By Genalyn Kabiling Returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) must be able to leave the quarantine facility within 72 hours if possible so they can return to their hometowns, Malacanang said Wednesday. Overseas Filipino workers who were quarantined for weeks after returning home wait for flights back to their home cities around the country, at Manila's international airport on May 28, 2020. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government has taken "remedial measures" to trim down the length of stay of the Filipino repatriates in quarantine sites so they can finally reunite with their families. Hundreds of OFWs repatriates have recently been assisted by the government in their return home after completing their health checks in Clark, Pampanga. "Well, plenty of remedial measures taken already. To begin with, we have made a promise that OFWs should not stay in the quarantine facilities awaiting the results for more than five days,” Roque said in an interview over ANC's Headstart program. "In Clark, because we implemented the strategy of, among others, swabbing them and utilizing labs outside of Metro Manila, they were able to leave the quarantine facility within 72 hours. And we want to do this for every OFW," he added. President Duterte earlier ordered authorities to swiftly send home thousands of Filipino workers stuck in Metro Manila quarantine facilities after getting their health clearances. Duterte issued the directive after receiving complaints that many OFWs have been staying in the facilities beyond the two-week quarantine period due to the delay in the release of their test results. Roque said measures have already been taken to ease the backlog and ensure the OFWs will not stay in quarantine facilities longer than necessary. He said the government has started to open other airports such as the Clark airport to receive returning OFWs who are undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing upon arrival. The employment agencies of OFWs can also choose the testing laboratory where the samples can be tested for coronavirus. "We have implemented a free market even in PCR testing. No more playing favorites, whoever can do it efficiently and at the cheapest price, we have given the OFWs and their principals liberty to choose," he said. He said OFWs can also go straight to their hotels which have been temporarily used as quarantine sites where they can wait to be tested. "If they have identified a lab already to do the PCR test, then they can go straight to the hotel, and the lab technicians can either go to the hotel or they can be even be allowed to go to the lab outside of the hotel but there will have to be some security measures taken," he said. Roque also said the government is aggressively pursuing the establishment of more laboratories "because we don’t have enough." The country currently has 54 testing facilities for the coronavirus. The national testing capacity has reached 41,990 per day but the actual test rates reportedly average only 10,000 a day. "We need to improve not just the capacity but also to make sure that they all have supplies so that they can maximize their capacities," he said. Around 300,000 Filipino workers are expected to come home in the next three months, according to Roque.