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Nearly 30K distressed Dubai OFWs got financial help, food assistance amid pandemic


Nearly 30K distressed Dubai OFWs got financial help, food assistance amid pandemic

DUBAI - Notwithstanding restrictions imposed on the movement of people at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, nearly 30,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) received aid from the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Dubai in the form of a one-time financial assistance or food support, while 3,500 more were repatriated.

Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes said 2020 was PCG’s busiest year, with the challenge being how to proceed with the services in the midst of a quarantine imposed to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.

“The need for physical distancing and crowd control was also a constraint,” Cortes told GMA News Online.

In his recent New Year’s Day message, Cortes cited the difficulties they were faced with last year in ensuring that implementation of the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (DOLE-AKAP) program, which provides for a one-time financial assistance of AED 730 (P10,000), was unimpeded.

Repatriation was also a concern as flights home were often canceled by Philippine authorities, further aggravating the situation of jobless OFWs who have nearly lost most of their savings weathering the lockdown as companies temporarily closed.

“Itong 2020 po ay naging very challenging para sa ating lahat. 'Yung pandemic… May crisis, nagkaroon ng lockdown kung kaya't marami rin ang 'di makapunta ng Konsulado at naging very strict din tayo sa physical distancing,” Cortes said.

There were 88,600 OFWs in Dubai and the neighboring northern emirates who have either lost their jobs, were on a no-work-no-pay arrangement or have had their salaries adjusted by as much as 50% because of the pandemic applying for AKAP in June, according to the Filipino Human Resources Practitioners Association in the UAE or more popularly, FilHR, citing data obtained from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) at the time.

Aside from the financial assistance, POLO also had a food assistance drive, and the challenge was how to distribute the food packs. To address this, POLO welfare officers made arrangements with certain supermarkets such that distressed OFWs could just present confirmation from POLO for them to get their groceries.

POLO likewise visited work sites and company accommodations for OFWs where they handed out food packs as well.

In all, almost 26,000 distressed OFWs, including 252 COVID-19 patients, received their DOLE-AKAP money for a total of AED18.88 million. More than 3,300 OFWs on the other hand got food assistance, officials said.

Cortes said they were also able to send over 3,500 Filipinos, including children and the elderly, home through PCG’s Assistance to Nationals desk in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs, which has launched a global repatriation program. —KG, GMA News

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