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

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