More than 300,000 cash aid applications from OFWs approved

MORE than 300,000 applications for aid by migrant Filipino workers have been approved, according to the Labor department.

The agency said the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) had received more than 600,000 applications or aid amid a coronavirus pandemic. Almost 280,000 migrant Filipino workers have received the cash aid under the program.

As of Oct. 2, the department had released about P2.85 billion to both on-site and repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFW). The program is a one-time cash aid of P10,000 given to overseas workers.

The labor department said that as of Oct. 3, no OFW had been infected with the coronavirus in Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

It said two new positive OFW cases were being monitored in Singapore, while there were three new cases in Israel, according to Labor attache Rudy Gabasan.

In Europe, 101 Filipinos had been monitored for the coronavirus as of Oct. 2. Eighty-five Filipinos there have recovered, six died, eight were positive, and two were negative. In the Middle East, Qatar had 17 OFW deaths as of Oct. 2. Total infections increased by nine to 3,132, according to a report from the Labor office in Qatar on Saturday. There were no reported deaths among overseas workers in Los Angeles in the US as of Sept. 30, according to the Labor office in LA. No OFW case was reported in Canada, the Labor department said.

OWWA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac told a news briefing last month a P2 billion fund would be allotted for the program that will benefit 200,000 migrant Filipino workers.