Palace to ask OWWA for inventory of OFWs in quarantine facilities

Malacañang said Tuesday it will ask the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to provide an inventory of repatriated migrant Filipino workers still awaiting results of their COVID-19 tests at government-accredited facilities.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque gave the assurance after some overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have reportedly complained of being stuck in the facilities beyond the mandatory 14-day quarantine period.

“We will look into this now. We will go out of our way and actually ask OWWA for an inventory lalung-lalo na kung ilan na ‘yung napakatagal nang nag-aantay ng resulta and really ask ‘yung mga laboratories kaya n’yo ba o hindi,” Roque said in a televised briefing.

OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac earlier urged OFWs to be patient as the results were being released in batches. He also said repatriated OFWs cannot leave the isolation facilities until the results arrive.

As of May 13, the Bureau of Quarantine is manning 80 quarantine facilities (58 are hotels or similar facilities while 22 are cruise ships) covering 12,476 repatriates, according to President Rodrigo Duterte’s report that was submitted to Congress on Monday. --KBK, GMA News