OWWA asks Congress for P250M in additional funds for returning OFWs

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has asked Congress for an additional P250 million budget as an estimated 40,000 overseas Filipino workers are expected to return to the country through June.
OWWA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said the agency has already spent P420 million on accommodation, transportation, food and other kinds of assistance for the displaced OFWs, who have returned to the Philippines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In May, we pretty much spent our entire year’s repatriation budget. So in a few weeks, months time we will go over, overboard, so we will be already cutting into the investment funds of OWWA,” Cacdac said in Raffy Tima’s 24 Oras report on Thursday.
Cacdac said that while OWWA can still provide the needs of the stranded OFWs in Metro Manila, the agency needs additional funds for the 40,000 more workers expected to return in the coming weeks.
“We depend on collections, membership collections and investment income which we have none these days. Usually, nakakakalap kami ng at least mga P2.5 billion in income every year and it will be difficult to restore that unless we get congressional help,” Cacdac said.
He said the additional funding from Congress would be spent to pay for accommodations, transportation and other assistance to the returning OFWs.
Meanwhile, Cacdac said the agency is already rushing to ferry OFWs who tested negative for COVID-19 back to their hometowns.
However, he added delays are to be expected due to the high volume of OFWs needed to be accommodated.
“The volume is overwhelming. Sa OWWA, we do this repatriation and family reunification work every day. Kayang-kaya po namin ‘yan, but not to the extent na 25 [thousand], 28,000 sila sabay-sabay, so we are really trying out best,” Cacdac said. — Ma. Angelica Garcia/BM, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more