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Rhodina Villanueva - The Philippine Star
April 21, 2026 | 12:00am
This April 2, 2020 photo shows overseas Filipino workers who returned to the country and are set to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The STAR / Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is seeking an additional P12 billion from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to support the repatriation and reintegration program for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the Middle East crisis.
OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan said the agency has already used up 55 percent of its allocation this year for the emergency repatriation fund.
“This is the reason why we are requesting the DBM for a supplemental budget to be used for the ERF and reintegration efforts of the agency,” Caunan said yesterday at a press briefing.
For 2026, OWWA was allocated only P1.2 billion.
“For the past years, there has been no crisis that big so in terms of utilization, when comparing, it is only a small amount,” she said.
Caunan explained that OWWA, as part of the UPLIFT (Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport) committee, regularly conducts forecasting based on the situation of affected OFWs.
“We talk about the current situation, so based on our simulation, we do forecasting because we want to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” she said.
Caunan also stressed that budget management must be carefully planned.
“We cannot ask for supplemental (budget) every other month – that is not the way to manage an agency,” she said.
According to the administrator, repatriation involves several expenses, such as flight tickets, hotel, temporary shelter, meals, domestic flights, immediate financial assistance and reintegration assistance.
“We are talking about a repatriation package or the cost of repatriating someone – that is including pre-repatriation and post-repatriation,” she added.
As of Friday, a total of 6,706 Filipinos have been repatriated, including 5,023 OFWs, their dependents and other overseas Filipinos.
