Up to 150,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from all over the world are expected to arrive in the Philippines to spend the holiday season with their families.
“Usually, we expect, dito sa Christmas season alone, 100,000 to 150,000 returning workers,” ABS-CBN News quoted Hans Cacdac, head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), as saying.
Cacdac reportedly said the figure is the usual number of OFWs returning to the Philippines for Christmas and New Year.
Cacdac also reportedly disclosed that money remitted by OFWs to their families back home continue to increase.
According to Cacdac, during the OWWA board meeting, the Department of Finance announced that there was an increase in the remittances of OFWs on the 3rd quarter of this year.
“I heard $24-B as of the 3rd quarter and we are expected to hit $28-B at the end of the year which is an all-time high,” he was quoted as saying.
He attributed the increase to money sent by Filipinos based in the Middle East and those in the US.
“Tumataas pa rin ang remittances natin as reported to us by the DOF yesterday in the OWWA board meeting,” ABS-CBN News quoted him as saying.
Remittances from the millions of OFWs around the world help keep the Philippine economy afloat, the report pointed out.
