The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has asked Congress for P2.5 billion in additional budget to keep funds flowing into its aid program for migrant workers displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic and those who would find themselves jobless in the coming months as a result of the public health crisis.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said on Monday (May 11) that the OWW had asked Congress leaders for additional funds as an estimated 50,000 overseas Filipino workers are expected to return to the Philippines until June.
He said while the OWWA was still “financially healthy” and capable of providing the needs of displaced OFWs, the agency needed a supplemental budget since it may have to reserve its P19-billion trust fund for workers who could not immediately return to their jobs even after lockdowns are lifted.
“What we want to happen is for the OWWA trust fund to be utilized by our members in the post-lockdown scenario,” he said.
Seafarers are also facing an uncertain future, he said.
“They are already wondering if cruise ship operations would resume by next year,” Cacdac said. “What are they going to do in the Philippines?”
He said he wants the OWWA trust fund to be for reintegrating displaced migrant workers, finding them new sources of livelihood, giving them new skills and retooling their expertise when lockdowns are lifted.
Since March 15, Cacdac said that the OWW had already spent more than P381 million to support 26,737 OFWs displaced by the pandemic. Of this amount, P180 million was allocated by Congress while the rest came from the OWWA trust fund.
Bulk of the expenses, or nearly P312 million, was spent on the 110 hotels where OFWs were billeted. Around P60 million was spent on their food, while another P9.7 million was spent on transportation .
Currently, Cacdac said that 10,000 OFWs are under the care of OWWA, while around 10,000 to 15,000 OFWs are being looked after by OWWA agencies. He added that the OWWA expected an additional 25,000 sea-based and 20,000 land-based OFWs to arrive in the country between May and June.
This was the reason he said his agency already wanted OFWs on quarantine to be able to return to their home communities to give way to the thousands more of OFWs who are arriving.
Cacdac told OFWs not to worry about the cost of their mandatory testing for COVID-19 since the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. has “agreed to shoulder the testing cost” as long as the tests were done in government-designated labs or testing centers.