Higher remittances due to OFWs’ desire to help kin

FILE: Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) heading to their hometowns after completing mandatory quarantine queue at the departure area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 during a send-off on Tuesday (May 26, 2020) (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Thursday said the desire of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to help their families in the country during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has contributed to the increase in remittances in the past months.

“We actually see our OFWs are more than willing to help their families here. They send their savings and salaries. It’s no longer a surprise that our remittance level is slowly getting back to normal,” OWWA head Hans Leo Cacdac said during a Laging Handa briefing.

Cacdac said they also see the deployment of OFWs as another factor in the increase of remittances.

“The deployment rate increase by 20-40 percent, but of course that is not the normal deployment rate pre-Covid,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that OFWs personal remittances grew by 2.

5 percent to $3.04 billion in October 2020 compared to the same month last year at $2.97 billion.

Meanwhile, Cacdac expressed support for the passage of House Bill 7951, or the proposed Overseas Filipino Workers Remittance Protection Act.

“It is a welcome development, it is only proper that as much as possible they will be getting the hard-earned money in full without imposing charges,” he said.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved on third reading the bill that seeks to limit charges and provide discounts on remittance fees being charged to OFWs.