OWWA: P500M spent in two months for OFWs quarantine

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has spent almost P500 million in two months for the mandatory quarantine of 35,000 returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the agency's administrator Hans Cacdac said Friday.

With thousands more expected to return to the country within the year, OWWA would be needing augmentation in funding from the national govenrment, Cacdac said at the House Committee on Overseas Workers hearing.

The mandatory RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests for the OFWs are being shouldered by Philhealth and the Philippine Red Cross.  However, the OWWA official said that billeting the OFWs in hotels as a quarantine measure while waiting for their test results entails a huge amount of funding.

According to Cacdac, of the P497 million spent by OWWA since April, P407 million went to payment of hotel bookings; P78.5 million was spent for food; and P10.8 million for transportation.

The mandatory quarantine for returning OFWs was ordered by National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief Carlito Galvez, Jr. on April 13.  

Since then, OWWA has been spending P15,124 per OFW.

“Mayroon na pong 25,000 na bumalik na sea-based, 17,000 naman po ang land-based. May padating pa po na 25,000 na sea-based, tapos 20,000 na land-based. Iyong sa funding po, we already spent close to half billion in two months,” Cacdac said.

“Kung every two months po at P500 million for every 35,000 and this could go on until the end of the year, mga P3 to P4 billion po [ang kakailanganin],” Cacdac added.

Cacdac, however, clarified that while the mandatory quarantine of OFWs is costly, OWWA supports it as it is needed to protect citizens from COVID-19, and that is why the agency is asking for additional funding support for such an initiative.

“The mandatory quarantine is for a good reason,” Cacdac said.

Cacdac said that of the 9,100 OFWs quarantined in government facilities, 7,500 have so far been tested.

At least 3,500 COVID-19 test results have been released, with 456 testing positive.—LDF, GMA News