The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has suspended the transportation and accommodation assistance for returning Filipino workers effective June 1.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said the assistance will only be provided if the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are in distress as certified by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) or as evaluated by authorized OWWA airport officers.
He added that the same assistance will also be provided if the OFWs are beneficiaries of government's repatriation program.
The suspension, according to Cacdac, was based on the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) to have Metro Manila and most parts of the country under Covid alert level 1.
He said partially vaccinated or unvaccinated OFWs who are required to undergo mandatory facility-based quarantine under IATF Resolution No. 159 (Series of 2022) shall continue to be provided accommodation assistance.
"But their transportation to their respective home provinces shall be at their own expense," said Cacdac.