Govt to fly home stranded workers in Hong Kong

MALACAÑANG has approved the proposal of the Foreign Affairs and Labor departments to bring home about 1,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stranded in Hong Kong after they were allegedly duped by their travel agency.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said President Rodrigo Duterte approved the plan he and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd put together on Wednesday to assist the stranded OFWs, who were defrauded by the travel agency where they bought their tickets.

“Our kababayan (countrymen) in Hong Kong and other parts of the world have a very special place in President Duterte’s heart and it is just right that we make their Christmas wishes come true by doing what we can to bring them home,” Cayetano said. Cayetano, co- chairman of the Cabinet Cluster on Overseas Workers, said the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment, through the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), would advance the cost of roundtrip travel of the affected workers. Cayetano said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had placed the Philippine Air Force on standby in case air assets needed to be flown to Hong Kong to ferry the workers home. Cayetano has instructed the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong to file criminal charges against PEYA Travel, the Filipino-owned travel agency that defrauded the workers.

“We also will pursue a civil suit against PEYA Travel to compensate our kababayan for the damages they suffered,” Cayetano said.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said that under the arrangements with OWWA Administrator Hans Cacdac, the two agencies would split the cost of roundtrip air travel of the affected workers.

Arriola said affected workers would be asked to issue an undertaking assigning the refund of their tickets bought from PEYA Travel to the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong.

She said Philippine Airlines and airfare and would also dispatch bigger aircraft to accommodate the stranded workers to ensure they would be home before Christmas.

Cebu Pacific also offered 50 complimentary return tickets to the stranded Filipinos, who were mostly household service workers, she added.

Acting Consul General Roderico Atienza said about 160 victims had approached the consulate to seek assistance.