Hotels for returning sailors, full OFWs – OWWA

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Hotels serving as quarantine facilities for sailors and other Filipino Overseas Workers (OFWs) remain full with more than 10,500 Returning Filipinos (ROFs) currently housed in 183 hotels, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Administrator OWWA Hans Cacdac FILE PHOTO

Guest on the July 2 episode of Marino Filipino TV, OWWA administrator or Hans Leo Cacdac revealed that the number of ROFs accommodated in various hotels has increased significantly in recent days due to the extended quarantine period required by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the management of emerging infectious diseases.

“Our hotels are now at critical levels kaya lumalabas uli tayo sa Batangas, Cavite and Laguna (to find accommodation)”, added the administrator Cacdac.

The OWWA official, however, did not shed light on previous reports that some hotels were only offering a small number of their rooms to OWWA to serve as quarantine facilities for ROFs due to backlogs. agency crescents to some hotels dating back to last year. . Some hotels offer some of their rooms only to paying customers.

Some circles have blamed this failure to settle OWWA’s overdue accounts with partner hotels, why the IATF refused to raise the cap on incoming ROFs, ostensibly to avoid further overloading the hotels.

Due to the travel cap, many overseas sailors and Filipinos who wish to return home are now stranded at various airports overseas. Flights to the Philippines are very few and expensive.

Nonetheless, Administrator Cacdac still seemed optimistic as he broke the welcome development regarding new funds recently approved by President Duterte to increase already depleted funds for transport, food and hotel accommodation for the ROFs.

He informed: “Good news, about two or three weeks ago President Duterte approved 5.2 billion pesos.

We expect there will be additional (funds) soon, we are grateful that this helps us last until September. “

He was quick to add that the Ministry of Labor would again request additional funds, but this is not necessarily the balance of the 9.8 billion pesos previously requested by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

The OWWA chief explained that the request for 9.8 billion pesos was based on the calculation when the required quarantine period was only seven to nine days; now it’s 10 days. “There are some like these sailors coming from the United Arab Emirates (United Arab Emirates), which is a restricted country, they must be quarantined for 14 days.

Yet during the Marino Filipino TV show, the Cacdac administrator also responded to numerous complaints about why some OFWs were booked in five star hotels while others were assigned to two or three hotels. stars with budgets of around 2,500 and 1,500 per night, respectively. .

Moreover, still on the accommodation at the hotel, he explains: “Kung ililimit lang sa two or three stars, kulang, kakapusin. On the other hand, kung ililimit lang sa five stars (hotels), kakapusin din; it is therefore necessary to go there the whole range.

“(But) Random match; marami ang nagrereklamo, they weren’t placed in five stars, but there was nothing we could do, random assignments. What we can assure them are DOT (Department of Tourism) accredited, so they meet the DOT standard. “

“If OFWs have any complaints, we’ll just have to talk to DOT. That’s what we can do now,” said administrator Cacdac.

However, he acknowledged that there are some advantages to booking ROF at five-star hotels. “Hindi mo na aalalahanin yung food, accommodation ng OFWs and if there is a swab test, large hotels have facilities where social distancing can be observed.”

Finally, he said, large hotels are members of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association. “So it’s easy to talk to them and coordinate with them if there have been any complaints, unlike these small hotels, it’s difficult. They don’t have their association; you have to talk to them one by one. one if there have been any complaints about food, accommodation, and the like. “

CIH

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