Loans for arriving OFWs from Middle East ready

MANILA, Philippines – Financial loans and other assistance packages await hundreds of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have started returning home from various countries in the Middle East yesterday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the government is fast-tracking the repatriation of Filipino workers who have run away from their employers and are now staying in welfare centers abroad.

“The government, particularly the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), is now on full assistance mode for all returning distressed workers,” Baldoz said.

She said that 82 distressed workers arrived yesterday in separate batches from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait while 157 others are coming home in the next two days.

“Our repatriation program for all OFWs is a continuing thing and this week alone, 239 of them are coming home from Jeddah and Kuwait. We are ready to receive them with a package of assistance to enable them to reintegrate themselves smoothly into the mainstream of their communities,” Baldoz said.

Among those to be repatriated are OFWs who have long been camping out under the Kandara Bridge in Jeddah.

The labor chief noted that the Kuwaiti government shouldered the expenses of the OFW repatriates from Kuwait, mostly women who had been charged by their employers of absconding on their employment contracts.

In his inaugural speech last June 30, President Aquino vowed to work for the immediate repatriation of every OFW who has run away from employers or are considered distressed due to various reasons.

In fulfillment of Mr. Aquino’s promise, Baldoz said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other concerned government agencies are exerting all efforts to repatriate distressed workers within 30 days after the authorities of the host country have issued exit clearance or visa.