Nearly 100K OFWs back in home provinces

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CLOSE to 100,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic have returned home to their provinces, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, in a statement yesterday, said 95,702 OFWs have been repatriated by the government, including the latest batch of 1,691 that were transported to their provinces last Saturday after they tested negative for the deadly virus.

Back in May, over 34,000 OFWs had been sent home by the government to their respective regions. Since then, a total of 61,000 had been brought home on an almost daily basis, according to Bello.

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Bello attributed the smooth transportation of returning OFWs to the introduction of the online tracking system called the OFW Assistance Information System (OASIS).

Aside from the actual transportation assistance, Bello said they have also provided food, hygiene kits, and temporary accommodation to returning OFWs.

Bello reiterated the government’s readiness to assist OFWs in their efforts to regain the jobs they lost abroad due to the pandemic.

Bello assured the government is able and ready to provide them the necessary assistance, including bringing them back abroad.

“That would require transportation. And if our OFWs need chartered flights, we will do our best to come up with enough logistics for that,” he said, adding the government is ready to provide the necessary documents that will be required from OFWs.

“They might ask more requirements from our OFWs, like government certifications to prove they are not a threat to the health and safety of their people. We can do that,” Bello said.

Over the weekend, the DOLE expressed hopes that OFWs will soon be recalled by their foreign employers as more countries have reopened their respective economies.

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