President Rodrigo Duterte urged local government units (LGUs) to accept returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have gone through a mandatory 14-day facility-based quarantine.
In a televised public address aired late Monday night, Duterte warned LGUs against discriminating OFWs by barring them from returning to their own homes for fear that their communities would catch the virus.
“Makinig kayong local executives — the national government will insist that you accept the OFW. Magkakaroon ho tayo ng problema if you resist because then as a worker of government, it falls upon my shoulders to see to it that everything is done fair,” he said.
He made this warning after the travel of 100 OFWs to Iloilo province scheduled last month got canceled.
Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. gathered the signature of the local chief executives asking the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) not to allow the flight.
Defensor and the local chief executives in the province were concerned that the return of the OFWs increases the risk of the spread of Covid-19, after one of the first batch of OFWs, who initially returned to Iloilo tested positive for Covid-19.
“I heard also, I’m sure sa City of Iloilo, hindi ninyo tinanggap ‘yung mga OFW,” Duterte said.
He urged Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas to follow the guidelines crafted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), otherwise, the national government will “impose it” on him.
“Sir, Mayor, nakikiusap ako sa inyo na sundin lang ninyo ‘yung (I appeal to you to just follow the) guidelines. I will operate through the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government). Kasi it’s either sumunod kayo (you follow them) or I will impose it on you. Sumunod kayo sa magandang paraan o pipilitin ko na sumunod kayo,” he said.
Duterte, however, expressed hope that the issue in Iloilo has been resolved by now.
He said it was not right for OFWs to be driven away when their remittances are “one of the pillars of the country’s economy”.
“Importante lang (It’s just important) that the returning workers, our brothers, and sisters, who have labored abroad, to give us also their share of their income… Kaya ‘yang remittances ng dollar is one of the pillars ng ating economy. Ang GDP diyan is malaki ang binibigay ng OFWs, we do not want to repay them with this kind of behavior,” he said.
In 2019, OFW remittances reached a record high of US33.5 billion (P1.70 trillion).
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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