Mandatory repatriation eyed for Pinoys in Ebola-hit nations
Staff Report
MANILA - At least 3,500 workers from three West African states will be repatriated due to the Ebola outbreak, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
Mandatory repatriation will apply to Filipinos in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said in a statement on Sunday.
He did not say how the workers would be repatriated. Earlier this month, the Philippines sent a boat to evacuate 800 workers from Libya and chartered two planes to fly the evacuees home.
There are 1,979 workers in Sierra Leone, 880 in Guinea and 632 in Liberia, the ministry said.
Liberia is the worst-hit by Ebola, accounting for almost half of the 1,427 deaths.
