Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 9) — More than 300 repatriated Filipino seafarers were allowed to return home to their respective provinces on Tuesday, three days after arriving in the country.
A total of 345 seafarers from Barbados came home last Saturday via a chartered Philippine Airlines flight from the Royal Carribean cruise line, COVID-19 response deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon told reporters in a media briefing with other Cabinet officials in Clark, Pampanga.
Of this number, at least four had tested positive for the virus and were isolated in quarantine facilities, National Action Plan on COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
The seafarers who were allowed to go home are part of the 600 overseas Filipino workers who returned to the country last week. A total of 262 OFWs on board an Emirates commercial flight from Dubai arrived last Friday and were already sent home on Monday.
All the OFWs who arrived at the Clark International Airport were immediately subjected to mandatory reverse transmission-polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR testing, and then brought to a hotel assigned by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and their manning agency as their holding areas prior the release of their testing results.
With the assistance accomplished in only three days, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Inter-Agency for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is striving to make it as their standard processing period for other returning OFWs.
“Ngayon lang po mangyayari na sa loob ng tatlong araw ay makakauwi na po ang ating OFWs. Sana po ito ay maging standard para sa ating mga darating na OFWs pa,” Duque said.
[Translation: This is the first time that it only took three days before OFWs are allowed to get home. We hope this will be our new standard for other returning OFWS.]
“Kami po sa IATF ay nagpupursigi na ang prosesong kanilang dinadaanan ay mapapaigi pa katulad nitong tatlong araw, mabilis ang testing results, in 72 hours, pati paglabas ng certificate ng Bureau of Quarantine,” he added.
[Translation: We at the IATF are striving to improve the process and shorten it into three days, with a fast release of the testing results, in 72 hours, including the issuance of the certification from the Bureau of Quarantine.]
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that seafarers may be deployed back to their work in the future, with authorization from the task force.
Meanwhile, other OFWs who cannot return to work will receive a cash assistance, livelihood, and education assistance from the government.
More repatriation flights from the United Arab Emirates and the United States are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, he added.
CNN Philippines’ Gerg Cahiles contributed to this report.
