Filipinos in UAE returning to Philippines to undergo 14-day quarantine, OWWA to provide free hotel stay to OFWs during quarantine

  DUBAI – With Emirates operating limited flights to repatriate Filipinos during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi advised Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) that they will undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine when they arrive in the Philippines. In its recent advisory, the Philippine Embassy said that the quarantine will be done at a government designated facility. Meanwhile, in a new directive on Tuesday (April 21), the Overseas Welfare Workers Administration (OWWA) was tasked to provide returning OFWs free accommodation in hotels during their quarantine, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID). The embassy’s recent advisory came after a video by Dubai-based OFW Edelle Deci went viral on social media showing “deplorable” quarantine conditions at a 2GO ship that had been converted into a quarantine facility in a Manila pier. Read more on that here In an interview with Expatmedia.net, Deci said she made the decision to fly home under the impression that she would only need to go on home quarantine for 14 days. Officials in the Philippines previously announced that returning Filipinos showing no signs of Covid-19 will be advised to go on home quarantine. Read the full interview Deci said she was shocked when, upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on April 16, she was rounded up with a group of OFWs to a quarantine ship docked in Pier 15 in Manila where they were told that they needed to stay for the mandatory 14-day quarantine. In her now deleted video, the Filipina showed footage of narrow bunk beds, many without mattresses, and cited traces of dirt on the floor and the dirty public toilet. “I don’t think this is how a quarantine facility should be. We are going to get sick here,” she said in Filipino. On Friday, the Philippine Department of Transportation apologized to Deci and said it was working to resolve the issues that she highlighted in her video. The DOT also said that the daily P180 fee for meals on the 2GO ship shall be shouldered by the government.

OWWA to provide free accommodation to OFWs

ON Tuesday, OWWA was directed to provide returning OFWs free temporary accommodation in hotels amid the implementation of Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, according to IATF-EID. The agency approved Resolution 14, which authorizes OWWA to issue the certifications “it may deem appropriate to the concerned OFWs.” “It means that distressed OFWs can now be accommodated in hotels or similar establishments,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a televised speech aired on state-run PTV-4. “We appeal for patience and calm as we and the whole world face an unprecedented crisis – one that can be overcome if all of us focus at the singular task at hand: saving each other’s lives,” Nograles said. All Filipino citizens, including their foreign spouses and children, returning to the Philippines, are still allowed to travel to the Philippines, but are subjected to strict quarantine protocols. ICA/Expat Media https://www.expatmedia.net/emirates-adds-3-flights-manila/2020/04/ https://www.expatmedia.net/filipino-expat-dubai-calls-unhygienic-quarantine-facility-manila-department-transport-apologises/2020/04/ https://www.expatmedia.net/dubai-ofw-hopes-manila-quarantine-experience-will-help-filipinos/2020/04/
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