25,000 stranded OFWs now home

MANILA, Philippines — More than 25,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were stranded for months in quarantine facilities in Metro Manila have returned to their home provinces, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

The transport of OFWs was accomplished a week after President Duterte ordered them released from different quarantine facilities, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello.

Among the workers were at least 8,000 seafarers who stayed in 26 cruise ships in Manila Bay during the quarantine period.

At least 200 more remain on board the ships as they wait for the results of their tests for coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

Of the total number of OFWs who have returned home, 9,595 traveled by air, 7,900 by land and 385 by sea, Bello said.

He said 6,574 OFWs were picked up by relatives from their accommodations.

The workers’ food, shelter and transportation were provided by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other government agencies as well as by the recruitment or manning agencies, Bello said.