THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM) recommended to President Rodrigo R. Duterte the provision of an additional P5.2 billion to fund the overseas worker repatriation program, the Labor department said Monday.
“In our last IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) meeting, the DBM clearly stated that it has recommended to the President the budgetary allocation for repatriation of the amount of P5.2 billion,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III told a Senate Labor committee hearing.
Mr. Bello said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) had requested some P9 billion in additional repatriation funds due to the longer accommodation period required for returning overseas Filipinos.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said at the hearing that the additional P5.2 billion from the National Government is meant for food, transport, quarantine, hotel, and accommodations for the returning workers.
Mr. Cacdac said the OWWA only had P6.2 billion allocated this year for repatriation, putting it under pressure to find new money after new quarantine protocols were imposed for returning Filipinos due to new coronavirus variants.
He said the old quarantine period of one to three days was extended to seven to nine days and was now set at 10 days, as decided by the task force.
“So tumagal po ang OFWs sa hotels, therefore tumagal by three times even four times longer, ganon rin po, triple and quadruple din ang aming cost (The prolonged stay at hotels has tripled or quadrupled our cost),” he said.
The IATF last week required arriving travelers to complete 10 days of quarantine, while also requiring them to complete a further four days in their respective municipalities.
The task force also approved a recommendation for travelers to be tested on the seventh day of their quarantine.
The Health department had said the reason for testing on the seventh or eighth day of quarantine is to catch test subjects when the viral load is likely to be high. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
