The Philippine Online Chronicles

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) have begun returning home for the holidays, with the Bureau of Immigration expecting around 1 million workers, balikbayans and Filipino-American visitors before Christmas.

ABS-CBN News reports that six airplanes from the Middle East bearing mostly OFWs touched down on Sunday. These include Etihad Airways Flight EY 424 which landed at 3:30 pm, followed by Emirates, EK-332; Saudia, SB-870; Gulf Air, GF-156; Kuwait, KU-411; and Qatar, QR-646.

Other flights from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia also flew in around the same time.

An additional 30 Immigration personnel were needed to process the documents of around 3,000 passengers within an hour.

Immigration Supervisor Julius Cortes noted that more OFWs would be flying in over the next few days, saying that around 200,000 workers returned home during the period of December 1 to 7 last year.

Among those returning home this year are 2,000 Filipino workers from the US bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 manager Dante Basanta added that the airport would be mobilizing more employees in anticipation of the influx.

Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani also noted that OFWs departing this season may face a shortage of flights and plane seats due to the number of workers returning home.