OWWA: Closure of OFW Lounges due to lack of budget ‘fake news’

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Saturday said that reports circulating online that OFW Lounges might cease operations due to insufficient budget are “fake news.”

“Reports circulating online that OFW Lounges will be stopped due to lack of budget are false,” the OWWA said in a statement.

Additionally, OWWA reiterated what President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said in his State of the Nation Address that the OWWA is set to strengthen and expand the OFW Lounges.

The agency pointed out it will launch the new OFW Lounge at NAIA Terminal 1 with upgraded facilities and services for our migrant workers. We are also preparing to establish additional lounges in Cebu and Clark to make these benefits accessible to more OFWs and their families.

“Our request for additional budget in Congress is precisely to continue upgrading and improving services, expanding facilities, adding new lounges, and sustaining the free food and other amenities that our OFWs deserve,” OWWA said.

“At this time when the world is difficult and our OFWs already carry many burdens, we hope that they will not be weighed down further by fake news. We ask the public to be responsible and trust only official announcements from OWWA and the Department of Migrant Workers,” it added.

In a follow-up message to GMA News Online, Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan said that the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations are “supportive” of an additional budget for OWWA. — Jamil Santos/RF, GMA Integrated News