The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration or OWWA will request additional funds for their repatriation program of overseas Filipino workers.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in a Laging Handa briefing tht their current funds are set to last for the next three months.
Cacdac added that they need additional funds because more OFWs are expected to return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re good until mga September, and then after September, hihingi na naman tayo ng pondo. Actually baka ngayong panahon pa lamang, magbibigay na tayo ng senyales sa DBM patungkol sa pangangailangan ng pondo ng bandang katapusan ng third quarter o simula ng fourth quarter ng taong ito,” Cacdac said.
RELATED STORY: DOLE repatriates 67 pregnant OFW, 30 with medical conditions from UAE
The new request on funds is on top of the additional Php5.2 billion granted by President Rodrigo Duterte recently.
Since May 2020, the Philippine government has repatriated more than 600,000 Filipinos affected by the pandemic.
OWWA shoulders the swab testing, flight tickets, and quarantines in the country of returning OFWs.
The Labor Department has repatriated some 348 stranded overseas Filipino workers from the United Arab Emirates including 67 pregnant women and 30 OFWs with medical condition on Sunday.
This is the fourth batch of repatriation since the implementation of the travel restrictions to UAE and six other countries due to the Delta COVID-19 variant threat.
READ ON: OWWA: 348 stranded Filipinos in UAE repatriated back home
The chartered flight was paid by OWWA according to the statement.
The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai is doubling efforts to bring home around 2,000 OFWs and their families stranded in the emirates.
“Four more DOLE-OWWA repatriation flights are set on July 12, 17, 27 and 30,” DOLE said in a statement.
The recent batch of repatriates include 67 pregnant OFWs, 30 OFWs with medical cases, six OFW wards housed at the Bahay Kalinga in Dubai, and two OFW wards housed at the Bahay Kalinga in Abu Dhabi.
“The rest of the OFW passengers are those with cancelled flights or overstayers in UAE,” the statement added. (TDT)
