67 Pinoys from Japan to arrive Sunday

SIXTY seven Filipino repatriates from Japan will be the first batch to arrive in the Philippines Sunday afternoon under the government’s mandatory repatriation, a senior official from the Foreign Affairs department said.

The Philippine government implemented the forced repatriation of Filipinos living within 50-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the Japanese government raised the nuclear emergency in Japan to a maximum level of seven.

Do you know where to buy the cheapest rice in Cebu City? Join our discussion on Facebook

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Eduardo Malaya said 67 Filipinos will arrive in Manila on Sunday through a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from the Narita Airport.

He added that the repatriates will go through proper medical check-up upon arriving in Manila. Another batch is expected to arrive on Monday.

Del Rosario said 2,000 Filipinos are covered by the evacuation measure although others opted not to go home for personal reasons.

At least $200,000 (around P8.6 million) was set aside to fund the emergency evacuation of Filipinos within the 50-kilometer radius of the quake-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facilities.

In a related development, flag carrier PAL said it will be reducing fares going out of Japan for Filipinos facing mandatory evacuation. With this, the cost of a one-way ticket from Narita to Manila or Narita to Cebu is now 30 percent cheaper at $335 (roughly P14,400), against the regular rate of $500 (roughly P21,500).

The new rate, however, excludes travel taxes imposed by Japanese authorities. To avail of the service, Filipinos are advised to coordinate with the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, which is in charge of overseeing the repatriation.

Regular passengers, on the other hand, may purchase their tickets through the PAL sales office in Narita Airport, PAL ticket offices in downtown Tokyo, other PAL offices in Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya, accredited travel agents in Japan or the PAL website.

The company said the reduced fares are just enough to recover actual cost of operating the flights, such as jet fuel, landing and parking fees, crew salaries, airport fees, among others.

A few weeks ago, PAL started shipping thousands of bottled water to Japan. Donated by sister company Asia Brewery Inc., the drinking water was coursed through the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. A total of 700,000 bottles of distilled water were shipped for free by PAL to help calamity victims.

PAL flies once a day from Narita (Tokyo) to Manila through the 370-seater Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and five times a week from Narita to Cebu using the 302-seater Airbus A330-300. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)