Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31)— Over 23,000 repatriated overseas Filipino workers stuck in quarantine facilities in Metro Manila have been transported back to their hometowns, the Labor Department reported Sunday.
In a statement, the agency said a total of 23,472 returning workers had been sent back to their respective provinces, while hundreds more await clearance.
“The DOLE command center also reported that all of the more than 24,000 OFWs who were virtually locked up in various quarantine facilities would have been transported to their provinces by Sunday,” the department said.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration meanwhile said more OFWs are being fetched from hotels, with more COVID-19 test results expected to be released on Sunday afternoon.
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered agencies to speed up the release of the test results of the over 24,000 returning OFWs stuck in various quarantine facilities, giving officials one week to send them home to their provinces.
The chief executive likewise appealed to local governments to welcome their residents home. Local officials have voiced their concerns about the possible surge in coronavirus cases in their jurisdictions from returnees who may be infected with the disease.
Authorities, however, have assured that the returning OFWs have been cleared and already tested negative before they were sent home.
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More OFWs are expected in the next few months, with the COVID-19 crisis still hounding the globe. The government said it expects around 60,000 returning workers in the next two months, with some 300,000 more returning for the rest of 2020.
