(UPDATED) Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Wednesday, May 25, appealed for understanding from repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who may have to undergo further quarantine upon arrival in their hometowns.
Año said several local government units (LGU) are imposing additional quarantine procedures before allowing returning OFWs to go home to their families as a preventive measure against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“Kung maintindihan sana ng ating mga OFWs na talagang iba ‘yung sitwasyon natin ngayon sa mundo ano. Everybody wanted to be sure na para sigurado na walang mahahawa at hindi mo nakikita naman kung sino talaga yung meron o wala,” he said.
Jovy Quimque, a Cebuano who lost his job as a restaurant cook in Cayman Islands due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was able to go home to Barangay Tisa in Cebu City Tuesday night, a day after he arrived from Metro Manila.
He had been in quarantine in Metro Manila for at least 40 days.
He was among the OFWs who were able to go home after the government released their diagnostic test results online following complaints over prolonged isolation in quarantine centers.
Upon arrival in Cebu, Quimque said they were told that they would be able to go home if a barangay official or family member would pick them up from a quarantine center.
“Ang advice po sa amin baka three days lang daw while contact nila mga LGU at depende daw sa LGU kung need po ba naming mag-quarantine at swab or home quarantine na lang po,” he added.
Quimque expressed hope that they would be allowed to go back home soonest.
The League of Provinces of the Philippines earlier agreed that in order to protect their constituents, returning OFWs must undergo quarantine and be subjected to Covid-19 testing once they arrive in their home provinces.
However, Año said he will suggest to LGUs to allow home quarantine of these distressed OFWs in order for them to somehow be able to see their families.
“Papakiusapan natin yang mga LGU na yan na ano na lang home quarantine...Karamihan naman ng ating mga OFW ay ang unang pinupundar niyan ‘yung makapagpagawa ng medyo malaking bahay kaya kung ang bahay niya ay mas malaki ibig sabihin nun puwede siya magkaroon ng isolation room at puwede na rin ang home quarantine,” said Año.
“We will encourage all LGUs na sa mga OFWs, meron naman negative lahat diyan home quarantine na lang except talaga kung ang bahay ay maliit at hindi talaga kaya makapag home quarantine,” he added.
The DILG secretary said some 555 OFWs tested positive for the novel coronavirus, or Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
They are now in government-run isolation facilities. Majority are asymptomatic.
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered concerned government agencies to send home within one week some 24,000 other OFWs who tested negative for the virus. (SunStar Philippines)