reported that government teams have started arranging the transport of Filipinos from Tortola as well as the distribution of food vouchers and relief items to some Filipino communities.
Category 5 Hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean Islands, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Florida in the United States leaving a trail of devastation. It also left 40 persons killed.
No Filipino was reported killed in the onslaught of Irma, but the Philippine Embassy said it is monitoring the condition of a Filipino from the Turks and Caicos who "suffered serious injuries after he fell while clearing debris at his workplace".
