178 stranded OFWs get 15,000 assistance

About 178 overseas Filipino workers who failed to leave on schedule for jobs waiting overseas as a result of the Xiamen Air plane mishap at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) were given P5,000 financial assistance each by the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs.

The DFA said the release of cash assistance to affected OFWs at NAIA Terminals 1, 2 and 3 will be until August 24 and at the DFA home office in Pasay City until August 31.

The 36-hour shutdown of

the NAIA runway left thousands of local and foreign passengers stranded whose flights were either cancelled, diverted or delayed. The OFWs among the stranded passengers feared losing their jobs because of the delay in their flights.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) claimed there were no more OFWs stranded at the NAIA terminals.

OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said they went around NAIA and no longer found any stranded OFWs after the regular airport operations resumed.

The DFA advised stranded OFWs who were able to leave for their respective countries of destinations to proceed to the Philippine embassy and consulates and present their passports, original and reissued tickets, certificates of employment, and overseas employment certificates to avail of the cash assistance.

While watching the Philippines-China basketball match in Jakarta Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano announced that the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs will provide P5,000 each to stranded OFWs drawn from the department’s Assistance To Nationals (ATN) fund.