Over 22,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that were stranded in different quarantine facilities have been transported to their respective hometowns, the Department of Labor and Employment reported on Saturday, May 30—just five days after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the immediate release of roughly 24,000 COVID-19-cleared OFWs.
Citing a report from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), DOLE Undersecretary Claro A. Arellano said that as of the morning of May 30, a total of 22,426 stranded OFWs have been released from quarantine facilities. Of this figure, 19,042 were transported between May 25-28 and 3,384 were brought home on May 29 alone.
OWWA provided 159 buses for transportation while some were transported by sea and air. Several of the OFW’s relatives picked them up directly from the hotels and quarantine facilities.
All the Filipino migrant workers sent home tested negative for the novel coronavirus. Undersecretary Arellano further noted that the DOLE will do its best to transport all the remaining OFWs in the quarantine facilities prior to the deadline set forth by the President.
Arellano also said OWWA had so far spent over P700 million for the repatriation, transport, accommodation and food of the more than 30,000 returning OFWs.
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