The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has recently received a P1-billion augmentation fund for displaced overseas Filipino workers.
The additional fund will be part of DOLE’s AKAP program which aims to provide P10,000 one-time financial assistance to displaced OFWs due to Covid-19. With the new amount, it will benefit 100,000 more OFWs.
In June, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the release of P5-billion under Bayanihan 1 law to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for the repatriation and assistance to returning OFWs.
According to the latest figures, around P2.492-billion had already been consumed benefitting 243,326 displaced OFWs who were either still on-site or those already repatriated.
The P10,000 cash aid program for OFWs had processed and approved 280,253 requests for assistance from both and land-based and sea-based workers. So far, the total requests received by the agencies stood at 617,431.
