The Labor Department has disclosed that 478,838 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) chief Silvestre Bello said that 469,000 OFWs were displaced, while nearly to 9,000 OFWs have been infected by COVID-19.
“Marami na nauwi na kakababayan natin na namatay. We already repatriated 299 dead OFWs, 80% of them died because of COVID-19,” Bello said during the senate deliberations on the proposed 2021 budget of DOLE.
Bello added that of the total number of displaced OFWs, around 230,000 have so far been repatriated. However, some 100,000 OFWs chose to stay in their place of work because of the benefits in other countries rather than returning to the Philippines.
Bello added that around 70,000 OFWs are still stranded as of September.
Majority of affected OFWs are in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas and Asia.
