DoLE: P2.5B emergency fund for pandemic-hit OFWs exhausted

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has exhausted its P2.5 billion emergency fund intended to assist 250,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

As of July 21, DoLE had released P2.232 billion from the program fund, with over half a million applications received and approximately half approved.

More than 106,200 OFWs who were stranded due to the pandemic have been repatriated and transported to their home provinces.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III stated that the government will exhaust all means to help these workers regain jobs they lost abroad.

DoLE is developing a tracking system called the OFW Assistance Information System (OASIS) to facilitate orderly repatriation and assistance for returning OFWs, providing them with food, hygiene kits, accommodation, and transportation.