{"id":256627,"date":"2020-05-30T06:46:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T10:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=256627"},"modified":"2020-05-30T06:46:16","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T10:46:16","slug":"ofws-getting-vip-treatment-from-govt-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/30\/ofws-getting-vip-treatment-from-govt-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"OFWs getting \u2018VIP treatment\u2019 from gov\u2019t: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) assist overseas Filipino workers heading home to their respective provinces during a send-off at the departure area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 on Tuesday (May 26, 2020) (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are receiving special treatment from the government to ensure their protection amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The statement was issued to dispute the claim of labor group Migrante International that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s administration is neglecting the repatriated OFWs allegedly \u201cdumped like garbage in Metro Manila\u2019s airport terminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Laging Handa Program aired on state media PTV-4, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government is attending to the needs of OFWs who are returning to the country.<\/p>\n

Roque also noted that the government had even shouldered the cost of OFWs\u2019 transportation and tests for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi po iyan<\/em>\u00a0garbage-like treatment. VIP treatment\u00a0po iyan<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s not garbage treatment. That is VIP treatment),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday, Migrante International claimed that OFWs are being made to feel \u201cthe maximum brunt of the Duterte regime\u2019s ineptitude.\u201c<\/p>\n

The labor group also alleged that the Duterte government has yet to give appropriate assistance to the returning OFWs.<\/p>\n

Refuting the Migrante International, Roque said around 22,436 OFWs in various quarantine facilities in Metro Manila have already been sent home after testing negative for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Roque said their return to their respective homes has become possible due to Duterte\u2019s call for local government units (LGUs) to accept the returning OFWs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng mabuting balita po, sa ngayon po, araw ng Sabado, meron pang isang araw<\/em>, out of 24,000, 22,426\u00a0na po ang napauwi<\/em>\u00a0(The good news is as of Saturday, around 22,426 out of the 24,000 OFWs have already returned to their homes),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a public address delivered on Thursday, Duterte stressed that there was \u201cno reason\u201d for LGUs not to accept OFWs \u201cwith open arms,\u201d especially if they tested negative for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The national government is expediting the processing and release of Covid-19 test results of OFWs to accommodate a new batch of repatriates expected to arrive in May and June.<\/p>\n

Some 300,000 OFWs are set to return to the country this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are receiving special treatment from the government to ensure their protection amid the coronavirus …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":256247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256628,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256627\/revisions\/256628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}