OWWA: 7,500 OFWs sent home as of Tuesday

The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) says around 7,500 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been sent to their home provinces as of Tuesday morning. 

OWWA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said his agency expects to send home all 24,000 OFWs by Sunday in coordination with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and other agencies that will help provide transport for the OFWs.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered OWWA, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday to speed up the release of 24,000 OFWs who were stranded in quarantine facilities for more than two months even after testing negative for COVID-19.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya called on local government units (LGUs) to welcome the OFWs back to their home provinces.

Malaya said the LGUs should no longer require OFWs to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine since they were already given quarantine clearance by the DOH. The clearance indicates that they have undergone the comprehensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

Malaya however emphasized that LGUs may quarantine OFWs who failed to provide the necessary documents or papers to certify their COVID-19 status. 

Cacdac said the number of repatriated OFWs will increase in the next three to seven days.