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09/02/2010 Over 2,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are waiting in various shelters and safehouses in the Middle East for their immediate mass repatriation, with the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) having set aside more than P100 million. The cost of plane ticket for each returning OFW is estimated at P50,000, apart from other expenses such as immigration and legal fees paid by the Philippine government to host countries to allow the Filipino worker leave the country. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration chief Carmelita Dimzon said most of the OFWs that will be deported are not members of OWWA. The OWWA has collected an estimated $12 billion in 2010 from the mandatory $25 contributions from OFW members, of which a portion should be earmarked for emergency repatriation. “For undocumented cases, the OWWA forwards processing and implementation to the Department of Foreign Affairs which also has funds for this purpose.” But the OWWA funds have been subjected to numerous cases of misuse of funds from abusive board members. The DFA, on the other hand, has been complaining of alleged lack of funds “but has failed to repatriate a number of OFWs and those in distress over the years.” Dimzon said that OWWA’s welfare officers have been bringing home distressed OFWs as many and as fast as they can from deportation centers such as in Jeddah. “From Jeddah, Kuwait and Bahrain, OWWA has brought home close to 700 runaway OFWs and their children in the last five weeks,” she said, adding that OWWA pays for plane fares since that’s the directive from DoLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. Dimzon said that OWWA knows the discomfort of OFWs in sharing deportation facilities such as in Jeddah with hundreds of migrants from other migrant-sending countries. “These centers are not within the control of OWWA,” said Dimzon. “We ask immigration authorities of host countries for permission to visit bring food and check medical condition of our stranded nationals.” Mina Diaz
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