BusinessWorld
April 13, 2021 | 9:25 pm
(Second of three parts)
Economic prospects for 2021 look bleaker by the day as COVID-19 cases are rising and our Government can’t seem to get their act together in effectively distributing the vaccines available and managing more expertly the necessary balance between public health and the economy. In my own economic forecast, the Philippines shall continue to see paralyzing lockdowns as we suffer from additional surges of even more infectious varieties of this deadly virus. I do not expect positive GDP growth till the fourth quarter of the current year, coming mostly from the Government’s stimulus packages and the Build, Build, Build program. The only other major source of growth will be from the more than 10 million Overseas Filipinos who are literally our global front liners helping to carry the burden of the Philippine economy as our doctors, nurses, and health workers are the front liners caring for the health of the
DOLE to keep fighting for OFWs, laborers amid pandemic, says Bello mb.com.ph - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mb.com.ph Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
(JANSEN ROMERO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Per International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) estimates, it’s about 60 to 70 percent (number of OFWs who backed out of repatriation after receiving vaccine),” Francia said in a message to reporters.
“The ILAB chief says this has to be validated with the POLOs (Philippine Overseas Labor Offices),” he added.
DoLE, citing POLO figures, earlier said that between 60,000 and 80,000 OFWs were supposed to be repatriated this 2021.
This means that the number of vaccinated OFWs who have opted not to return to the country, at least for now, is 36,000 to 56,000.
The Philippines has yet to launch a mass inoculation campaign against the deadly new coronavirus, although local government units are supposedly ready to carry out the effort and are just waiting for the foreigner-made anti-COVID vaccines to arrive.
MANILA, Jan. 17 — More than 400,000 overseas Filipino workers affected by the Covid 19 pandemic had been brought home by the government, the labor department reported on Saturday.Latest figures from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration showed that 8,273 OFWs were transported to their.