Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, all signs have already been pointing to a global economic downturn. With most part of the world’s activities on a standstill, the International Monetary Fund declared a global recession which is expected to cause long-lasting damage as waves of bankruptcies and retrenchments leave multitudes in desperation. Poverty-stricken countries like the Philippines are among the hardest-hit by economic paralysis. Over 420,000 OFWs are likely to return back to the Philippines within the next several months and about US$5 Billion worth of remittances per year are expected to be extinguished in its wake. 

To make matters worse, no comprehensive plan has been laid out by the Duterte regime to address the immediate and long-term effects of the crisis on OFWs. The promised US$200 cash aid announced by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III last month is already marred by tensions after POLO and OWWA officials in Riyadh drove out distressed OFWs while numerous others were made to cast lots on food items distributed chaotically by embassy personnel. Meanwhile, OFW families back home are troubled by delayed government relief, police brutality and Duterte’s shoot-to-kill order. 

President Duterte’s late night ramblings against critics offer no reassurance to OFWs. He is only wasting TV air time on idle talk at the expense of taxpayers’ money. As the crisis aggravates further, the Duterte regime’s Labour Export Programme (LEP) can no longer salvage an economy that has systematically cemented its vulnerability to external shocks. Duterte’s LEP is bound to fail since it relinquishes economic advancement at the homefront through national industrialization and genuine agrarian development.  It has made the economy heavily reliant on dollar remittances to buoy consumption since local workers are plagued by slavish wages and depressed purchasing power. 

Unemployment in the Philippines is set to worsen with the expected return of 420,000 OFWs. Without welfare assistance, mass starvation awaits displaced OFWs who will bear the full weight of Duterte’s crippling lockdown. Merely telling people to STAY HOME without free mass testing and treatment will never arrest the pandemic. Even more so with food shortages. From confining themselves indoors to doing physical distancing, the people have already mastered all forms of precautionary measures, but these are only meant to give the Duterte government enough time to break off social unrest. Feeling the pressure but almost too late, the government is already eyeing mass testing in the latter half of April. 

OFWs are among the most vulnerable sectors hit by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. So instead of enforcing crackdown on legitimate dissent and silencing his critics, the Duterte regime better treat this crisis seriously as a concrete public health issue that is gravely impacting OFWs. Overseas retrenchments have left thousands of OFWs stranded. Duterte’s profanity on national television will in no way contribute to the welfare and safety of Filipino migrant workers. Displaced OFWs deserve mass testing, decent quarantine facilities, free medical and welfare assistance. Government aid and relief must be delivered to OFWs and their families upon their arrival, post-quarantine and consistently all throughout the entire duration of the lockdown. 

As in previous presidencies, the Duterte regime has been relentless in squeezing OFW pockets dry through state exactions. Now is the finest period in time when the government should step in and give back the hard-earned OFW money contributed to various national agencies which promised them support and security. If Duterte’s emergency NAP remains inutile in alleviating the people’s hardships, he may as well spare the Filipino people from further misery by resigning from his post. The anger of the Filipino people is past its boiling point, and it’s only a matter of time before it detonates on Duterte’s face. 

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Migrante International vehemently denounces POLO & OWWA officials in Saudi Arabia for mercilessly driving out distressed OFWs who trooped to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. The OFWs were merely seeking out the US$200 financial assistance promised to them by the Duterte government through Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III. Instead, they were yelled at and harassed by embassy officials and personnel. Ground reports say that POLO officials even called the local police to disperse the distressed OFWs. 

Over a thousand OFWs have been flocking to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh since the 29th of March after Bello announced that the Duterte government will give out $200 for every OFW whose job is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Labor Attache Nasser S. Mustafa’s also vowed to provide food assistance in addition to the cash aid. However, OFWs complained that they were only made to fill up a “unified request for assistance” form. OFWs were then asked to group together into five (5) or up to nine (9) and after which, they were told to divide among themselves the distributed household items like soy sauce, vinegar, coffee, soap, etc. 

Where is the $200 cash aid promised to them by the Duterte government? Distressed OFWs did not endure starvation and hours of distant travels just to draw their lots over a very small number of household items upon reaching the grounds of the Philippine Embassy. POLO and OWWA officials did not even bother to look for establishments or places to accommodate OFWs who were at risk of being caught by the 3pm curfew imposed by Saudi Arabian authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The thousands of distressed OFWs going in droves to the Philippine Embassy show how serious and desperate they are in their dire conditions. Due to massive layoffs in the Middle East, many stranded OFWs are being added to the growing number of undocumented Filipino migrants in the region. We are calling on the Duterte government to immediately release the US$ 200 cash assistance its labour department promised to OFWs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the negative impacts of the crisis expected to be prolonged further in the coming months, the Duterte government must come up with a more comprehensive assistance package for affected OFWs. 

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Migrante International calls on the government of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to immediately release all promised financial assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and to release more of such assistance packages in the coming weeks.

We have received reports that OFWs in the UAE have not received the USD 200 cash assistance promised by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on March 25. This, as OFWs in the UAE and their families in the Philippines increasingly face hunger and distress brought about by the economic dislocations caused by measures against the ongoing pandemic.

OFWs in the UAE say that the UAE government has carried out commendable measures — such as the national sterilization program and the creation of five-minute drive-through testing centers across the country. Despite this, OFWs say that they inevitably face various problems in their living and working conditions because of the government’s all-too-necessary #StayAtHome campaign.

OFWs in the UAE report that:
> Many companies, especially in the airline industry, have laid off many workers, including Filipinos.
> Many OFWs face delays in their wages, because of the non-operation of the companies employing them.
> A significant number of OFWs are on forced unpaid leave, as their employer companies are not operating and they are under “no work, no pay” arrangements.
> Majority of OFWs stay together in cramped houses, rooms and work camps where they are forced to disregard physical distancing, making them vulnerable to the Coronavirus and its spread.
> Day by day, OFWs are running out of cash to pay for their house rent, food, and other basic necessities. They are also unable to send remittances to their families in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy to the UAE has also suspended its frontline services, leaving OFWs to fend for themselves and rely on each other to survive.

OFWs in the UAE also express their concern over the Duterte government’s (mis)handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. They condemn the government’s militaristic approach to a public health crisis. They demand that the approach to the pandemic be de-militarized and that health responses should be increased many times over.

They are calling on Filipinos to learn from UAE and other countries and intensify calls for the government to carry out free mass testing among the population. They are also calling for the setting up of more hospitals, the hiring of more health professionals, and the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment, ventilators and other necessary medical facilities.

They say the president’s television addresses fail to reassure them about the situation in the country. The speech lacks clarity on what the government will actually do with the immense budget it has and how it will respond to the many demands being raised before it.

They demand government financial assistance to fellow Filipinos in the Philippines who will be unable to work because of measures against the pandemic. They also demand such assistance for OFW in the Philippines who are not getting remittances of their OFWs relatives abroad.

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Despite Duterte’s proclamation of placing the Philippines under a State of Public Health Emergency earlier this month, seeing any comprehensive response from this regime by addressing COVID-19 as a health issue is now even more remote than ever. All government agencies in charge of implementing the regime’s National Action Plan are either active or retired generals. None of them have medical expertise. What’s also striking and outrageous is that the technical working group formed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the handling of donations was without any single representation from any public health agency or department. 

Unmoved by the public outcry against big politicians, senior government officials and other elite personalities who underwent VIP testing, Senator Koko Pimentel and other administration allies were seen roaming around, treating themselves at lavish parties while many in impoverished Filipino communities face threats of arrests, torture, beatings and other cruelties from lawless enforcers. A distressed PUI (person under investigation) in Nueva Ecija was violently arrested and dragged back to isolation. Other curfew violators reportedly ended up being locked in dog cages like in Laguna or being made to sit under the sun for an hour as in Parañaque City. 

Today, a police officer in Quiapo, Manila was caught on film beating civilians with a stick after threatening to shoot anyone who goes out on the streets. Media entities reported that quarantine passes shown by residents in the area were not honored by the marauding policemen. These are the horrifying realities that retrenched OFWs are more likely to face upon their return to the country.

OFWs are among the most gravely affected sectors in the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, a great number of stranded OFWs have already been left neglected by the Duterte government. At present, 10,000 seafarers are now awaiting repatriation. In Qatar, retrenchments have hit 73 OFWs from Structurel and 200 others from Qatar Airways. 

The $200 or Php 10,000 financial assistance promised by DOLE for OFWs would only be good for 10 days. This will never be enough to sustain them and their dependents if the situation persists for more than a month. President Duterte must provide additional allocations on top of this. We call on the government to provide monthly financial assistance and relief to OFW households until the lockdown gets lifted. Beneficiaries should include all those affected by travel ban and flight cancellations, OFWs affected by work and livelihood suspensions or disruptions, returning OFWs that will be subjected to the 14-day quarantine and all OFWs serving in the frontline. Adequate quarantine facilities must also be provided for the thousands of returning OFWs. 

President Duterte and his militarist henchmen are haunted by the boiling resentment of the Filipino masses against government inutility. The healthcare system is on the verge of collapse as hospitals are increasingly incapacitated by thinning healthcare workers and dwindling supplies. Regime officials are in denial of the shortage while the ruling elite’s demands for immediate VIP testing continue to go unhampered. Treating the COVID-19 pandemic as a peace and order issue will in no way arrest the increasing number contractions. It is a public health emergency issue that should be addressed through a comprehensive blueprint laid out by health experts and not by militarist predators. 

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