Hotel-quarantine centers to refuse returning OFWs unless OWWA pays

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – Five hotels that serve as quarantine centers for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) refused to accept the repatriates unless the Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator (OWWA) pays for the accommodation of previous OFWs.

This was the revelation of Bacolod City Councilor Israel Salanga, who heads the Action Team on Returning OFWs.
But Bacolod Representative Greg Gasataya said OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac told him that the agency had partially paid Bacolod hotels which served as quarantine facilities for OFWS.

“They will pay the balance this week,” Gasataya said.

The hotels served as quarantine facilities for OFWs who waited for the results of their COVID-19 tests.

Councilor Renecito Novero said OWWA has granted the request of the Bacolod City government for a one-week moratorium on the return of OFWs while it settles its unpaid bills to hotels and inns in the city amounting to P17.5 million.

Novero, chair of the Quarantine Center Action Team, said there are 21 hotels and inns in Bacolod that have been accommodating OFWs.

He also said that the hotels and inns are having problems on the bills of OFWs.

Meanwhile, OWWA-Bacolod focal person Rizza Joy Mapa-Moldes said they have already paid some hotels.

More payments are forthcoming as they have to deal with procedural and technical difficulties, Moldes said.