Reuters

80,000 more Filipino expats expected to fly home for good in early 2021: Owwa

Manila - Mandatory Covid tests, hotel stay for quarantine and transport to provinces remain free for all OFWs.

A Staff Reporter

Published: Fri 18 Dec 2020, 2:08 PM

Last updated: Fri 18 Dec 2020, 2:17 PM

Over 80,000 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from around the world are expected to return home in the first half of 2021, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa).

Owwa administrator Hans Leo Cacdac on Thursday said Owwa has so far repatriated around 370,000 OFWs whose livelihoods have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Advertising

Details on how many of them are from the UAE are yet to be available. In the first half of the year, the Philippine Consulate-General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates has funded the repatriation of around 2,000 expats.

“OFWs who are returning home can be assured that the swab testing, transport (to provinces) and hotel stay for quarantine will remain free. We are expecting that this process will continue throughout the repatriation effort,” Cacdac said during the virtual public briefing.

The delays in the mandatory Covid-19 testing have also been ironed out. Today, Filipino expats arriving home are able to receive their swab test results in two days, with some even getting them in a day, the official said.

“Chartered buses and chartered flights are also on stand by to bring OFWs home to their provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” Cacdac said in Filipino.

OFWs who lost their jobs because of Covid-19 are also entitled to the one-time cash aid worth US$200 (Dh730).

Remittances still coming in

Though thousands of Filipino expats had been displaced from their employment because of the pandemic, the government said cash flow from remittances remained stable.

In fact, in October, personal remittances from OFWs grew by 2.5 per cent to $3.04 billion from $2.97 billion in the same month last year, according to Bangko Sental ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines).

"This proves how OFWs have always been determined to help their families here in the Philippines, especially in the middle of a crisis like Covid-19," Cacdac said.

Looking at the overall 2020 figure for remittances, however, there has been a dip of five to 10 per cent compared to 2019 because of the pandemic, he added.

reporters@khaleejtimes.com