OFW returnees in Cordillera now at 4,000

A TOTAL of 4,592 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have returned to the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

Ed Laigo of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa)-CAR said the number or returning OFWs was recorded since May.

There are 46 OFWs affected by the Covid-19, to which 45 have fully recovered, while one case in Abra Province is currently undergoing isolation.

"Since May 1st to the present, Baguio City recorded 1,751 returning OFWs, Benguet with 1,033, Abra with 683, Ifugao with 371, Kalinga with 349, Mountain Province with 213 and Apayao with 192 for a total of 4,592.

These returning OFWs underwent the health protocols instituted by the health department in identified drop-of points in CAR and Region II," Laigo said.

Of the 46 returning OFWs in CAR who earlier tested positive for coronavirus, Baguio City recorded nine, Benguet with nine, Abra with six, Apayao with five, Ifugao with three, Kalinga with 12 and Mountain Province with two cases.

The Owwa and the local government of Baguio City earlier identified Teachers Camp as the drop-off point for returning OFWs for Baguio City, Benguet and Mountain Province, while for Ifugao, except for eastern part of the province, it identified a drop-off point in Lamut.

For the eastern municipalities of Alfonso Lista, Mayoyao and Aguinaldo in Ifugao and the municipalities of Paracelis and Natonin in Mountain Province, a main drop-off point was identified in Cordon, Isabela for all returning OFWs of Isabela and the eastern municipalities of Ifugao and Mountain Province manned by welfare officers from Cagayan Valley.

On September 30, the Owwa coordinated with Provincial Government of Kalinga for the use of a drop-off point in Talaka-Banawag, Tabuk City for returning OFWs of the Province.

In Abra, Owwa, together with the Provincial Government, identified a drop-off point in Tangadan, San Quintin, Abra, while Apayao, being the northern most area of the region, a drop-off point has been identified at the Tuguegarao Sports Complex to which vehicles of Apayao conduct the receiving and ferrying of Kalinga OFWs.

"The returning OFWs in the region underwent a re-swabbing upon their arrival at the designated drop-off points and upon entry to their respective provinces, they underwent a three- to four-day quarantine after the re-swabbing while waiting for the results of the swab tests and if they turned out to be positive for the coronavirus, they are placed at designated treatment facilities in Tuguegarao and Bayambang in Region 2 aside from treatments facilities in the provinces of the Cordillera Region," the Owwa representative said.

For Covid-19-affected OFWs, a continuing financial assistance from Owwa-CAR under the "Abot Kamay Ang Pagtulong" (Akap) amounting to P10,000 per OFW, which have recorded 945 beneficiaries aside from the Department of Labor and Employment financial assistance for 2,019 OFWs which amounts to a total of P29,640,000 have been distributed by the welfare agency to returning CAR OFWs.

"There are 391 applicants currently being processed and evaluated, which is expected to be finished this week. While we are awaiting for funding from our main office for us to release these financial assistance under Akap, the next program which we are giving right now is the education assistance through scholarships in emergencies amounting to P10,000 per year for active members of Owwa for OFW dependents from first year to fifth year college with the approved applicants at 15 to which we have released 10 as of the moment with 77 applicants as of now," Laigo added.

A new program being prepared by Owwa, together with DOLE and the Commission on Higher Education, is the P50,000 one-time payment for college dependents of OFWs to which guidelines are currently being done.

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