Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29) — Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Friday apologized to returning overseas Filipino workers, some of whom got stranded in quarantine sites for more than a month. He vowed that nothing similar will happen again.
Bello admitted in an online briefing they may have inadvertently caused these OFWs “anxiety, discomfort and unwarranted sufferings” due to test result backlogs.
“Hindi na po mangyayari ang nangyari sa ating OFWs.”
[Translation: This will not happen again to other OFWs.]
The government expects an additional 42,000 overseas workers to arrive home this June, a majority of whom will be coming from the Middle East, Bello said.
He said they are studying if it is possible to test OFWs before flying back to the Philippines as well as ‘profile’ them to prevent a ‘prolonged quarantine.’
Bello announced that 19,000 out of the 24,000 evacuated overseas workers have been sent home this week. Of this, 5,000 are seafarers who were quarantined in cruise ships docked at Manila Bay.
“We are just short by about 5,000 to be transported for their homecoming hopefully by today or tomorrow.”
DOLE, the Department of Health and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration have until Sunday to bring home these OFWs, and Bello said he thinks they could ‘meet President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadline.’
To support this, the DOLE formed the Crisis Management Committee on Coronavirus through Administrative Order no. 124.
Gov’t braces for ‘second surge’
“Ito ay tugon doon sa panawagan ng Presidente na dapat madaliin ang pagpa-uwi ng ating mga OFW sa kanilang probinsya (This is the answer to the directive of the President that sending of OFWs home should be fast tracked.) That is why the Secretary has to form a Crisis Management Committee. Magiging parang (This is like an) operational and action center,” DOLE Usec. Renato Ebarle told CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Ngayon on Friday.
Ebarle said that this committee will also have close coordination with agencies under the department to know how it can also fast track assistance and to have a more accurate data of how many are still expected to arrive and where they will be quarantined while waiting for their test results. This is also to prevent the past experience, when sending OFWs home took months after their arrival.
The crisis management committee will be headed by former DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque, Ebarle said. This is broken down into task forces namely for returning OFWs to be headed by Usec. Claro Arellano, for outgoing OFWs to be headed by Ebarle, and the communication to be headed by Usec. Joji Aragon.
Ebarle said that many OFWs are still expected to return to the country. There are 60,000 OFWs expected to arrive next month but the figure may change depending on data the DOLE will receive from labor attaches in different countries.
“We will have to revise really to come up with a complete and true data kung ilan (of how many), but this time medyo mas ready na tayo. Pinaghahandaan na namin (we are more ready. We are already prepared) together with OWWA and POEA,” he said.
COVID-19 National Task Force Special Adviser, Dr. Tony Leachon, told CNN Philippines’ New Day that the government is bracing for a ‘second surge’ of COVID-19 cases which may come from OFWs.
Leachon said around 500 Filipino overseas workers who have returned to the country have so far tested positive for coronavirus disease. These infected OFWs, makes up only 2 percent of the confirmed cases, are ‘asymptomatic,’ meaning they developed no symptoms, he added.
The Department of Health reported on Thursday its highest ever single-day increase in coronavirus cases, with 539 new infections and a nationwide tally that surged to 15,588, a few days before the country is set to further ease its quarantine measures.
DOH has explained that the sudden spike in cases is an ‘artificial rise’ as the country’s COVID-19 testing centers work round the clock to clear their backlogs, which include validated results of OFWs who got stranded in quarantine centers in Metro Manila.
It has said the numbers are also expected to continue rising in the coming days, with the reopening of three laboratories, which temporarily halted testing samples for coronavirus due to lack of supplies. The cases recently reported reflected tests conducted days and weeks prior to announcement, it added.
Metro Manila will transition to a more relaxed general community quarantine or GCQ from June 1 to June 15 after two months of being under enhanced community quarantine. Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Calabarzon, Albay, Pangasinan and Davao City will also be under GCQ while the rest of the country will be placed under modified GCQ.
READ: Metro Manila eases to GCQ on June 1
