MANILA, Philippines — More than 126,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are still waiting to be repatriated nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) official.
The OFWs have asked to be returned home after their jobs were affected by the global economic slump due to the health crisis, said Alice Visperas, director of the DOLE’s International Labor Affairs Bureau.
But 82,000 other displaced Filipinos have decided to remain in their host countries to look for other jobs, Visperas said.
The government has flown or shipped home more than 550,000 pandemic-displaced OFWs, including seafarers since the start of the year, she sai…
Keep on reading: 120K OFWs still awaiting repatriation; more in 2021