OWWA to ask for additional funds for repatriation program

The Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) on Monday said it will again request for a replenishment of funds to be used for the repatriation program of Filipino workers stranded abroad. advertisement According to OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, current funds are set to last for the next three months, and more will be needed as more overseas Filipino workers are expected to be brought home. “We’re good until mga September, and then after September, hihingi na naman tayo ng pondo. Actually baka ngayong panahon pa lamang, magbibigay na tayo ng senyales sa DBM patungkol sa pangangailangan ng pondo ng bandang katapusan ng third quarter o simula ng fourth quarter ng taong ito,” he said during the Laging Handa public briefing. (We’re good until about September, and then after September, we will again ask for funds. Actually, maybe at this time we will already signify to the DBM the need for more funds by the end of the third quarter or the start of the fourth quarter of the year.) This is on top of the P5.2 billion additional funds granted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) a month ago, as requested by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. According to Cacdac, there are some 612,000 overseas Filipino workers stranded abroad who have been repatriated since May 2020. Their swab testing, flight tickets and quarantines in the country are being shouldered by the agency. 348 more OFWs brought home There were some 348 OFWs from Dubai and Abu Dhabi who were brought home over the weekend, marking the fourth batch of repatriation since the inter-agency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases (IATF-EID) declared travel restrictions in seven countries. Cacdac said there are still some 70,000 to 80,000 Filipinos awaiting to be repatriated, but the number could rise to as much as 130,000 when those with emergency matters in the Philippines are counted. According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), four more repatriation flights have already been scheduled — on Monday, July 12, followed by July 17, 27, and 30. —KBK, GMA News

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