BUTUAN CITY – Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration-Regional Welfare Office Caraga continues to provide assistance to returning overseas Filipino workers upon their arrival at the Bancasi Airport and other nearby ports of entry in Northeastern Mindanao or Caraga region.

OWWA 13 Regional Information Officer Anne Jane Hallasgo said that as of Nov. 4, OWWA Regional Welfare Office-Caraga has assisted 6,468 returning OFWs, including their dependents, who have availed themselves of sweeper flights and “Malasakit” voyages arranged by the OWWA beginning April 29.

Of this number, 1,449 were residents of Butuan City, 1,271 from Agusan del Norte, 1,065 from Agusan del Sur, 1,153 from Surigao del Norte, 1,346 from Surigao del Sur, 138 from Dinagat Islands, and 115 from Misamis Oriental (Region 10).

They strictly observed all the health and safety protocols that include negative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test before they were allowed to board planes and vessels to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Hallasgo said.

Concerned provincial and local government units of the returning OFWs in Caraga were informed and coordinated beforehand in order to prepare their quarantine facilities and transport services that will ferry the OFWs from Butuan City to their localities subject to the minimum health standards required in their area.

All returning OFWs were provided with free meals, food packs, and transportation assistance, and accommodation for those who need to wait for their transport service arranged by their local government units.

Apart from the repatriation of displaced and distressed OFWs, more than ten remains or cremated remains of deceased OFWs from Caraga have been repatriated in coordination with their next of kin, Hallasgo said.

Financial assistance due to the surviving dependents of the deceased OFWs was provided especially those with active OWWA membership at the time of death, she added.