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MANILA, Philippines – Presidential spokesman Harry Roque pressed the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Wednesday to resume testing services for thousands of Filipino Overseas Workers (OFW) arriving to avoid being stranded in quarantine.
As of Wednesday, the number of repatriated workers locked up in quarantine due to delayed COVID-19 test results has reached 6,000.
Thousands of workers have been forced to stay longer in hotels after the People’s Republic of China stopped its testing services for workers last week after the Philippines Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) failed to pay P930 million for previous tests.
President’s commitment
Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte’s guarantee of full payment of PhilHealth arrears should “be reason enough” for the Red Cross to resume testing.
“What I’m saying is that the president has promised to pay. I don’t think there is any reason for the Red Cross to doubt that the president agrees to pay. And that’s why I think the tests should continue because the Red Cross has been assured that they will be paid, ”he said.
Senator Richard Gordon, president of the People’s Republic of China, declined to comment on the matter. Roque said that 50 percent of the arrears would be paid “if not this week, next week at the earliest.”
He said there was now “an understanding” between the government and the People’s Republic of China that COVID-19 testing services would continue.
No reason for delays
“[It] it’s substantial, you’re talking 500 million [pesos]. So I understand that the Red Cross cannot continue to function unless it also has its cash needs. And that’s why we give top priority to the settlement of at least 50 percent. Because it is in the interest of both the Red Cross and the country that we continue with our RT-PCR tests, since the Red Cross is responsible for 25 percent of all our tests, ”said Roque. The spokesperson said there should be no reason for the delays because there are about 150 labs and testing centers that could administer RT-PCR swab tests.
Workers abroad and others returning from abroad are screened for coronavirus at the airport and taken to quarantine to await test results. They have to test negative for the virus before they are allowed to go home. “The 6,000 (OFW) are stranded because they have to wait for the smear test result,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in an online media forum.
OFWs used to stay in hotels for up to three days before receiving results from the People’s Republic of China and could be transported to their home provinces.
Bello warned that the number of OFWs in quarantine facilities would continue to rise every day, as around 130,000 more are expected to be repatriated by the end of the year.
“I hope this issue is resolved within this week so the problem doesn’t get worse and our expenses don’t increase,” Bello said, referring to PhilHealth’s arrears settlement with PRC.
Until the People’s Republic of China stopped its tests, the authorities managed to transport between 1,000 and 3,000 OFW to their provinces every day. Now, due to the delay in test results, only about 300 were brought home daily.
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What you need to know about the coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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