THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) repatriated 373 stranded Filipinos in Singapore who included 34 pregnant women and 15 others who were ill.In a statement, the DFA on Thursday said as of July 15, a total of 1,432 of Filipinos in Singapore have benefited from the government's repatriation program amid the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic which displaced overseas Filipinos.The repatriates also included 91 who have completed their employment contracts, 87 who were not renewed or terminated from their contracts, 61 stranded tourists, 15 senior citizens, and 13 students or minors.Most of the evacuees were respondents of an online registration survey conducted by the Philippine Embassy in Singapore from June 29 to July 3, which generated a total of 1,189 registrants, the DFA said.Additional passengers came from the list of Filipino individuals who have sought assistance directly from the embassy, the Foreign Affairs department added.The repatriation flight departed Singapore on July 14 at 2:30 p.m. and arrived in Manila at 6:30 p.m. on the same day. This was the 7th repatriation flight that the embassy organized.The embassy is set to conduct three more repatriation flights in the next few weeks. 'Our kababayans in Singapore who are interested to avail of these repatriation flights are advised to regularly check the Philippine Embassy’s official Facebook page for updates,' the DFA said.The embassy also assisted privately chartered flights arranged by local manning agencies to repatriate stranded Filipino seafarers in Singapore by coordinating their clearances from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the DFA.Meanwhile, Singapore donated 100 test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Department of Health (DoH) 'in the spirit of the strong bilateral cooperation between the Philippines and Singapore,' the DFA said.Singapore's Temasek Foundation recently donated 100 test kits (equivalent to 20,000 tests), 12 MGIEasy DNA/RNA kits (equivalent to 20,736 preps) and 90,805 PPE items comprised of goggles, gloves, facial shields, masks, surgical gowns, caps, and shoe covers in support of the Philippines’ Covid-19 response.Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph del Mar Yap received the donations on July 13 and thanked Temasek Foundation Chief Executive Officer Benedict Cheong for Singapore’s generosity and solidarity.The DoH received the Temasek Foundation’s donations on July 14. This is Temasek Foundation’s second batch of donations to the Philippines, the DFA said.Temasek Foundation previously donated 100 oxygen concentrators, 200 units of Covid-19 diagnostic kits (equivalent to 40,000 tests) and 2 ventilators to the DoH.Temasek Foundation is the non-profit organization under the philanthropic arm of Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s state sovereign fund.
