OWWA to roll out P150,000-P1M group livelihood loans for OFWs in September

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will be offering group livelihood loans for overseas Filipino workers displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic, its administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said Tuesday. "Three weeks ago nag-approve ang OWWA board chaired by Secretary [Silvestre] Bello III ng group livelihood. It's a 500-M facility, it's a [loan] grant P150,000 to P1 million ang maiga-grant natin," Cacdac said in a Senate hearing led by the committee on labor. "It's a group livelihood program. We're set to roll this out in September," he added. The OWWA Board sees that group livelihood loans are more likely to be successful. "Batay sa karanasan, may malaki ang tyansa ng tagumpay kung grupo kaya ang pagapasyahan ng OWWA board ay i-encourage ang group livelihood program lalo na sa panahon ng pandemya, baka mas matibay ang negosyo kung grupo po sila," Cacdac said. Cacdac, however, did not elaborate yet on the application requirements for the group livelihood assistance. Around 165,000 OFWs have been assisted by the OWWA in to return to their home regions since May 15, according to Cacdac, and about 50 to 60 percent of them have applied for the P10,000 cash aid from the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) program. Senate committee on labor chairperson Joel Villanueva said that out of the 250,000 target beneficiaries of AKAP, only 162,266 OFWs or 64.1% have received assistance, so far. Cacdac said there is P1 billion earmarked for AKAP from a supplemental budget received by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and P2 billion more from the proposed Bayanihan Law 2. "Malaki ho ang pag-asa natin na mahahagip natin ang balanse, 'yung kailangan pa tulungan dito sa DOLE-AKAP," he said. Citing an August 19 data from DOLE, Villanueva said the COVID-19 pandemic displaced 394,044 OFWs. — RSJ, GMA News

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