MANILA, Philippines – With an abysmal utilization rate for its multibillion-peso emergency repatriation fund for 2023, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is seeking to expand the allowed purposes for ERF spending to address more types of issues overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) face in returning to the Philippines.

During the Friday, September 22, plenary hearing of the 2024 budget for the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), of which the OWWA is an attached agency, budget sponsor Quezon 2nd District Representative David Suarez reported that the OWWA’s P9.89-billion ERF for 2023 only had a utilization rate of 8%.

He explained that the ERF’s utilization rate was low since the fund is earmarked for repatriation services in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, covering costs like flights back to the Philippines, hotel accommodations, and testing services.

“‘Yung pinakabuod ng request ng OWWA, na sana magkaroon ng kaunting flexibility tayo sa paggamit ng ERF. Dahil napansin ‘nyo nga po na mababa utilization rate, ang kadahilanan po doon, ay napaka-specific po lang kasi ang paggamit, para lang po sa mga activities na may kinalaman sa COVID pandemic. Eh wala na nga po tayo sa ganoong sitwasyon,” said Suarez, responding to 4Ps Representative JC Abalos’ query on the fund’s low utilization.

(The core of OWWA’s request is to have some flexibility in using the ERF. Since you noticed that the utilization rate is low, the reason is because its uses are so specific – only for activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we are no longer in that kind of situation.)

Suarez invited Abalos to join him in appealing to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to create amendments in the fund’s purposes.

“Kasi kung hindi po magkakaroon ng pagbabago sa paggamit ng pondo, mag-aantay po tayo ng krisis, mag-aantay po tayo ng pandemya bago po natin magamit,” added Suarez. (If we don’t change how we use this fund, we will wait for a crisis or a pandemic before we can use it.)

The DMW budget sponsor said that one of the ways the ERF could be maximized in other ways is to build shelters, or a halfway home for provincial OFWs in Manila. Suarez said that the OWWA building in Pasay used to have rooms that OFWs could stay in.

“Kaso lang ngayon, dahil nga hindi napopondohan nang maayos, nasa hindi kaaya-ayang kalagayan na po siya,” said Suarez. (But now, because it is not funded properly, the rooms are in an unfavorable condition.)

Abalos welcomed the suggestion, adding that OFWs would not have to wait in airports or spend on hotel accommodations in cases of flight cancellations or getting stranded in the city.

The DMW has a proposed P15.54-billion budget for 2024, around half of what it had initially requested from the DBM. – Rappler.com