By Genalyn Kabiling Concerned agencies may tap funds from the government's coronavirus budget to facilitate the swift return of overseas Filipino workers to their hometowns, President Duterte said late Monday. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on May 25, 2020. (ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Duterte also said all government assets, including airplanes and ships, may also be used to ferry the OFWs back to their families. The President instructed the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to make sure these repatriates return to their families safely after getting their respective health clearances. "I am ordering --- kasali na ‘yung pera sa --- kung may naiwan pa sa 200 million gastusin rin ninyo ‘yon para sa pag-uwi ng tao (I am ordering the agencies, if there is money left in the 200 million, spend the money to bring home these people)," he said during his televised public address Monday night. He insisted that the returning overseas Filipino workers must be treated properly and allowed unhampered transit to their places of residence. Local government units have been reminded anew by the President to accept OFWs after getting reports some were blocking their return. Apart from having the right to travel and go home, he said OFWs deserve appreciation for their contribution to the country's country's economic growth. "Eh noong panahon ng good time we were experiencing the benefits of the dollar. It formed a big part of our GDP (gross domestic product). GDP is simply income. Noong income natin sa bansa natin malaki because nandito itong mga OFW. Tapos ngayon hindi natin tanggapin. What’s the --- what’s the…? F

*. That’s final (During the good times we were experiencing the benefits of the dollar, it formed a big part of the GDP. GDP is simply income. The country's income was huge because of the OFWs. Now we won't accept them? What's the....? F

** That's final)," he said. "It is very cruel actually to deny them to go home," he added. The President earlier gave labor and health authorities one week to facilitate the return of 24,000 OFWs to their hometowns after being stuck for so long at the quarantine sites in Metro Manila. Authorities have been ordered to speed up the release of the coronavirus test results so the OFWs who test negative for the disease can return home to their loved ones. All returning OFWs are required to undergo coronavirus testing and 14-day facility quarantine upon arrival in the country. Some workers however have complained about staying beyond the two-week quarantine due to the delayed release of their test results. The President said the government must bring home the present batch of OFWs since thousands more workers displaced by the pandemic are expected to arrive in the country. He admitted that the imminent arrival of the additional 300,000 OFWs will be a "big worry" if the current repatriates are blocked by LGUs in their own hometowns. "Pag hindi ninyo tinanggap ‘yan, magkagulo tayo sa Pilipinas (If you don't accept them, we will have chaos in the Philippines)," he said. "Nobody but nobody can really stifle the right of a (Filipino), whether he is traveling and working outside and coming in, going home,” he added.