DOLE-OWWA seeks additional P9.8B for OFW repatriation fund

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has requested an additional P9.8 billion to augment the repatriation fund of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said Wednesday.

Cacdac said labor authorities projected that the P6.2-billion 2021 budget for the hotel, transportation, and food expenses of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would run out by April or May.

“[Labor] Secretary [Silvestre] Bello wrote [Budget] Secretary [Wendel] Avisado as a preemptive measure to receive supplemental funding from the national government,” Cacdac said in a mix of English and Filipino during a briefing.

“That’s for the remainder of the year, so P9.8 billion. That is subject to the condition that the same conditions prevail,” he added, referring to the policy of mandatory swab testing on the fifth day after arrival in the Philippines. 

The OWWA chief said the extension of the hotel quarantine period for returning OFWs to seven to nine days from the previous one to three days has led to quicker fund depletion.

Last year, the DOLE-OWWA also received an additional P5 billion to augment its OFW repatriation fund. 

Cacdac said around 10,000 repatriated OFWs are currently staying in 140 hotel quarantine facilities.

Around 80,000 to 100,000 more OFWs are seen to return home amid the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Cacdac said these figures would still depend on OFWs’ participation in the vaccination programs of other nations. — RSJ, GMA News