MANILA: Philippine authorities welcomed on Tuesday overseas Filipino workers arriving from the Middle East to spend Christmas at home.
Most Philippine nationals employed abroad live and work in Middle Eastern countries, especially of the Gulf Cooperation Council region.
Out of nearly 1.8 million overseas Filipinos in GCC states, more than half live and work in Saudi Arabia, which has for decades been their preferred overseas employment destination. The UAE, comes second, being home to around 680,000 Philippine nationals.
Those who arrived at Manila airport on Tuesday were received by Department of Migrant Workers Assistant Secretary Venecio Legaspi and Arnell Ignacio, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
“We want them to feel the Christmas spirit as soon as they arrive at the airport. We want to make them feel more special. We want them to remember how we celebrate Christmas in the Philippines,” Ignacio told Arab News.
Often referred to in the Philippines as “modern-day heroes,” overseas Filipino workers have in the past decade sent back home remittances that contributed an average of nearly 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Under the Pamaskong Salubong, or Christmas Welcome, program, the OWWA has prepared special Christmas baskets for returning Filipinos. In some cases, the returnees also received cash for education or livelihood assistance.
“They’re coming home and it’s Christmas time, so we want to make them feel the celebration that is very unique to the Philippines that’s why we are doing the Pamaskong Salubong,” Ignacio said.
“We bring them not only gifts but love and gratitude for their sacrifice.”
Christmas is the most important annual holiday in the Catholic-majority Philippines.
Formal celebrations begin on Dec. 16, when people start to go to the first of nine pre-dawn masses, but in many households the festive season kicks off in September, marking the beginning of the “ber” months (September, October, November, and December), and continues until Jan. 6, when it ends with Epiphany, or the Feast of the Three Kings.