Families of OFWs affected by floods to get help from OWWA

OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon. Photo from owwa.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Families of overseas Filipino workers affected by the recent floods spawned by the southwest monsoon will get assistance from the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA).

OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon told Radyo Inquirer 990 AM in an interview on Friday that relief teams from the agency will be visiting at least three areas to distribute relief goods to families of OFWs victimized by the floods.

Dimzon said these are Navotas in Metro Manila and Mabitac and Binan towns in Laguna.

She said these areas have been identified as those with heavy concentration of OFW families based on information given by the local government units and family circles of OFW families themselves.

The relief assistance will come in kind and include grocery packs, canned goods, brea, rice, and personal hygiene kits. Dimzon said they would conduct medical missions next to distribute medicines and conduct medical checkups on members of OFW families in the flood-hit areas.

She said cash assistance is also being considered and has been proposed to the OWWA board for action.

On OFWs in war-torn Syria, Dimzon said evacuation of Filipino workers there has been ongoing.

She said more than 2,000 OFWs have returned to the country, 79 others are scheduled for repatriation, and more than 1,000 OFWs are under negotiation to be turned over to the government’s rapid response team now in Syria.

Dimzon appealed anew to OFWs still holding out in Syria to heed the government’s call for them to get out of the troubled land and not wait for the situation to get so difficult for the rapid response team to get in.

For more details, listen to the attached Radyo Inquirer audio clip.