Around 440 Filipino seafarers who worked on several ships in the United States returned to the Philippines on Friday, April 10 amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The individuals were among those onboard the the Norwegian Pearl, Sky, and Sun cruise ships, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a release.
A total of 1,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the U.S. and Europe are slated to come home as part of the DFA’s repatriation efforts. The group will be quarantined in Manila before they venture off to their respective hometowns.
The Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles this week also sent off 751 Filipino cruise ship personnel employed by Norwegian Cruise Line, namely the M/S Norwegian Joy, M/S Regent Seven Seas Splendor and M/S Norwegian Jewel. The crew members completed a mandatory 14-day quarantine onboard the ships and were cleared of any COVID-19 symptoms.
The Filipinos were flown out of Los Angeles International Airport on flights arranged and paid for by the cruise company, the Consulate said in a release.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday also announced it is ready to help in repatriating displaced OFWs.
“Lahat ng ating mga kababayan na nasa abroad kung kinakailangan, iuuwi sila. Repatriation nila, sagot po ‘yan ng programa ng DOLE. ‘Yan po nakasama na sa PHP1.5 billion budget, kasi maliban sa cash assistance na (All of our kababayans abroad, if needed, we will repatriate them. Their repatriation will be shouldered by DOLE’s program. That is covered by the PHP1.5 billion budget, aside from the cash assistance amounting to) USD200 per OFW displaced because of COVID-19, we also take responsibility of repatriating them,” said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
Through DOLE’s Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) program, a one-time financial assistance of P10,000 will be given to land-based and sea-based OFWs whose jobs were affected by the pandemic.
The aid package for formal sector workers was approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases through Resolution No. 21 issued Monday, April 6, according to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.
“By Monday (April 13), we will remit this amount to our offices abroad where there are OFWs so they can get the more than USD200 cash assistance (P10,000) per overseas worker who were displaced by reason of COVID-19,” Bello said.
According to him, over P839 million has been released by the agency to 167,941 formal workers under the COVID Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
CAMP provides a one-time P5,000 assistance for affected formal workers.
Meanwhile, P206 million cash aid has been released to some 118,086 informal workers under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD)-Barangay ko, Bahay Ko (BKBK) program by the agency.
As reported by the Philippine News Agency, temporary jobs will be given to beneficiaries for 10 days in their barangays. Their compensation will be based on the prevailing minimum wage per region.
