OWWA vows financial aid for Bahamas OFWs affected by Hurricane Dorian

Published October 29, 2019 3:15pm

By JOAHNA LEI CASILAO, GMA News

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) head Hans Cacdac revealed on Tuesday that they would be providing financial assistance to the overseas Filipino workers in the Bahamas affected by Hurricane Dorian.
"[W]e have been working on a package of financial assistance to be given to OFWs in Bahamas [...] We would encourage affected OFWs to await distribution of the financial assistance in Bahamas within this week," Cacdac told GMA News Online in a message.
The financial assistance would be provided in coordination with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Washington DC.
A Filipino nurse in the Bahamas pleaded for government aid last week given the damage brought by the hurricane, and claiming that earlier requests made by fellow OFWs with the OWWA had been ignored.
Imelda Factor Glori said that workers who returned to Manila to ask for help were told by OWWA employees that they did not know anything about the hurricane.
Cacdac promised that they would look into their employee's actions, and they would be "reprimanded"  if the allegations against them were proven to be true.
"Please send our assurances of support to OWWA members who were victims of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. Also, our apologies for the misunderstanding," Cacdac had also said in his text message.
Glori, the nurse in-charge at Hope Town Clinic, also commended the Filipino Association Bahamas for quickly assisting OFWs.
"Each of us victims were given $250 without hesitation [and] documents or ID presented. Most of our passports and IDs were destroyed because our roofs [were] blown away," Glori said in an email.
Hurricane Dorian had damaged or destroyed at least 13,000 houses, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' Emergency Operation Center in Geneva, Sune Bulow, said earlier.   
The Philippine consul general in Washington DC held a meeting in the Bahamas during which he distributed $100 to the OFWs in the area. However, workers lamented that this was not enough.
"Hindi natin kailangan ng repatriation. Kailangan natin ng funds para sa transition natin. Walang magagawa ang $100. Dapat mga 'tig $5,000 each," Ronan, an OFW, had said. — DVM, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more