By Samuel P. Medenilla and Recto L. Mercene
THE Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Tuesday said the government is organizing “mercy flights and voyages” for 4,000 to 5,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who are now stranded in Luzon due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
In an online press briefing, OWWA administrator Hans J. Cacdac said the stranded OFWs include repatriated seafarers and those who were unable to leave abroad due to the travel restrictions implemented by their destination countries.
He noted many of them are unable to return to their homes in Visayas and Mindanao because of the ECQ in Luzon.
“We would like to thank DoTR (Department of Transportation) and the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government). We coordinated with them to conduct the mercy flights or voyages to bring home the stranded OFWs,” Cacdac said.
He noted the concerned OFWs had completed the necessary 14-day quarantine to ensure they have no symptoms of novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
As of April 2, OWWA had provided transport, food and accommodation aid to a 3,157 OFWs.
Cacadac said they provided similar help to an additional 600 OFWs repatriated by the Department of Foreign Affairs from Kuwait, who arrived in the country on Tuesday.
Aside from the said assistance, Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they may also be able to provide a P10,000 cash aid to the OFWs once President Rodrigo R. Duterte approves their P5-billion additional budget request.
Meanwhile, a total of 65 deaths due to Covid-19 had been recorded among overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as of April 7, according to the infographics provided by the DFA.
The number of infected OFWs was at 569, and those undergoing treatment at 346 — of which 158 have recovered. They were spread in 36 countries where the Filipino migrant workers could be found. These are countries or regions covering the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Middle East.
The DFA said 242 cases are DOH-IHR verified and there were six new deaths from the Americas and Europe.
“In terms of overall deaths, the Americas recorded a sudden spike with an increasing trend beginning the month of April compared to all the other regions as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Many of our overseas Filipinos are in the North Americas and therefore remain vulnerable to this observed trend,” the DFA said.
Continuous repatriation efforts are being organized and facilitated by the DFA catering to the needs of land-based OFWs as well as seafarers in countries affected by the pandemic.