The labor department yesterday vowed to bring repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to their respective homes with dispatch.
During the send-off ceremony for some 200 migrant workers at the Paranaque Integrated Exchange (PITX), Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government will make sure the OFWs reach their places of origin within three to five days upon their arrival in the country.
‘In compliance with President Duterte’s order to facilitate the swift return of our displaced workers from abroad to their families, we are now sending them home in just five days maximum after they reach our ports, Bello said during the event attended by top government officials led by Sen. Richard ‘Dick’ Gordon who also heads the Philippine Red Cross.
The Philippine Red Cross is in charge of the swab testing program for OFWs who lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
Gordon lauded DOLE for its relentless campaign to assist the migrant workers affected by the lockdowns abroad to contain the spread of Covid 19.
The senator said he has high respect for public executives with so much concern for OFWs. ‘I know Secretary Bebot. He has a big heart for our migrant workers,” Gordon said.
The 300 OFWs at PITX are part of some 12,000 migrant workers who went through the faster and more convenient registration, testing and transport process adopted by DOLE to provide them timely and appropriate service.
Bello said an average of 200 to 300 OFWs daily are sent home to their provinces via the fast-tracked system.
As of yesterday, a total of 53,000 repatriated OFWs have been reunited with their families.
Bello said they will continue to upgrade government service to migrant workers as more of them are seen to be repatriated in the future.
Source DOLE
