By Leslie Ann Aquino Overseas Filipino workers may still avail of the Department of Labor and Employment's “Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong” program. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III
(ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said they are “still open” to accept applications for financial assistance from OFWs affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Under the DOLE-AKAP program, overseas workers, both land-based and sea-based, who have been displaced by a lockdown in a foreign country will be given a one-time financial assistance amounting to P10,000 or $200 or to an equivalent amount in the currency of their host countries. The program seeks to assist about 150,000 OFWs on-site or in host countries affected by lockdowns and those in the Philippines who are unable to return to their places of work. The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait had earlier announced that it will no longer accept applications for AKAP starting April 22. In an advisory, POLO Kuwait Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa cited “limited allocation” as the reason for the decision. Meanwhile, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) revealed that it has already released P3,040,000 under the AKAP program for 304 stranded or displaced OFWs in Calabarzon. “Accomplishment Report as of April 22: 131 land-based OFWs assisted; 173 sea-based OFWs assisted,” said OWWA Regional Welfare Office IV-A. On April 19, the DOLE said it had already received more than 30,000 requests for assistance from OFWs wanting to avail of AKAP.