Nearly 3,000 Dubai OFW applications received for PH financial aid

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Dubai and the Northern Emirates affected by the Middle East crisis have been swift to apply for financial aid or ayuda from the Philippine government, sending hundreds of applications within minutes as soon as the online submission portal opens.

According to the Department of Migrant Workers' (DMW) Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Dubai, a total of 1,017 applied in 25 minutes on May 5; preceded by 1,027 in 57 minutes on May 1; and 822 in 20 minutes on April 28.

"Napakabilis po nu'n. Marami talaga ang nangangailangan (That is really fast. A lot of OFWs really are in need)," said Labor Attache John Rio Bautista.

All in all, this adds up to 2,866 OFW applicants. Disapproved applications, classified as "ineligible" and "incomplete" submissions, will be deducted from this number.

Qualified applicants may receive AED730, which is about P12,000.

Bautista said the first tranche of funding was for 3,271 OFWs.

He said the quickness to which MWO was able to close the online application portal speaks a lot about the volume of OFWs affected by the Middle East conflict.

The labor attache indicated that MWO may have to ask Manila for fresh funding as the current amount on hand is almost depleted.

The first wave of funding was almost used up in the three application days.

"Mga less than 1,000 (applicants) na lang (ang maa-accommodate)," he said. (We have about less than 1,000 OFWs who can be accommodated.)

This could be exhausted by applications on May 8, Friday, the next day to apply for financial aid.

Salary reduction

According to an MWO report, the most common negative effect of the ongoing crisis on OFWs has been salary reduction, accounting for 45.2% of the applications on May 5.

The same was cited by 46.6% of applicants on May 1, and 41.6% on April 28.

Unpaid leave, work termination and 'no work, no pay' arrangements were the other most commonly cited effects of the regional conflict.

Most of those who applied for financial aid were from the tourism sector, food and beverage (F&B) companies, the services sector and those in the wholesale and retail trade.

Payouts

The MWO needs to pause the portal to allow for the review of applications, and payouts for qualified applicants at the designated Dubai remittance center.

A total of 571 of the 688 approved financial aid applications filed on April 28 have been forwarded to the remittance center. All of the 571 have received their aid as of May 4, the MWO said.

Meanwhile, 849 approved applications in the May 1 submissions have also been forwarded to the remittance center. — VDV, GMA News