By Vanne Elaine Terrazola Some 300 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were sent home by the government on Thursday, June 18, as part of its vow to speed up the repatriation of migrant workers to their home provinces within five days. Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III (Keith Bacongco) Government officials, led by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello, held a send-off ceremony for the OFWs at the Paranaque Integrated Exchange (PITX) on Thursday afternoon. "In compliance with President Duterte's order to facilitate the swift return of our displaced workers from abroad to their families, we are now sending them home in just five days maximum after they reach our ports," said Bello. "We know that you are already missing your spouses, your families, so we will not prolong your stay here," he told the OFWs in Pilipino. Bello said the OFWs were allowed to go back to their home provinces three days after their arrival in Manila. The repatriates yielded negative for COVID-19 in the swab tests conducted by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC). One OFW from Dubai said he arrived last June 15 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and their samples were immediately taken. They were then transported to a hotel in Pasay City where they stayed until the test results were e-mailed to them. The National Task Force on COVID-19 earlier announced that the repatriated Filipinos shall be sent home within five days after their arrival in the country. A three-day processing time for each of the arriving OFWs was set. Bello said that as of yesterday, a total of 53,000 repatriated OFWs have been reunited with their families. He said an average of 200 to 300 OFWs are sent home daily to their provinces under the fast-tracked system.