MANILA -- A group representing migrant workers called on the government Saturday to pay more attention to the needs of overseas Filipino workers and their families who were affected by floods caused by the Storm Ondoy last week.

Migrante International said the P10,000 interest-free calamity loans being offered by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration were not enough for OFWs or their families rendered homeless by the flooding.

?The offer of calamity loans falls short on giving significant relief to our countrymen affected by the storm. It will only put the debts of OFW families from knee-deep to drowning heights. If they really want to help, OWWA should just give away calamity assistance packages,? Migrante chair Garry Martinez said.

Martinez said the aid to OFWs could come from the donations by the international community, which the Department of Foreign Affairs said has reached P566 million as of Oct. 2.

The OFW leader cited the plight of OFW Danilo Catalon, a resident of Marikina City, who remained helpless as his wife was sick and his whole family was staying at the evacuation center in Nangka Elementary School. Their house was destroyed by the floods.

Catalon is one of the 200 workers who got stranded in the Maldives for six months, suffering from near starvation after their salaries were not paid. Forty of them arrived on Saturday in Manila, unable to wait for the conclusion of negotiations the DFA was conducting with their employer.

?Wala na nga silang trabaho, bahay at pagkain, ibabaon pa sila sa pagkakautang (They already don?t have jobs, houses and food, but they?d still be buried in debt),? Martinez lamented.

The returnees come from the provinces Isabela, Cagayan, Pangasinan, La Union, Kalinga, Albay and Marinduque, most of which were battered by Typhoon Pepeng.

According to OWWA, any active member may apply for the loans, repayable in 24 monthly installments with a grace period of 120 days.