DMW: ‘It’s our job’ to shoulder OFWs’ repatriation, accommodations
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Department of Migrant Workers spokesperson Toby Nebrida said on Thursday that it is the agency's job to fund the accommodation of overseas Filipino workers being repatriated to the country. The accommodations include lodging, free flights and services going back to the OFWs' home provinces.
"It's our job… regardless of status. They are in need, we help them. It's our job. There's nothing difficult to understand in that," Nebrida said.
In August 2023, the Commission on Audit flagged the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration for questionable expenses on the repatriation of 3,707 OFWs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The OFWs went home and availed of free flights, lodging and food multiple times from April 2020 to May 2023. Many of them were said to have used the program after their contracts expired.
Aside from the accommodation assistance handed out by DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the repatriates received a total of P105,000 in cash assistance: P50,000 from DMW, P50,000 from OWWA and P5,000 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
