The Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment revealed that the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases (IATF-EID) came to a decision to send OFWs directly to their province if they tested negative for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In line with this, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III stated that all OFWs who will be arriving in Metro Manila should not stay over five days in their respective quarantine facilities.
“We agreed in the task force that they will stay only a maximum of five days,” said Secretary Bello, who furthered that there were around 600 OFWs who have arrived back to the country during the weekend.
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Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has already repatriated 36,731 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as of June 7.
“Kina-calibrate natin yung pag uwi nila, sa land-based paiba iba sila especially now that some of the economies are opening up like Dubai. Yung iba pag nakahanap sila ng trabaho hindi na rin sila bumabalik. But definitely since cruise ship stopped operating last March, merong 30,000 to 35,000 na sea-based workers na pauwi na talaga sa bansa,” said Undersecretary Arriola.
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