More than 300,000 OFW's repatriated past 10 months due to Covid. Many more expected.

[Old55]

Rush to get home for Christmas. Sadly many more are still stuck in faroff lands without a job. Anyone have extended family members waiting to come home? My sister in law is out of work in Alberta and struggling without a paycheck.

 

Philippines repatriates over 300,000 OFWs since onset of COVID-19 outbreak

 

MANILA: More than 300,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been repatriated by the government in the past 10 months, with plans to facilitate the return of thousands more who have been impacted by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in their host countries, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
The DFA statement added that 13,537 OFWs had been brought home last week, the highest weekly total since repatriation efforts began in February.
“This is the biggest repatriation effort in the history of the DFA and of the Philippines,” Sarah Lou Arriola, DFA undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs, said in a statement.
“We thank the indefatigable efforts of our DFA personnel who have been working 24/7 since February. We also thank our Foreign Service Posts and our partner government agencies for their invaluable contribution to the DFA’s repatriation efforts,” she added.
With the latest arrivals, the number of overseas Filipino returnees reached 300,838, out of which 90,621 are sea-based workers, while 210,217 (69.88 percent) worked on the land.
One of the 59 flights facilitated by the DFA in the past week was a Philippine Airlines chartered flight, which transported 319 distressed Filipino workers from Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
It was the fifth DFA-chartered flight to repatriate stranded Filipinos from Saudi Arabia’s eastern region.
The department, through its embassy in Port Moresby, also assisted in the safe return of OFWs from the Solomon Islands, while a collaboration with the Philippine Embassy in Amman resulted in the successful repatriation of 18 Filipinos from Jordan.
The DFA assured Filipinos who remain stranded abroad that the agency was working “doubly hard to ensure they will be given a chance to return to the Philippines.”
In a televised interview on Friday, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Administrator Hans Cacdac said the government aimed to repatriate 70,000 to 80,000 more OFWs by the end of the year.
He added that the number could go higher as more OFWs sought to be home during the holiday season.
Upon their arrival in the Philippines, all returnees are being aided by the government to travel back to their respective provinces.
At the same time, OFWs whose employment was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are given a one-time cash assistance of P10,000 ($200) under the Department of Labor and Employment’s “Abot-Kamay ang Pagtulong” program.
The government has allocated P1.8 billion to benefit repatriated OFWs and those in the host country.
Also, the government will be providing a one-time educational, financial assistance of P30,000 to student dependents of displaced or deceased OFWs as well.
Last week, the government partnered with a private company to help OFWs resume normalcy by giving them access to livelihood assistance to establish a small business, such as sari-sari stores, eateries, meat-processing units, water-refilling station, and farms to raise livestock.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1777491/world

 

[graham59]

My Filipina niece was able to return to her factory job in Taiwan about a week ago, after having been 'stuck' here on extended holiday for a few months. 

[hk blues]

We can but hope that with vaccines now being rolled out those OFWs will be able to return to their old jobs at some point. 

My Brother-in-law works (worked) on cruise ships so hasn't worked this year and I'm not optimistic about the future for that industry.

It's a huge impact on the economy here - which family doesn't/hasn't had an OFW contriuting to the family in a big way? My wife, her sister and 2 of their brothers were OFWs and sustained the family big time.

On the other hand, the ability of people here to bounce back and get by on little more than dust is commendable. Without wishing to be disrespectful to our fellow country people, we really don't know we're living. 

[Clermont]

We've written about OFW's contributing to family members lively hoods, schooling, housing, businesses, in a few months this is when we will see the true impact of this virus. Without the income being sent home we will see, houses repossessed, schoolchildren not being funded for school, and solid businesses going bust. Maybe it is time for us foreigner's to stop grumbling when we are charged that extra 100/200 peso's for a service performed.

[Old55]

2 hours ago, Clermont said:

We've written about OFW's contributing to family members lively hoods, schooling, housing, businesses, in a few months this is when we will see the true impact of this virus. Without the income being sent home we will see, houses repossessed, schoolchildren not being funded for school, and solid businesses going bust. Maybe it is time for us foreigner's to stop grumbling when we are charged that extra 100/200 peso's for a service performed.

We all hope the diminishing remittances will be short-lived and have a minor affect.

None of use want to see suffering but overcharging foreigners is not the answer and it's not OK we are not ATM machines. No offense Clermont I know your heart is in the right place. Donating to those in real need would be a good choice. 

[OnMyWay]

19 minutes ago, Old55 said:

We all hope the diminishing remittances will be short-lived and have a minor affect.

None of use want to see suffering but overcharging foreigners is not the answer and it's not OK we are not ATM machines. No offense Clermont I know your heart is in the right place. Donating to those in real need would be a good choice. 

It is not just foreigners, inflation is high for everyone.

[hk blues]

Related - My son's school just confirmed the fees for 21/22 - we are being hit with a circa 35% increase with the jump from Grade 2 to Grade 3!  I wonder what planet these people live on given the economic hardship many are facing now AND the fact we are having online classes so no additional facilities are being provided which begs the question why a 20% increase in the catch-all miscellaneous fees was implemented. I made a call to discuss but it was as futile as I know it would be - except I discovered they had communicated the wrong fees and the real number is actually 5k more! I assume they are trying to recoup the losses from students who moved to public school as a result of not being able to do online classes.  Of course, it's short-sighted as even more families will decide to move due to this latest increase.  

Not much thinking goes into things here at times.

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 12/18/2020 at 2:49 PM, Old55 said:

Last week, the government partnered with a private company to help OFWs resume normalcy by giving them access to livelihood assistance to establish a small business, such as sari-sari stores, eateries, meat-processing units, water-refilling station, and farms to raise livestock.

I can not see many OFW wanting to farm livestock or sit in a sari store all day for P200 profit.

[Clermont]

I agree with all, the PI's are no different from any other country, here in Oz our grocery bill is up 20%, we export 70% of our produce, so the PI's aren't the only country screwing it's population.  And the cost of schooling material, and stationary has all gone up, building material, you name it, it has all gone up. Now the question is, who is making the killing of this price gouging that is going on, not the average Joe blow. As I said earlier, I don't mind being screwed a little but I draw the line at being blatantly ripped off, I just don't use their services and verbally tell them. Next year is going to be hard for countries like the PI's and the likes, when a lot of foreigner's head back home and there help goes with them.  

[RBM]

Anybody have an idea what percentage of total OFW is the 300,000, suspect would be in the single figures.