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| Many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) are still waiting for good news that they can go back to their jobs. (Photo from Inquirer) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] MANILA— More than 126,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are still waiting to be reemployed nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) official. The OFWs have asked to be returned home after their jobs were affected by the global economic slump due to the health crisis, said Alice Visperas, director of the DOLE’s International Labor Affairs Bureau.
But 82,000 other displaced Filipinos have decided to remain in their host countries to look for other jobs, Visperas said. The government has flown or shipped home more than 550,000 pandemic-displaced OFWs, including seafarers since the start of the year, she said. More than 370,000 of them have been transported to their home provinces, she added.
The government task force in charge of the repatriations is expecting 80,000 more OFWs to come home in the first half of next year, the chief of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said on Thursday.Returning workers are given a one-time P10,000 financial assistance, while those who are still abroad and were afflicted with COVID-19 are entitled to $200 cash benefit, OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
