Send home 24,000 quarantined OFWs
Duterte to hold gov't execs accountable for any delay in migrant workers’ homecoming
All 24,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stuck in quarantine centers in Metro Manila must be sent back to their homes within a week, President Duterte ordered in his latest directive to three key government agencies.
“The President ordered the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment), OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) and the DOH (Department of Health) to send home the 24,000 OFWs to their respective provinces within one week,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said over government television.
“They may use all resources of government and tap transportation modes such as bus, airplanes, and ships so our OFWs can return to their
homes,” he added.
The concerned government officials will be held accountable if they are unable to send home the OFWs stuck in quarantine centers in Metro Manila.
Roque said President Duterte is fed up with the delayed release of OFWs and wanted authorities to hasten the processing of their test results so that those who are cleared can finally return to their places of residence.
“Ang sabi niya, enough is enough. One week, otherwise, marami pong mananagot (He said enough is enough. He has given them one week. Otherwise, many will be held accountable),” Roque said in an interview over DZMM Monday.
Responding to President Duterte’s order, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said concerned government agencies are working to send home the 24,000 quarantined OFWs within three days.
“We will not wait for the one week period ordered by Pangulo. We’ll finish it at the rate of 8,000 [OFWs] per day,” Bello, who is facilitating the transportation of OFWs back to their home provinces, said in an interview over DZBB on Monday.
“The President said, ‘you have to ensure the health and well-being of our OFWs. They are being missed by their families and you are not helping them.’ So we are trying now to bring them home,” he said.
Roque said the President received a deluge of complaints from OFWs who are unable to return to their homes since they are still waiting for the test results in the quarantine centers.
The government has required returning OFWs to undergo coronavirus testing and 14-day facility-based quarantine as a precaution against the spread of the disease. OFWs are given health clearances before they are allowed to return to their hometowns.
Roque said they expect the concerned agencies to hasten the release of the test results of the OFWs and allow those cleared to go home.
“The President expects that no one among the 24,000 OFWs will still be waiting for their COVID-19 results in Manila this week,” he added.
PNP assistance
In anticipation of the exodus of the 24,000 OFWs, Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield and PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, said they have already instructed all police commanders nationwide to assist in the transport of the OFWs to their respective points of destination.
“Our Chief PNP [General Archie Gamboa] has already alerted all police commanders nationwide to prepare for the arrival of our OFWS in the coming days, starting today [Monday],” said Eleazar.
“As per SILG [Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año], the plan is to transport 8,000 who have already finished the mandatory quarantine and tested negative in their RT-PCR Test every day from May 25 to May 27,” said Eleazar.
The buses will be available for the OFWs whose destinations are Bicol, Ilocos Region, and other parts of Luzon. There will be available flights to Cagayan de Oro, Tacloban, Bacolod, Davao City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, and Zamboanga City. More buses, ships, and flights will be available for the stranded OFWs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Eleazar said police commanders have been advised to facilitate the smooth travel of the returning OFWs amid possibilities that they may be barred entry in their hometowns.
Testing process
To speed up the testing process, the President has also directed authorities to strengthen the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing capacity in the provinces, not just in Metro Manila, according to Roque.
With the proposed establishment of more testing facilities in the provinces, he said Filipino repatriates can go straight to their hometowns and take the coronavirus test there.
“The President finds unacceptable that OFWs, after having served the nation, separated from their families, saddened and suffered in other countries, are now having difficulty waiting for the COVID19 results,” he said.
“The President agrees that all workers must take the COVID-19 tests but he finds unacceptable the long process before they can go back home,” he added.
Earlier, Chief implementer of the government's coronavirus response Carlito Galvez Jr. said they are stepping up preparations to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infections that may come from the influx of Filipino workers arriving from virus-hit countries. He said as many as 500,000 overseas Filipino workers displaced by the pandemic are estimated to possibly return to the country this year.
Galvez had earlier expressed concern that an additional 42,000 OFWs arriving this May and June may overwhelm the quarantine facilities in Metro Manila. Of the 30,000 OFWs tested for the coronavirus, he said around 600 were found positive.
He said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, chair of the national task force on COVID-19, has already issued an order to declog the Metro Manila quarantine centers “within two weeks” to make room for the next batch of repatriates.
₱20-B fund Meanwhile, OWWA should use its ₱20-billion trust fund to help OFWs displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Monday.
Drilon made the call as he urged the government to look into the issues faced by OFWs, noting the OWWA is not doing its best to help them.
“We must look into this. The OWWA, in particular, is not doing its best to assist our OFWs,” Drilon said in a statement.
“It has ₱20-B trust fund sitting in banks which it can use to provide livelihood assistance to displaced OFWs,” he stressed. (With reports from Raymund F. Antonio, Aaron B. Recuenco, and Hannah L. Torregoza)