OWWA XII gives P1.1M aid to OFWs affected by COVID-19 travel ban

By: Oliver Ross Rivera, PIA XII

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Mar. 13 (PIA) -- The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration – SOCCSKSARGEN (OWWA XII) released a total of P1,140,000 financial aid to OFWs affected by the travel ban due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

According to OWWA XII Regional Director Marilou Sumalinog, 114 OFWs who were supposed to go back to China, Macau, Hongkong and Taiwan each received P10,000 from the government.

The cash assistance given to the affected OFWs was an immediate response of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and OWWA to the call of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to ease and lessen the burden of the would-

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end local armed conflict as mandated in President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Executive Order No. 70. Programs and projects to be implemented by concerned agencies are those identified and proposed by the barangays. In SOCCSKSARGEN Region, 62 barangays are being considered for the convergence program this year. These barangays have been cleared of communist terrorist groups’ be departing OFWs after the government has imposed the travel ban.

Sumalinog, however, clarified that with the recent lifting of the travel ban on Macau, Hongkong and Taiwan, only OFWs from China will be eligible for the grant.

OWWA XII continues its call to stranded OFWs in the region who have not yet claimed their cash aid to immediately coordinate with their office or the nearest public OFW help desk in their municipality or city.

Applicants are required to bring valid passport, airline ticket, and proof of employment such as overseas employment certificate and contract as requirements to avail the benefit. presence by the Armed Forces through their Community Support Programn (CSP). During the RTF-ELCAC meeting in Kidapawan City, Sec. Lapeña directed the regions’s four provincial governors to identify a pilot site from the list of RCSP barangays in their respective jurisdictions. “Under the leadership of the governors, all national government agencies – in a whole-of-nation Meanwhile, since OWWA XII gives frontline services to OFWs, they are now implementing precautionary measures to combat COVID-19. This is to ensure that their clients, as well as their employees are safe from the disease.

“As per advisory from OWWA Central Office, OFWs from countries with identified cases of COVID-19 who arrived in the country within 14 days will not be allowed to enter our office as of yet,” Sumalinog said.

Aside from this, OWWA XII is also providing free alcohol, hand sanitizers and face mask to everyone who enter their office premises.

OWWA reiterates the government’s call, especially to OFWs to be cooperative and submit to the Department of Health’s protocols and advisories in dealing with

COVID-19. approach – will deliver the projects and basic services needed. Once the initial projects are put in place in the pilot barangays, the focus will be expanded to other barangays,” he said.

The government needs to expedite interventions in these villages to attain the objectives of Executive Order No. 70 within the administration of President Duterte, Lapeña said.