Unwanted returning OFWs

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The news that several overseas Filipino workers are coming home caught the local governments by surprise. This is the first time that the OFWs were not welcome. Their dollar remittances are of course always welcome, but this time these returnees are not bringing foreign currencies but, heavens forbid, the dreaded corona virus.

And that scares everybody knowing that this virus was transmitted by those who came from foreign lands. While we spend money to attract tourists to visit us, Corona Virus is one traveler we do not want even with the euro or the rial.

In his letter to Cabinet Secretary and Member of Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Karlo Nograles, last Saturday (April 25), Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that they were surprised to hear the news “that a boatload of OFWs is supposedly arriving on April 27, 44 bound for the different local government units of the Province of Negros Occidental and 58 for Bacolod City, as authorized by Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Chief Implementer for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) National Action Plan.”

He added that they were also informed that more are arriving soon after. More unwelcome kababayan? The world is really tumbling down when home comers are not welcome! What a sad story to tell the families!
“This news has considerably messed up the city’s own coordination with the Overseas Workers Welfare and Administration (OWWA) on the scheduling of repatriation trips for Bacolod OFWs. We thought the OWWA was the proper agency to work with. Now, we do not know if the batch of Bacolod OFWs that OWWA is ready to process is the same or different from those supposedly arriving on April 27 and thereafter,” he added.

Clearly somebody has bungled or is probably working on the deluded belief that the Manila based officials in power in this fight against the virus can issue orders without need of consultation. Of course, we can understand that because this is war and the principle is “obey first and complain later.” But even so, one does issue an order without knowing whether the people who are to implement the order have the means to do the job or what the situation on the ground is.

The situation on the provincial level is more difficult because there are 31 towns and cities to consider. Dr. Jonathan Lobaton, Commander of the PIMT said the 88 Negrenses is part of the total 204 seafarers, including the 116 from Bacolod City who are returning back in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental based on the communication sent by the Maritime Industry Authority to the province and Bacolod City.

But the Provincial Incident Management Team made clear its position – refusal to accept the arrival of 88 seafarers who are due to arrive in the province this week. It is apparent there is no coordination in the repatriation of OFWs to their home provinces. Negros is probably not alone in this quandary. The question is whether the province can indeed reject the repatriated OFWs considering they are our own citizens and they cannot be denied their right to return home. The conditions can be imposed but the right cannot be taken away.

Compounding the problem of the city and the province is that they are not aware of the OFWs travel origin. We can however believe that when the national government released them for repatriation to their hometowns, they had undergone the 14 days quarantine and are already free of the virus.

But it seems that Governor Eugenio Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia are not certain that these workers are indeed free of the disease and thus will proceed directly home and not impose additional burden – money and stress – on the LGUs. Simply put, the province will be once again be on edge and just must take them.

The two executives expressed surprised at the announcement in the media. It is clear the national agencies did not coordinate or even inform them of this matter and solicited their views and most of all their concerns and what should be done, the so-called protocol. It simply looks like the national government will dump these people into the lap of their home government, knowing their homes cannot refuse them.

I am certain however, that the national agency will not impose more than what the LGUs can handle.