20K ROFs return home amid eased quarantine restrictions — OWWA

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Thursday said about 20,000 returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) have gone back to their homes since the no-quarantine policy for fully vaccinated ROFs has been implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Sa unang sampung araw o mga siyam na araw, ay halos 20,000 ang na-transport natin, ang napakain, until sila’y makabalik sa kanilang home regions. ‘Pag sinabi ko pong transport, ‘yan ay either through our OWWA-chartered buses sa PITX sa mga taga-Luzon o OWWA chartered flights kung taga-Visayas o Mindanao,” OWWA Administrator Hans Cacdac said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(In the first ten or nine days, we transported and fed almost 20,000 people until they could return to their home regions. When I say transport, that is either through our OWWA-chartered buses in PITX for those from Luzon or OWWA chartered flights for those from Visayas or Mindanao.)

Of the said number, 5,524 ROFs arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Friday last week, the Tourism Promotions Board said.

The no-quarantine policy for fully vaccinated ROFs, whether facility-based or home, became effective starting February 1.

Facility-based quarantine is also no longer mandatory for fully vaccinated foreign travelers from visa-free countries starting Thursday, February 10.

For the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated ROFs, only about 1,582 of them are currently staying in 51 hotel quarantine facilities in the country, Cacdac noted.

“That is a drastic reduction from the 7,000 two weeks ago,” he said.

“Nung kasagsagan ng Omicron at nagkaron pa ng pagantala ng pagbiyahe due to Typhoon Odette, umabot ng halos 14,000. That was about a month ago, nung Disyembre papasok ng Enero,” he added.

(At the height of Omicron and during the travel delays due to Typhoon Odette, the ROFs in quarantine facilities reached nearly 14,000. That was about a month ago, from December to January.)

Cacdac then pointed out that only about 10% of the ROFs are quarantined in hotels, depending on the number of arrivals per day.

Should the government decide to bring back the mandatory quarantine for ROFs, Cacdac said they are “ready,” but hopes that this will not happen again.

“We are on guard. We will always be ready. We stand ready in the event na ibalik ‘yung mandatory quarantine,” he said.

“Sana hindi na ibalik. We join ‘yung panawagan ni Sec. Bello and Sec. Berna kanina na as much as possible, bigyan ng maraming panahon ang mga OFWs with their families at doon na lang sa kanilang LGUs magsagawa ng home quarantine or self monitoring,” he added.

(Hopefully, it will not return. We join the call of Sec. Bello and Sec. Berna earlier that as much as possible, give the OFWs more time with their families and only have them conduct their home quarantine or self monitoring in their own areas.)

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a total of 923,652 OFWs have been repatriated, Cacdac also noted. — RSJ, GMA News