Backlog in testing a challenge in bringing stranded OFWs home
Repatriated OFWs from Manila arrives at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in this May 8, 2020 photo. | Photo courtesy of DILG – Central Visayas
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in Central Visayas (OWWA-7) has been working double-time to get Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) stranded in Cebu home back to their respective homes in other provinces and cities.
Yet of the 818 OFWs, at least 500 are still stranded in the island, waiting for clearance to go home.
OWWA-7 Director Mae Codilla said in a virtual conference that many agencies have been working together to cut down documentary requirements for OFWs to go home to their respective homes.
Read: More than 200 OFWs stranded in Cebu sent home
Yet one essential factor has been keeping them from their homeward journey. OFWs need to prove negative to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) before they can board a ship and go home.
‘That is one our challenges. We are trying to get the OFWs home, but we also understand there is a huge volume of samples the DOH needs to handle.’
With the rising cases in Central Visayas, the Department of Health in the region (DOH-7) has been reporting backlogs of up to 800 samples. The unreleased results of the swab tests have left some of the OFWs stranded in Cebu.
“That is one our challenges. We are trying to get the OFWs home, but we also understand there is a huge volume of samples the DOH needs to handle,” said Codilla.
DOH on top of situation
Doctor Shelbay Blanco of DOH-7 said that they have successfully swabbed at least 600 OFWs, but not all results have been released.
He assured that DOH-7 is on top of the situation and the results will be released as soon as they are processed in the laboratories.
Codilla said this situation is not exclusive to Central Visayas. There are thousands of stranded OFWs in the entire country.
Many of these OFWs who wants to go home in the region are stuck in Metro Manila and other provinces in Luzon.
She said that they coordinate with the other regions to hopefully bring these OFWs home faster.
“It is really challenging, but rest assured, we will address those issues. They can go home,” said Codilla.
Yet for the meantime that they are stranded, OWWA-7 assured the OFWs that they will be taken cared of. /bmjo
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