Coronavirus: Philippines allows thousands of OFWs trapped in quarantine limbo to go home

Delays with testing and health certificates have left up to 24,000 repatriated workers stuck aboard cruise ships or in hotels and crowded health facilities

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered ‘all government resources’ be used to ensure those who have already finished quarantine go home by next week

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Government workers spray disinfectant on the luggage of disembarking overseas Filipino workers at a seaport in Cebu City on Saturday. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:32pm, 25 May 2020Updated: 11:49pm, 25 May 2020

Up to 24,000 repatriated Filipino workers stuck in quarantine limbo in Manila will be allowed to return home after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said it was “unacceptable” that it was taking so long to process their release.

Thousands are aboard cruise ships off Manila Bay or in hotels and crowded health facilities, some growing frustrated at having tested negative for the coronavirus and completed the mandated 14-day quarantine – with at least one taking their own life, according to reports.

Overseas Filipino Workers, or OFWs, are breadwinners and a key support base for Duterte. Their more than US$30 billion of annual remittances is a driver of the Philippine economy, sustaining millions of family members.

Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, said on Monday that the president had ordered “all government resources and whatever means of transportation” be used to ensure that the repatriated OFWs can return home by the end of the week.

Thousands of repatriated Filipinos have been kept in quarantine on cruise ships anchored in Manila Bay. Photo: EPA

The government has blamed the delays on a testing bottleneck, with Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III telling a Senate hearing last week that OFWs only receive a coronavirus test after spending two weeks in quarantine, where they stay until they have received an official certificate with their test results.

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