Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) head Bernard Olalia. INQUIRER.net file photo / CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA, Philippines — The number of overseas Filipino workers being deployed abroad has been steadily increasing this year and is now reaching about 70,000 per month amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Tuesday.
POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said the deployment is steadily picking up from the 74% decrease experienced last year during the height of the pandemic.
He said that of the 70,000 OFWs, 30,000 are land-based while 40,000 are sea-based.
“Lumuluwag na ‘yung pagbubukas ng ekonomiya ng ilang countries of destination natin pati ‘yung mga travel o border restrictions ay unti unti na ring lumuluwag,” he said in a televised public briefing.
(Countries of destination are slowly reopening their economies and they are easing travel and border restrictions.)
“Unti-unti na ring gumaganda ‘yung pagde-deploy natin ng mga seafarers,” he added.
(The deployment of seafarers is also getting better.)
Health care workers remain to be very in demand in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and in the Middle East such as Qatar and Kuwait, Olalia said.
“Technologically based” OFWs are also in demand during the time of pandemic, he added.
Meanwhile, seafarers in cargo, transport, and petroleum vessels are in demand.
“Ang cruise ship ay unti-unti na ring nagbubukas,” Olalia said.
(The cruise ship industry is also slowly opening.)
Nearly 1.5 million Filipinos abroad have been repatriated since the start of the pandemic last year, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said.
Of that number, 1.1 million are OFWs while 296,917 are residents returning from abroad.