Cash for Filipino migrant workers affected by China travel ban
Cash benefits for workers affected by temporary travel ban to China
Manila: The Philippines says it will provide assistance to migrant workers affected by the government restriction on travel to China due to the coronavirus.
Acting Labour Secretary Renato Ebarle said that he has ordered the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to provide P10,000 (Dh722) cash each to overseas Filipino workers who would be affected by the temporary travel ban.
Last Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte indefinitely prohibited Filipinos from travelling to China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Exempted from the ban are Filipinos returning to their jobs in that country and permanent visa holders.
However, these were allowed entry on condition that they would be subjected to a 14-day quarantine. Likewise, non-Filipinos from the three areas are in the meantime barred from visiting the Philippines.
The restrictions were part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection which had been sweeping China’s Hubei province as well as other areas.
Hundreds stranded
According to reports, the travel restrictions imposed by Manila had affected hundreds of Filipinos working in Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese mainland.
The affected travellers had been stranded at the airports in Manila since Sunday.
To ease the difficulties of the affected overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) the OWWA will provide accommodation and transportation to each stranded OFW aside from the P10,000 assistance.
Ebarle said the move will help ease the burden on the OFWs who had been expecting that they would be leaving the country to work in jobs in China and its special administrative regions.
Aside from the OFWs, Manila’s precautionary measure against the entry of the virus had also left at least 300 Chinese nationals stranded in the Philippines.
While the Philippines has so far have no reports of local transmission, at least 80 people are being monitored for possible nCoV infection.
Included in the number are eight people who have had close contact with first fatality, a 43-year-old Chinese tourist from Wuhan.