OFWs losing jobs due to COVID-19 'isolated cases,' says Bello

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Wednesday brushed off reports of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) getting fired by their employers amid the 2019 NOVEL coronavirus disease (COVID-19) scare, saying these were merely isolated cases.

“May mga isolated cases pero by large walang mga alarming rate of unemployment to our overseas workers,” Bello said in a press conference in Manila.

Bello was reacting to a report by the South China Morning Post saying domestic workers in Hong Kong, including Filipinos, had been fired amid the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The report cited the case of 46-year-old Filipino worker Jennifer, who was fired from her job in February after returning home from a Mass in Fortress Hill.

Bello, however, insisted that the Philippines is "not losing workers overseas."

"Wala namang loss of works, especially if we are talking of Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, and even Taiwan," he said.

"Wala naman except for some who requested for repatriation," Bello added.

At least 196 Filipinos from Macau will be repatriated this week amid the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and will be treated as persons under monitoring by the Department of Health (DOH). —KBK, GMA News