{"id":265019,"date":"2020-08-12T05:52:10","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T09:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=265019"},"modified":"2020-08-12T05:52:10","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T09:52:10","slug":"over-136k-ofws-sent-back-to-provinces-dole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/12\/over-136k-ofws-sent-back-to-provinces-dole\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 136K OFWs sent back to provinces: DOLE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the latest batch of 2,667 Filipinos were transported home on Tuesday after they were confirmed negative of the virus. (File Photo: adnalonto\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Over 136,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic have so far been sent home to their respective provinces, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the latest batch of 2,667 Filipinos were transported home on Tuesday after they were confirmed negative of the virus.<\/p>\n

This brings the number of OFWs provided with various forms of assistance to 136,509, since the DOLE started transporting them in May after undergoing Covid-19 tests and quarantine.<\/p>\n

The DOLE, through the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and in coordination with other government agencies, has provided aid to returning Filipinos including accommodation, food, transportation, and Covid-19 testing upon their arrival in the country.<\/p>\n

It has also extended a one-time PHP10,000 (USD200) cash aid under Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) to OFWs both on-site and those stranded in the country.<\/p>\n

Bello has welcomed the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte of additional PHP5 billion for pandemic-affected Filipino workers abroad.<\/p>\n

“With the additional funding, more OFWs will benefit from the program and even more Filipinos working overseas will be repatriated and provided with assistance,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bello also reported that overseas and local jobs await Filipino workers affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Earlier, he said several contractors in Guam intend to hire more skilled Filipinos under the construction and maintenance job categories.<\/p>\n

As for local employment, Bello added the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has also expressed demand for OFW returnees, especially those with a background in the fields of information technology and healthcare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Over 136,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic have so far been sent home …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":258801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ferdinand-patinio","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265019","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265022,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265019\/revisions\/265022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}