{"id":259378,"date":"2020-06-25T22:59:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T02:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259378"},"modified":"2020-06-25T22:59:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T02:59:36","slug":"govt-wont-allow-owwa-philhealth-to-go-bankrupt-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/25\/govt-wont-allow-owwa-philhealth-to-go-bankrupt-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t won\u2019t allow OWWA, PhilHealth to go bankrupt: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac warned that his agency could go bankrupt by the end of 2021 if the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic continues. (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 The national government will not allow the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to go bankrupt, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac warned that his agency could go bankrupt by the end of 2021 if the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic continues.<\/p>\n

He said the OWWA, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), was already working to avoid this by asking the Senate for a PHP5 billion supplemental budget to sustain its budget for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) sought the delayed implementation of the Universal Healthcare Law due to the depleting budget of the state health insurer.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, said Duterte and lawmakers would find a way to augment the state-run health insurer\u2019s funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa panahon po ng pandemya, ang OWWA\u00a0at ang<\/em>\u00a0PhilHealth hindi po natin papayagang malugi (At this time of pandemic, the government will not allow the OWWA and PhilHealth to go bankrupt),\u201d he said in a virtual presser.<\/p>\n

Roque said both the executive and legislative branches of government would work together to ensure that OFWs, especially those displaced by the pandemic, would be provided with cash and\/or livelihood assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuportado na po ng mga senador na bibigyan sila ng<\/em>\u00a0supplemental budget na 5 billion\u00a0at iyan po ay patunay na hindi natin pababayaan ang ating\u00a0<\/em>OFWs,\u00a0ang ating mga mamamayan sa panahon ng pandemya<\/em>\u00a0(Senators have expressed their willingness to provide a supplemental budget worth PHP5 billion and that is proof that we will not leave OFWs and other Filipinos behind in the time of pandemic),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque assured that the Philippine Embassy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would look into reports that OFWs have resorted to selling their blood after losing their jobs there.<\/p>\n

\u201cPinaimbestigahan na po iyan sa ating<\/em>\u00a0LABATT\u00a0o iyong<\/em>\u00a0Labor Attach\u00e9\u00a0natin,<\/em>\u00a0as we speak,\u00a0at minamabuti po natin na makarating pati po iyong mga ayuda na binibigay natin sa mga<\/em>\u00a0OFWs\u00a0natin na hindi makauwi dahil sa<\/em>\u00a0lockdown (We have asked the Labor Attach\u00e9 to investigate that incident, as we speak, and we have made sure that our stranded OFWs affected by the lockdown will be given assistance),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As for reports of some 250 displaced OFWs in Hong Kong, Roque said the government has arranged a chartered flight for their return home.<\/p>\n

Concerned agencies, he said, are seeking permission from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to allow the return of the displaced OFWs from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumingi na lang po ng pahintulot sa<\/em>\u00a0IATF\u00a0para makauwi po iyong<\/em>\u00a0chartered plane\u00a0kasama itong<\/em>\u00a0250\u00a0na na<\/em>-layoff\u00a0na mga kababayan natin sa<\/em>\u00a0Hong Kong (We are also seeking permission from the IATF to allow the return of the chartered plane carrying these 250 OFWs who were laid off from work),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

More than 52,000 OFWs have returned home since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed.<\/p>\n

About 30,000 OFWs are expected to return home in the next few months, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roque said the DOLE would expedite the process of providing assistance to non-OFWs whose livelihoods were also affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The national government will not allow the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to go bankrupt, Malaca\u00f1ang said on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":253430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259378","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=259378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259380,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259378\/revisions\/259380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}