THE Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) is looking to provide cash assistance to about 150,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

In a statement, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III said they are set to provide P10,000 cash assistance to each qualified OFW under the "Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong" (Akap) program.

Qualified to receive cash assistance are OFWs, either documented or undocumented, who are stranded overseas or have been repatriated.

Bello said qualified OFWs are advised to get in touch with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in their host country if they are based abroad, or visit the nearest (Owwa) regional office if they are currently in the Philippines.

"The Polo and the Owwa can now start processing the assistance," the Labor chief said.

Bello said they are just awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte's approval of the recommendation submitted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on the program's funding. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)