MANILA, Philippines — Over 180,000 overseas Filipino workers have been repatriated and were given assistance by the government as the coronavirus disease pandemic triggered the displacement of Filipino employees abroad.
Data from DOLE showed there are a total of 189,289 OFWs who were flown back to the country and given aid as of September 8. The data were submitted by the department to the House committee on appropriations during a budget hearing on Wednesday.
According to DOLE, a total of P2.499 billion has been disbursed to 243,880 OFWs under the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) program to provide them assistance during the COVID-19 crisis.
Under this initiative, OFWs whose employment was affected by the pandemic were provided one-time cash assistance of P10,000 or $200.
Aside from the nearly P2.5 billion disbursed under the program, DOLE was also allotted another P1 billion to continue the initiative.
Of this amount, P400 million will be disbursed for the third quarter of 2020 while P600 million will be released to displaced OFWs for the fourth quarter of the year.