MANILA, Philippines – A total of 55 stranded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are set to arrive on Friday evening in Manila from Papua New Guinea, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The 59-year-old has passed away nearly three years after he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds on the basis he had just three months to live.

The government’s evacuation program for overseas Filipino workers in Syria remains in “full swing,” with the repatriation on Thursday of another 26 OFWs from the strife-torn Middle East country, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.