MANILA, Philippines — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) can use its P20 billion trust fund to aid overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday said the government should look into the plight of OFWs who were displaced by the pandemic, noting that the OWWA is not “doing its best” to assist them.
“We must look into this. The OWWA, in particular, is not doing its best to assist our OFWs,” he said in a statement.
“It has a P20 billion trust fund sitting in banks which it can use to provide livelihood assistance to displaced OFWs,” Drilon added.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier said that nearly 86,000 OFWs have been given aid under its the “Abot Kamay Ang Pagtulong” (Akap) program.
READ: Nearly 86,000 displaced OFWs have received aid from DOLE
President Rodrigo Duterte also directed DOLE, OWWA, and the Department of Health (DOH) to send home to their provinces the 24,000 OFWs who were stranded in Metro Manila.
READ: Duterte: Send home 24,000 quarantined OFWs in 1 week, expedite release of COVID test results