OFWs’ hotel accomodation budget good until May only — OWWA

by Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star), 22 Apr 2021

MANILA, Philippines — The remaining P1.4-billion budget for hotel accommodation and other needs of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) could only last until May, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

“Today, it’s still OK. But we think sometime in the middle of May, the fund would be depleted. Second to fourth week of May, that’s when we will be on red alert,” OWWA chief Hans Cacdac said in Filipino during a virtual briefing yesterday.

“We will have no budget to pay for transport and hotel accommodations of OFWs. Our billings would be delayed, if funds will not be replenished by May,” he said.

He, however, expressed confidence that the government will find a way to provide the necessary funds.

Since last year, OWWA has paid up to P12 billion for the food, transport and hotel accommodation of returning OFWs.

The agency’s request for an additional P9.8-billion funding is still under discussion.

Congress has allotted P6.2 billion for OWWA this year, but the fund is almost depleted due to huge costs of maintaining hotel quarantines for returning OFWs.

Cacdac said at this time, there are 6,500 returning OFWs being accommodated in 125 different hotels in the country.

The figure is still manageable compared to the time when the number of OFWs staying on quarantine hotels reached 11,000 a few months ago, he added.

The OWWA chief said the government is still strictly imposing a six-day quarantine for returning OFWs, including those who came home due to family emergencies.

“It’s really strict. The DOH is reminding us to observe the six-day quarantine. We cannot shorten it,” he said.

Cacdac urged OFWs to reconsider their plans to return home for now given the current situation in the country.

“It is for the protection of our OFWs because we are under the modified enhanced community quarantine and of course, our hotel accommodations are full and (that) will inconvenience them,” he said.