By ROY C. MABASA
A repatriation team from the Department of Foreign Affairs is now in Wuhan City, the ground zero of the 2019 novel coronavirus, to begin the process of bringing home Filipinos from Hubei province beginning this weekend.
Led by Mark Anthony Geguera and Sanny Darren Bejarin of the Philippine Consulate in Shanghai, the DFA repatriation team arrived in the area on Thursday and immediately met with members of the Filipino community in Wuhan as well as with the Foreign Affairs Office in Hubei Province to discuss details of the repatriation.
“Today we already have our DFA team inside Wuhan City for the repatriation of our OFWs. They are on the ground and they’re taking the risk,” DFA Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Brigido Dulay said in a statement.
As of the posting of this report, the DFA said a total of 45 Filipinos are confirmed for repatriation.
Upon arrival in the Philippines, the repatriates from Wuhan and Hubei Province will be brought to the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City in Tarlac and will undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine per guidelines of the Department of Health (DoH).
According to the DFA, the first repatriation team is in close coordination with another team from the DFA Home Office that will be flying in soon to Wuhan to assist in the effort.
On January 28, 2020, the DFA initiated the call to repatriate the workers through the facilitation of the Philippine Embassy in Beijing and the Philippine Consulate General in Shanghai, the post which has jurisdiction over Wuhan and Hubei.
Filipinos in China were given until February 5, 2020, to take advantage of the government repatriation service.