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| Stranded OFWs lining up for cash aid from OWWA in February |
Only 150,000 overseas Filipino workers who lose their jobs
due to the coronavirus crisis will benefit from the US$200 financial assistance
under the DOLE-Akap for OFWs program,
Labor Attaché Melchor Dizon said in a statement issued today, Apr 23.
Dizon’s announcement posted on the Facebook page of the
Philippine Overseas Labor Office immediately came under fire from overseas
Filipino workers in Hong Kong who complained
that the government’s aid program for them does not go far enough.
One also pointed out that Dizon’s announcement contradicted
a statement made by the Department of Labor and Employment only hours earlier that
the Dole-Akap program will continue despite the maximum target number of
recipients being reached.
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Labor Undersecretary Claro Arellano who supervises the cash
aid program was reported in a national daily as denying a press statement
issued by Dole earlier that only 150,000 OFWs will be assisted because of
“limited budget.”
“The program will continue,” Arellano was quoted as saying.
Afterwards, even Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in
an interview that the application process will go ahead, even if Dole and the
various posts abroad have already received around 200,000 applications.
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“So far we have only paid 18,000 [applicants]. That is worth
P180 million, or only over 10 percent out of total budget,” Bello
He added that Dole may request for
additional funding for Akap once the allocated budget has been exhausted if
there are still many qualified applicants.
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| Dizon (with mic) insists Polo will stop accepting applications for Akap once the allotted funds have been used up |
But in his advisory, Dizon quoted a Dole memorandum issued on
Wednesday that reportedly said that only Php1.5 billion had been allocated for
the Akap program.
“With the said limited budget, only 150,000 out of the
million Filipinos overseas can be accommodated under the program,” said Dizon.
“Hence, once the said allocation has been reached, Polos are
constrained to stop receiving DOLE-Akap applications and may resume only upon
release of any additional funds.”
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The Akap program, which awards US$200 or roughly Php10k
dole-out to each OFW who loses his or her job, or gets sick because of
Covid-19, was unveiled by Labor Secretary
Silvestre Bello III on Mar 27.
Dizon’s advisory was met by a barrage of plaintive comments
from OFWs as soon as it was posted on the Polo Facebook page. They complained
of not getting any help at all from the government as even their families in
the Philippines
Neither do they get help from the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, under which 18 million low-income
households will receive Php5,000 to Php8,000 a month for two months under the
social amelioration program to cushion the impact of the pandemic.
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“Unfair nga, yon lang mga nagkaroon ng cases ng Covid-19 at
nawalan ng work. Huwag na lang sabihin all OFWs. Sayang lang ibinabayad sa OWWA.
Ako 12 years contributions walang pakinabang,” commented a certain Gordula Jane.
“Ay buwiset...sa dami ng OFW all over the world yan lang ang
bibigyan...post pa kayo ng post, hindi pala lahat bibigyan. Buti pa hindi na
sila nagpost kasi madami sasama ang loob lang,” said Acierto Matda
Racquel.
Migrant leader Eman Villanueva had said earlier the
so-called financial assistance is just lip service intended to show the
government is doing something to help the workers.
“Sa totoo lang, sa sobrang dami ng exemptions, mas marami
ang hindi makakakuha kaysa sa makakakuha. Ang mangyayari diyan, para ring sa
social amelioration sa Pilipinas. Dahil sa dami ng exemption, maya-maya niyan
nag-aaway na ang mga tao,” said Villanueva, chairman of Bayan Hong Kong-Macau.
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