DOLE: Employment of OFWs in Hong Kong, Macau not affected by travel ban

MANILA, Philippines — Work of Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong and Macau are not affected by the country’s imposed travel limits amid the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Monday.

DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said OFWs employed in Hong Kong and Macau who are in the Philippines for a holiday were granted extended vacations due to the ban on travel to China and its special administrative regions.

“There is no basis yet that the employment of these returning OFWs have been affected because we got verified information from our labor attaché in Hong Kong that the employers of our overseas workers there granted an extension of vacation of our OFWs,” Bello said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“I’m talking about Macau and Hong Kong,” he added. Macau and Hong Kong are China’s special administrative regions.

Bello said DOLE has already extended financial assistance worth P10,000 to OFWs affected by the travel ban.

“We immediately gave financial assistance of P10,000 per overseas worker and as of Friday last week, we already extended P35 million pesos to 3,500 OFWs. But that is also growing every day,” Bello noted.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered the travel ban to China, Hong Kong, and Macau in a bid to contain the novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV.

Edited by KGA