Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor has called on the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to support the families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Russia.

“The global sanctions are bound to hit Russia’s banking system very hard, possibly obstructing the money transfers of the more than 10,000 Filipino workers there,” Defensor said in a press statement on Friday, March 4.

Defensor, citing the Philippine Embassy in Russia, said that about 95 percent of the OFWs in Russia are employed as household service workers and drivers, mostly based in Moscow.

He also added that according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Russia-based OFWs sent P115.8 million back to their families in the Philippines.

“We are counting on the OWWA to reach out to the families here at home of our workers in Russia, and to provide them temporary financial relief... The financial sanctions in particular would effectively block Russian banks from corresponding with virtually all major banks around the world,” he explained.

One of the financial sanctions imposed on Russia was cutting off seven major Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a system which allows banks to communicate with one another internationally.

As of March 4, one Russian ruble equates to about 0.0091 United States Dollars (USD), less than one cent USD.

Defensor added that the national government should also prepare to repatriate Russia-based OFWs.

“The prospect that some of our workers there might lose their jobs is very real, considering the projections that the Russian economy might plunge into a depression due to the global sanctions,” he concluded.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last Feb. 24, resulting in severe financial sanctions imposed against Russia and increasing the international price of crude oil.