House probes chaotic OFW repatriation

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives will start tomorrow its investigation into the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were stranded either abroad or in the country amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor, chairman of the public accounts committee, will initiate the probe upon the advice of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano who recently castigated social welfare officials over the pandemic cash aid to the poor.

“Consistent with the directive of the Speaker in the case of the Social Amelioration Program, we want to look into the problems plaguing the repatriation of our workers overseas who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and find solutions… We want the living as well as the dead repatriated as soon as possible. They have been stranded abroad for months,” he said.

House leaders, he added, are puzzled why it is taking the concerned agencies so long to fly home the stranded OFWs.

“We have thousands of them in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East and Europe who have been waiting to return home since the coronavirus outbreak,” he observed.

“What are the agencies’ problems in trying to get them home? Are there no planes that can be chartered to fly them? Are there no government planes or ships that could be used? Are there sufficient repatriation and related funds? These are some of the questions we want answered,” Defensor added.

Aside from these, the House also wanted to investigate the problems surrounding those who have already been repatriated but remain stranded inside quarantine facilities, in airports or other places before they could be allowed to go back to their respective provinces.

Among those invited to the virtual hearing are officials of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Inter-Agency Task Force, Departments of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and of Transportation, some ambassadors assigned in the Middle East and OFW representatives.

Sarah Arriola, DFA undersecretary for migrant workers affairs, revealed at yesterday’s hearing of the Senate committee on labor and employment that 167,626 Filipinos stranded in various parts of the world need assistance and repatriation.

She told the panel, chaired by Sen. Joel Villanueva, that most are located in the Middle East (158,633), followed by those in the Asia-Pacific region (4,083), Africa (3,590), Europe (1,064) and the Americas (256).

Arriola said the stranded Filipinos must be repatriated in the next two to three months even as she warned the DFA’s P1-billion budget for repatriation of distressed Filipinos will soon be depleted.

She also said the repatriation must be calibrated as there are limitations on the number of Filipinos that can be allowed to enter the country due to restrictions in the country’s airports. This is aside from the limited capacity of quarantine facilities for returning Filipinos, including availability of COVID-19 test kits.

As for the situation in the Middle East, Arriola explained that many states in the region are on lockdown while some countries do not have representatives from DOLE or OWWA.

As of June 22, at least 30,645 sea-based and 24,091 land-based Filipino workers have been repatriated, the DFA said.

Administrator Hans Cacdac of the OWWA also warned the Senate committee that the emergency assistance to distressed OFWs may come to an abrupt halt as the agency could find itself bankrupt by the end of next year if the influx will continue in the coming months.

He said the agency only has P18.8 billion left in its trust fund and this could go down to just P10 billion by the end of the year due to the massive expenses to repatriate and assist OFWs up until they reach their homes.

Cacdac projected that the OWWA fund – composed of OFW contributions and investment income – would be depleted to just less than P1 billion by the end of 2021 if the current situation does not improve.

“The issue of sustainability is very huge, it’s looming large,” he told the panel. “We’re worried about the future.”  Paolo Romero, Pia Lee-Brago, Robertzon Ramirez, Cecille Suerte Felipe