More overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can benefit from the one-time Php10,000 cash assistance program under DOLE-AKAP, said the labor department.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the release of Php5 billion under Bayanihan 1 law to OWWA in June for the repatriation and assistance to returning OFWs.
OFWs are set to benefit from DOLE’s one-time cash aid with the release of an initial P400 million from the P1-billion additional fund set aside for the AKAP program.
So far, P2.492 billion had already been disbursed benefiting 243,326 displaced OFWs who were either still on-site or those already repatriated. The assistance fund has a P2.5 billion allocation also from the emergency Bayanihan law.
DOLE also received a Php1 billion augmentation fund and it is now looking at extending assistance to additional 100,000 OFWs who will benefit from AKAP.
The cash aid program had processed and approved 280,253 requests for assistance from both land-based and sea-based workers. Total aid requests received by DOLE’s foreign offices and OWWA stood at 617,431.
DOLE added that the number of returning OFWs has breached the 170,000 mark.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Administrator Hans Cacdac of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said the month of August alone was capped with 55,709 OFW returnees making their homecoming after being tested negative of the coronavirus.
OFWs were provided with temporary accommodation and other assistance while waiting for their coronavirus test results. OWWA also arranged the transportation for their safe return to the provinces.
