SAN JOSE, Antique – A total of 853 returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) are now home in this province through the government’s repatriation program.
These ROFS started arriving in Antique on April 29 via trips arranged by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The first set of returnees which was composed of nine individuals arrived home via a 2GO vessel.
Divine Minasalvas, who was among the first batch of repatriates, said in an interview Monday the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic halted her eight-month contract under the Mediterranean Shipping Company.
“I was only able to work for four months,” she added.
Her last port call was in Brazil where they were informed that they could no longer continue working.
“I am thankful I was able to return to the Philippines and then to Antique through the OWWA,” Minasalvas, who has been working in cruise ships for the past 10 years said.
She currently sustains herself and her family out of her savings while waiting for the company to recall her.
Another repatriate from the first batch, Vicente Jose Tambanillo, said he lauds the government for assisting their repatriation.
“Our trip from Manila to Antique was well organized,” he said.
According to him, there were OWWA personnel who assisted them from Manila to Iloilo and then to this province.
“There was an OWWA bus that fetched us at Fort San Pedro in Iloilo City,” he said.
Tambanillo has been working as a seafarer under the Magsaysay Shipping Company for eight years now.
He arrived in Manila last March 23 but was only able to come home to Antique last April 29.
“I experienced lockdown in Manila for more than a month due to COVID-19,” he said.
The staff of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office headed by Broderick Train was there at Fort San Pedro to help facilitate the return of the ROFs to this province.
Twenty-six more ROFs arrived in this province on Monday via two sweeper flights that landed at the Iloilo International Airport.
They are currently under mandatory 14-day quarantine in isolation facilities. (With a report from PNA/PN)
