Some 70,000 to 100,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are now home-bound amid the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
During a short press briefing, Chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19 Carlito Galvez said they are now preparing for the arrival of the repatriated OFWs.
He said the OFWs will be required to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine to ensure none of them are infected by the deadly virus, which already killed 111,652 people worldwide.
The virus has spread the top destinations for OFW abroad including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Kuwait, where it has causes business disruptions and labor displacements.
It also heavily affected the cruise ship industry, which employed thousands of OFWs.
In anticipation of the mass repatriation of OFWs, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) created a sub-task unit (STU) group under the National Task Force (NTF) for Covid-19 “to facilitate the quarantine requirements of repatriated OFWs.
The STU will be led by the Overseas Work Welfare Administration (OWWA).
Aside from facilitating quarantine facilities, OWWA is now implementing its Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) sa OFWs program, where in it will provide a P10,000 cash aid for OFWs, who were affected by Covid-19.