MANILA, Philippines — At least 130,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are coming home from different countries in the next months, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported yesterday.
OWWA chief Hans Cacdac said with the large number of OFWs expected to return home, the agency is seeking additional funding for the quarantine hotel accommodations and other needs of migrant workers.
Cacdac said the bulk of OFWs returning home have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The OWWA has brought home a total of 612,000 OFWs displaced by the pandemic since May 2020.
The government has been shouldering the swab tests, hotel accommodations, transportation as well as food of the returning OFWs.
Cacdac said returning OFWs need to quarantine in hotels for 10 days.
The OWWA will also repatriate about 3,500 OFWs who were stranded when the Philippine government imposed travel restrictions on the United Arab Emirates, Oman, India and other countries to prevent the entry of the Delta variant of COVID-19.