MANILA, Philippines — Most of the more than 300,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic do not want to return to the Philippines.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Tuesday said only 95,000 out of the 341,161 OFWs displaced by COVID-19 were asking the government to repatriate them to the country.
“I myself was surprised that more than almost 200,000 of them do not want to come home. They would rather stay, especially those in America, Europe, Rome, Madrid, United Kingdom,” Bello told a press briefing.
He added that out of the 42,000 OFWs expected to return to the country this month, only 16,679 can be repatriated since the others lacked documents.
—Julie M. Aurelio
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