The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Sunday overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) scheduled for repatriation to the Philippines may file their application for the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong program prior to their arrival in the country starting Nov. 30.
The Labor department said OFWs will receive their benefits three to five after submission of complete documents.
DoLE said all new applications for AKAP will now be accepted through the website oasis.owwa.gov.ph.
This will allow the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to process and evaluate the applications in advance, said the Labor department.
“This will shorten the waiting period of OFW applicants as they are now allowed to apply while still onsite and receive the financial assistance once they come back home to the Philippines,” Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
He added that the streamlining of the process followed the directive of President Duterte to enable more OFWs to benefit from the one-time cash assistance.
For stranded Balik-Manggagawa and seafarers whose deployment were suspended due to COVID-19 as well as those who have been and will be repatriated before Nov. 30, DoLE said applications must still be filed through dole-akap.owwa.gov.ph.
It added that displaced OFWs who will remain onsite may file their application through the Philippine Overseas Labor Office covering their workplace.
Since the implementation of AKAP last April, the DoLE, through the OWWA, DoLE regional offices, and the POLO, has approved 389,996 applications from OFWs out of the 683,369 applications it has received.
DoLE said it had disbursed P3.45 billion benefitting 338,900 distressed OFWs as of Nov. 28.
The Labor department said it is also set to disburse another P2 billion in AKAP funds provided for under the Bayanihan 2 law, saying it has almost used up the P3.5 billion intended to assist OFWs who have been permanently or temporarily displaced from work due to the COVID-19.
With the P2-billion fund under Bayanihan 2, DoLE said an additional 200,000 OFWs will be provided with P10,000 cash aid.