GMA welcomes OFWs, hands out gifts

No less than President Arroyo welcomed overseas Filipino workers at their homecoming at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday, handing out cash and gift certificates to them.

Mrs. Arroyo, wearing casual blue jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt, was the star of the traditional "Pamaskong Handog Para sa OFWs" as excited OFWs jostled each other for a photograph with the President.

To many of the returning workers, their homecoming was particularly memorable as Mrs. Arroyo and other government officials rolled out the red carpet for them.

Many of the OFWs, who arrived in two separate flights from Jeddah and Taipei on board Saudia and Cathay Pacific Airlines, brought out their cameras from their handcarried luggage and requested members of the Presidential Security Group to become instant photographers.

There was a lot of bussing and embracing, aside from hand-shaking, to which Mrs. Arroyo gamely obliged.

"Welcome back! I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year with your family!" she greeted them.

The President handed a P100,000 check to 23-year-old Dalisay Buenviaje, whose name was picked out from among the two planeloads of OFWs who arrived at NAIA for the holidays.

Buenviaje, a nurse at the King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh, was very happy when her name was the one read out on a slip of paper drawn from a tambiolo by Wilhelm Soriano, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Other lucky OFWs were Noel Rivera, who won P50,000; Maria Benitez, P20,000; Marilyn Jabson, P20,000, and Wilson Bautista, P20,000.

The President arrived at exactly 10 a.m., a few minutes after the Saudia and Cathay Pacific flights touched down at NAIA.

Also on hand to welcome the OFWs were Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo and Customs District Collector Celso Templo, who saw to it that the returning OFWs were accorded VIP treatment for their immigration and Customs clearances.