Task force plans to repatriate over 100 Filipinos from Macau

Duque added the 148 OFs and 48 OWWA members would need to undergo the prescribed screening and quarantine measures before they are allowed to be repatriated. (File Photo: Department of Health (Philippines)/Facebook)

MANILA – The government will repatriate more than 100 overseas Filipinos (OFs) and active members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) from Macau, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed on Wednesday.

“Hiwalay ang repatriation (The repatriation would be separate). The OWWA is arranging separate repatriation of the 48 members. There’s no date yet but we’ll let you know,” Duque said in a press briefing at the DOH main office in Manila.

Duque added the 148 OFs and 48 OWWA members would need to undergo the prescribed screening and quarantine measures before they are allowed to be repatriated.

“Repatriates from Macau will be treated as persons under monitoring. In the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force), there’s an agreement to ensure, under the Bureau of Quarantine, the DILG (Department of the Interior Local Government) and local governments will be given a list of where the repatriates live to ensure they’re taken care of by way of daily monitoring if they have fever, coughs, colds and other respiratory illness symptoms,” he said.

When asked about the total amount of money the government has spent on the repatriation of Filipinos due to the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak, Duque said the task force does not have the information as “it has not started any tally of the repatriation expenses”.

“The Magsaysay Maritime Corporation had the biggest expenses – airfare, food, small items like the toiletries – for the Filipinos in Japan. The government spent on the hospitals, our medical teams on a rotating basis – doctors, nurses, aides – from the five surrounding health facilities in Clark [Pampanga],” he added.