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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider More funds for OFW repatriation set

More funds for OFW repatriation set

Published Jul 24, 2020 02:58 pm

The House of Representatives will  help repatriate more than 100,000 overseas Filipino Workers stranded abroad by augmenting funds needed for their return to the country.

Anakalusugan partylist Rep. Mike Defensor made the assurance after the Department of Foreign Affairs raised the funding problem during a recent congressional hearing of the House Committee on Public Accounts which he chairs.

“We can include the augmentation in the proposed 'Bayanihan 2' or 'We Recover as One' law, which we hope to approve together with the Senate after we open our second regular session on Monday,” Defensor vowed.

The DFA expects over 100,000 OFWs to return to the country for various reasons, including losing their jobs abroad.

“We have to get all of our workers who have been rendered jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic home to be with their loved ones. We can appropriate in Bayanihan 2 additional funds for their repatriation and reintegration once they are here,” he said.

In last week’s hearing, DFA Undersecretary Sarah Arriola informed the House panel that the DFA has used up about P770 million of its P1-billion Assistance to Nationals Fund for the return of stranded OFWs.

She said the remaining P230 million would be exhausted by next month.

The DFA official revealed that one charter flight costs between P12 million and P13 million.

She added that DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. plans to divert his department’s P1-billion building retrofitting budget to its repatriation fund.

Arriola also said there were 107,000 OFWs still to be repatriated.

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