2 repatriated OFWs get DSWD aid
CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – When 36-year-old Beverly Manansala of Barangay MS Garcia here flew to Kuwait last Feb. 17, hers was a hope for a better future for her three children.
Her salary as a domestic help would surely help them meet family needs with her husband driving a passenger tricycle in this city, she said.
In Kuwait, everything was well for Manansala with her two wards, a six-month-old and an 18-month-old, until the bombings brought by the US and Israel on Iran erupted.
READ: Repatriated OFWs can withdraw Pag-IBIG savings, get loan relief
“We could not sleep; we were apprehensive,” she said.
“We also couldn’t work well. There was a time when I was cleaning the toilet, and the power got cut,” she added.
“And even if we are now home, whenever we hear a thud, we would think it was an explosion.”
Manansala, who was repatriated last March 20, was one of two returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the Middle East who received a livelihood package and P20,000 cash assistance from Secretary Rex Gatchalian of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) at the Cabanatuan City Convention Center here on Wednesday.
READ: DMW brings home 4,241 Filipinos from Middle East
The other is Maria Luisa Musni, 37, of Barangay DS Garcia, who went to Saudi Arabia last Feb. 13, and flew back on March 15. Aside from the Middle East conflict, Musni said she returned home after landing a job with allegedly inhumane working conditions.
Gatchalian was also here to jumpstart the payout of P5,000 cash assistance each to over 17,000 tricycle drivers in this city.
This was part of the 367,000 tricycle driver-beneficiaries nationwide, according to Gatchalian.
Gatchalian lauded the city government and the Nueva Ecija third congressional district office for preparing a comfortable venue for the payout, both for the social workers and paymasters, and for the drivers.
Nueva Ecija 3rd District Rep. Julius Cesar Vergara said they wanted a dignified environment for drivers./coa
