International airports outside Manila to accept returning OFWs —Dizon

International airports outside Metro Manila will begin accepting flights carrying returning overseas Filipino workers, the deputy chief implementer of the government’s COVID-19 response said Thursday.

According to Bases Conversion and Development Authority president Vince Dizon, the Clark International Airport in Pampanga would start accommodating repatriated OFWs on Friday while other international aviation gateways are expected to follow suit.

The Labor department said it expects some 16,000 displaced OFWs to return to the country this month.

“Ang gagawin po natin ngayon sa mga susunod na linggo ay idi-decentralize na po natin ang arrivals ng ating mga OFWs,” Dizon said in a televised briefing.

“At dahil po tumataas na ang capacity ng ating mga probinsya at ng ating mga siyudad sa labas ng Metro Manila, magagawa na po natin ito ngayon para po mapadali ang pag-uwi at makasama ng ating mga kababayang mga OFWs ang kanilang mga pamilya.”

OFW arrivals are currently concentrated in Manila. The repatriated OFWs should undergo mandatory quarantine and test negative for COVID-19 before they will be allowed to return to their home provinces.

Recently, President Rodrigo Duterte gave government agencies one week to process the immediate release from quarantine facilities of some 24,000 OFWs that tested negative for the virus. The government agencies were able to meet the President’s target. —LDF, GMA News