ILOILO City – Ships transporting repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be turned away if the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has not coordinated with the city government, said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
During Saturday’s meeting of the regional inter-agency task force on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Treñas skinned OWWA Region 6 for neglecting the Ilonggo OFWs whom the latter transported to Iloilo City from Manila on April 29.
“Ang lain sa inyo kay plano-plano kamo, pag-abot sang problema itudlo ninyo sa amon,” said Treñas.
Meals of the OFWs who were quarantined at a hotel here were delayed, and there was no regular checking of their health condition, such as their temperature. (Fever is one of the symptoms of COVID-19.)
OWWA did not have enough personnel, admitted its officer-in-charge, Connie Binarao.
Office of Civil Defense Region 6 director Jose Roberto Nuñez also reminded OWWA it was the latter’s responsibility to shoulder the food and accommodation of the repatriated OFWs.
The Maritime Industry Authority, on the other hand, must make sure repatriated OFWs have travel authority, Nuñez added.
For his part, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. urged OWWA to make sure all Ilonggo OFWs from Manila are negative of COVID-19 before transporting them to Western Visayas.
Only OFWs not infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, would be allowed to return to the region, he stressed.
Last week, OWWA transported to Western Visayas 266 OFWs (mostly seafarers) stranded in Metro Manila. Five of them (four from this city and one from Guimaras) turned out to be positive for COVID-19 when their specimens were tested at the Western Visayas Medical Center.
The 266 OFWs were residents of the following:
* Aklan – 37
* Antique – 18
* Capiz – 12
* Guimaras – five
* Iloilo – 68
* Iloilo City – 35
* Bacolod City – 24
* Negros Occidental – 27.
Those from Aklan, Capiz and Antique were fetched by their respective provincial governments for quarantine in their hometowns.
The OFWs from this city, provinces of Iloilo and Guimaras were temporarily quarantined at a hotel here.
On the other hand, OFWs from Bacolod City and Negros Occidental were dropped by Bacolod before the ship proceeded to Iloilo City./PN
