Gov't helped almost 2,000 OFWs be with kin amid COVID-19 crisis, says Duterte

The government has helped almost 2,000 overseas Filipino workers be reunited with their families amid the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) health situation, President Rodrigo Duterte has said in a report to Congress.

According to the first weekly report of President Rodrigo Duterte on the acts performed under the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, "the OWWA has provided transport, food, and accommodation assistance to returning and departing Overseas Filipino Workers."

The report said that as of March 17, OWWA's "Hatid Sundo Program" has transported and reunited 1,958 OFWs with their families.

Under the said program, arriving and departing OFWs were provided bus transport plying four routes.

Meanwhile, OFWs from Visayas and Mindanao who landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) were billeted in hotels around Metro Manila and provided with food during their stay, the report said.

A total of 652 OFWs were given temporary shelter, the report added. -NB, GMA News

Apart from them, the report said the OWWA also provided special assistance to OFWs stranded in Clark.

Some OFWs were stranded in Clark as they were made to believe that they could take domestic flights to Visayas or Mindanano from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport after landing in NAIA.

"The OWWA provided food, accommodation, and transport assistance to 363 stranded OFWs. From 17 March 2020 to 29 March 2020, the OWWA has assisted 2,973 OFWs," the report said.

TUCP party-list Representative Raymond Democrito Mendoza has earlier urged the President include displaced overseas Filipino workers in the social amelioration and adjustment programs authorized under the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act.

“We must include OFWs in the Bayanihan [to Heal As One] Act coverage. Many were displaced due to travel bans and closed borders. Many lost jobs and many OFW breadwinners cannot remit money home," he said.

Citing information from the Department of Labor and Employment, he said there are already 3,169 displaced OFWs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. #