The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs stated its plans to bring home up to 37,660 distressed overseas Filipino workers who have been stranded in their host countries and have expressed their willingness to go home after their jobs had been severely affected by the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
DFA’s Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola cited current limitations from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) that limit their capability to bring as many OFWs as possible.
“But we have to follow also the regulations, because we are bound by the flight caps, the number of OFWs that can enter. There are limitations per day. If we are given at least 2,000 per day, at least 7 days a week, then we can bring in more,” said Usec Arriola during a House committee hearing on public accounts regarding the issues surrounding the repatriation of stranded OFWs.
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Usec Arriola furthered that there is a risk of budget depletion as recent agressive repatriations have led the DFA to reveal that only a third remains from the funds set by the government to bring distressed OFWs home.
“The bigger problem, your honor, we have a very high utilization rate. And if we continue repatriating aggressively, since we already only have 30 percent to 31 percent of the remaining PHP1 billion funds for the assistance to nationals, by the end of the August or mid-August, we will not have funds for repatriation anymore,” said Usec Arriola.
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The DFA has repatriated over 56,000 OFW to date, of which 31,031 are seafarers while 25,259 are land-based migrant workers.
