Malacanang expressed gratitude on Wednesday to the Japanese government for helping the Filipino repatriates who boarded M/V Diamond Princess that docked in Yokohama.

"We thank the Japanese government for the assistance they gave to our countrymen and their close cooperation with Filipino officials to ensure that the needs of our kababayans have been addressed," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

The government repatriated 445 Filipino crew members and passengers of M/V Diamond Princess cruise ship in two batches late Tuesday night.

They were immediately transferred to the Athlete's Village in the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac for a 14-day quarantine.

They still have to undergo another quarantine even if they did it in Japan to ensure that COVID-19 would not spread in the country.

Panelo also thanked Philippine Airlines that brought the Filipinos back to the country.

He said the repatriation efforts were a public-private undertaking.

"Let us pray for this second batch of repatriates, as well as of the members of the repatriation team, and hope that everything will turn out well," Panelo said.

The government earlier repatriated some 30 Filipinos from Wuhan City, the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak. After the 14-day quarantine at NCC, they were cleared and allowed to go home. Celerina Monte/DMS