Two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) confined in separate hospitals in Miami, Florida have received financial assistance from the Migrant Workers Office in Washington, D.C. (MWO-WDC), as part of the government’s continuing efforts to support Filipinos in distress abroad.
Each OFW was granted Php75,000 (approximately USD 1,345) from the Department of Migrant Workers’ (DMW) AKSYON Fund. One was a patient transferred from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba after suffering a heart attack in February. He is now under care at the Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center. The other recipient, a cruise ship seafarer, was found unconscious in his cabin aboard the Margaritaville at Sea cruise ship on April 23, and is currently confined in the ICU of HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.
The MWO-WDC team, composed of Welfare Officer Mae Codilla, Jo Mari Rifareal, and Freya Palad, visited both workers on May 19 and 20, respectively, to personally deliver the aid and check on their condition.
In a separate case, the wife of another OFW who worked in Guantanamo Bay received Php100,000 (around USD 1,793) in financial assistance after her husband passed away due to stage four lung cancer on May 17 at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She traveled from the Philippines and was met by the MWO team in Florida.
Labor Attaché Saul De Vries emphasized the mission behind these efforts: “We have extended the assistance in pursuit of the thrust of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac to come to the aid of OFWs and their families wherever they are and wherever needed.”