Over 343,000 OFWs “affected” due to COVID-19, Bello says

June 2, 2020

Over 343,000 overseas Filipino workers have been "affected" due to coronavirus disease pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Tuesday.

In a virtual press briefing in Malacañang, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said of the affected OFWs, 341,161 were "displaced," 2,390 were infected with COVID-19, and 72 died.

"What we mean by affected? Either they were displaced because of COVID or they were infected with COVID," he said.

Of the OFWs who contracted the virus, Bello said 678 recovered.

He also said the 341,000 displaced OFWs were either terminated from their work, no longer employed or they continue to be employed but they could not return to their work because of the lockdown.

"So, no work, no pay - so they are still displaced," he said.

Of the displaced OFWs, he said almost 200,000 do not want to come home.

"They'd rather stay there, especially those coming from America and from Europe - Rome, Madrid, United Kingdom...so, anyway that makes our work lighter because we are left with only 95,000 stranded; only 42,000 to be repatriated," he said.

But Bello added that the government could only repatriate about 16,000 because others failed to process their exit documents.

The government has sent home over 25,000 repatriated OFWs who were stranded in the quarantine facilities in Metro Manila.

Bello said his office might again request for additional budget to assist the displaced OFWs.

He noted that DOLE originally sought for P1.5 billion to assist initial estimate of at least 150,000 displaced OFWs.

"But it turned out while we were accepting the application for cash assistance, we already received 450,000 applications for cash assistance, reason for which we asked for additional budgetary allocation. Fortunately, the President (Rodrigo Duterte) approved additional budget allocation of P1 billion, so we have received a total of P2.5 billion," he said.

So far, DOLE has paid 145,000 OFWs, he said.

"But again, looking at the applications, the budget may not be sufficient, so we may again be compelled to ask for additional budgetary allocation to be able to satisfy the applications of more than 450,000," Bello said.

He acknowledged that not all applications have been approved, noting that the approval rating is about 30-40 percent only. Celerina Monte/DMS