Palace: 13,000 OFWs ready to go home from quarantine facilities

MANILA, Philippines — There are at least 13,000 overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) who are ready to be sent home from quarantine facilities, Malacañang said Wednesday.

“Meron na tayong 13,000 plus na natapos po ang testing na meron nang mga certificate. At yung 13,000 po ay syempre mapapauwi na,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over GMA-7.

(We have more than 13,000 who finished testing and now have certificates. The 13,000 can be sent home already.)

Roque said this after the country’s chief implementer for government response on COVID-19 Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed concern over the arrival of 42,000 OFWs, which may overwhelm the existing quarantine facilities.

Earlier, returning OFWs reportedly complained about enduring a longer stay beyond the 14-day isolation period in quarantine facilities due to the delay in their COVID-19 test results.

“Pero ang pangako ko po sa inyo ngayon ay patuloy ko pong bubulabugin ang lahat ng inter-agency, ang ating OWWA [Overseas Workers Welfare Administration], para malaman po natin at masiguro na, unang-una, iyong mga resulta hindi na magtatagal kasi minsan napa-process ang result, hindi lang nari-relay ‘no,” Roque said.

(We promise to remind the inter-agency and OWWA in order to ensure that the processing of results will be relayed on time.)

“Importante po na mapabilis yung resulta dahil limitado naman yung ating mga hotel rooms na pagsa-stayan ng mga OFWs habang nagaantay po sila ng PCR [polymerase chain reaction] results,” he added.

(It’s important to hasten the results since we have limited hotel rooms where OFWs can stay while awaiting their PCR results.)

The government has been converting several stadiums and conventions into quarantine facilities to alleviate the burden on hospitals overwhelmed with cases of the respiratory disease.

Private hotels and even passenger ships were also converted into quarantine facilities.