420K OFWs apektado ng pagbagal ng ekonomiya ng mundo

KAILANGAN umanong paghandaan ng bansa ang pag-uwi ng 420,000 overseas Filipino workers na posibleng maging hudyat ng second wave ng pagkalat ng coronavirus disease 2019.

 Ayon kay House committee on ways and means chairman at Albay Rep. Joey Salceda sa ilalim ng Bayanihan Act ang Overseas Workers Welfare Administration at Department of Labor and Employment ay dapat maglaan ng P20 bilyon para sa mga uuwing OFW.

“Consensus estimate is that some 230 to 250 thousand OFWs will be displaced or dislocated from their jobs. We did a value chain analysis and we find that that is in fact a net number. Sa value chain analysis po namin ng major economies and sectors where there are OFWs, we found that up to 420,000 may come home from the Philippines at some point within the next six months, with 170 to 180 thousand of them coming home because of temporary circumstances. Kumbaga, pauuwiin lang tapos pababalikin din pag humupa na ang sitwasyon,” ani Salceda.

Bukod sa tulong na ibibigay dapat ay paghandaan din umano ang pag-quarantine at test sa mga uuwing OFW na maaaring may dalang COVID-19.

Aabot umano sa $5 bilyon ang mawawalang remittance sa pag-uwi ng mga OFW.

“That may take 2-3 years before we can restore it to normal levels. We’re highly exposed because some of our best-paid OFWs are sea-based, and that relies on tourism and global trade, which would suffer lingering effects within the next 24 to 36 months.”

Kung wala umanong maipapakain sa pamilya mapipilitan umano ang mga uuwing OFW na lumabas at lumabag sa kanilang quarantine para maghanap ng pagkakakitaan.

“Let’s come up with a quarantine protocol. As soon as they arrive, they have to declare in a detailed manner the places where they came from within a period of time. You test them afterwards. As soon as they accomplish that truthfully, you give them cash, outright, as assistance for themselves and their families. You place them in some place for quarantine, or you send them home but you alert the police and the local authorities, down to the Barangay, so that the 14-day quarantine can be imposed.”