MANILA — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has received a P1.2 billion budget for emergency repatriation this year to expand assistance to more Filipinos overseas, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said.

“For OWWA, tumaas po iyong ating tinatawag na emergency repatriation to PhP1.286 billion for 2026 and mayroon tayong tinatawag na ‘Alagang OWWA’ na PhP942 million,” DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said during a press briefing in Malacañang.

“Iyong ‘Alagang OWWA’ natin part of those expenses will be for the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) caravans. Ito po iyong ginagawa nating serbisyo sa ating mga OFWs abroad na kung saan may whole-of-government approach tayo. Hindi bababa sa 15 ahensiya ang tumutulong para ilapit iyong government services para sa ating mga OFWs,” he added.

Olalia said that as of November 2025, OFW caravans have assisted 63,161 Filipinos abroad, equivalent to 145,807 government transactions, conducted mainly in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

He said the government is currently implementing OFW caravans in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, led by DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac and First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos.

OWWA was allotted a total budget of P4.2 billion for 2026, marking a 26 percent increase from its P3.4 billion allocation last year, Olalia said.

Meanwhile, the DMW has a total budget of P11.7 billion for this year.

Under the government’s repatriation assistance program, the DMW has also provided support to 3,723 OFWs who were victims of scams in Cambodia and Myanmar, according to Olalia.