OFW deployment now at 70,000 per month —POEA

The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has been picking up this year and is reaching 70,000 per month despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Tuesday.

POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said that of this number, 30,000 are land-based while the other 40,000 are sea-based.

"From a drop of 74% last year, our deployment is picking up monthly," Olalia said during the Laging Handa briefing, adding that health workers are "very in demand" in the United Kingdom, Germany, and some Middle East countries.

"As for sea-based, they are deployed in cargo, transport and petroleum vessels, and they are also in demand," Olalia said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said that around 1.4 million Filipinos have already been repatriated to the Philippines due to COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020.

Of this number, 1.1 million were OFWs while the rest were returning overseas Filipinos. —KBK, GMA News