OWWA allots P400 million for OFWs’ children displaced by COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic are getting financial aid from the government to pay part of the tuition of their children.

A P400-million fund is now available for distribution of educational assistance to qualified children of displaced OFWs, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported yesterday.

The OWWA Board of Trustees, chaired by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello, approved the allocation of P400 million sourced from the OWWA fund for the first year implementation of Project Educational Assistance through Scholarship in Emergencies (EASE).

“True to its mandate of providing holistic programs and services to the OFWs and their families, the OWWA board has set aside funds to support the education of college-level dependents of active OWWA member-OFWs,” Bello said in a statement.

“As the project title suggests, we intend to ease the impact of the pandemic on the lives of our dear OFWs”, he added.

Under the program, P10,000 educational assistance per annum for a maximum of four years shall be provided to a qualified dependent of an OWWA member-OFW with active membership status at the time of their repatriation to the country from the declaration of the outbreak on Feb. 1, 2020.

OWWA initiated the program as thousands of OFWs lost their jobs and other sources of livelihood as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bello said interested OWWA-member OFWs may apply online through http://ease.owwa.gov.ph or contact OWWA Regional Offices for more details.

OWWA board previously allotted P500 million for COVID-affected OFWs who intend to put up their business.

Sen. Imee Marcos said the government should also provide alternative livelihood programs to returning OFWs to prevent the workers from being victimized by people involved in bogus investment schemes

Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, urged the government to address joblessness especially in rural areas where many OFWs have returned amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To save our OFWs from investment scams, the government needs to diversify livelihood opportunities for them. They have returned to remote rural areas which they left in the first place because of so few employment opportunities,” Marcos said.

Marcos urged the creation of a database from which OFWs can choose possible business partners or co-investors among local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have maintained a good track record and are ready to expand.

“The lack of financial literacy among OFWs has made them vulnerable to scammers. The sad truth is that often their most trusted relatives, friends, father confessors, and mayors scam their hard-earned savings. Not all OFWs are ready to start up their own business and become instant entrepreneurs,” Marcos explained.

Sen. Nancy Binay urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to recall their deployment ban on healthcare workers going abroad.

Binay said the government has no right to prevent healthcare workers from working abroad to provide for the needs of their families.

Should the POEA insist on continuing the deployment ban, Binay said the government must ensure that health workers in the country are given competitive compensation. – Cecille Suerte Felipe