(Eagle News) — If needed, the Philippine government should charter a plane to bring home the Filipinos quarantined in a Japan cruise ship amid the novel coronavirus threat.
This is according to Senator Ralph Recto, who issued the statement as the quarantine of those on board the Diamond Princess comes to an end.
There are 538 Filipinos on board the ship that was quarantined off Yokohama after one of its passengers who joined a bus tour in Kyushu tested positive for COVID-19.
“If we have to charter a plane, then let us do it, if only to send a powerful signal to Filipino seafarers that when in distress, the government will rush to their aid,” Recto said.
According to Recto, Filipino seamen remit P1 billion a day to their loved ones, “and that is through bank and other formal channels alone.”
“Hindi pa kasama ang perang personal na iniuuwi sa pamilya o ipinadadala sa mga kaibigan,” he said.
He said last year, overseas Filipinos sent home a total of P1.7 trillion, “of which P1 in every P4 was sent by 378,000 sea-based OFWs.”
“The country’s economy is kept buoyant by those who take on hard and dangerous work at sea,” he said.
“The cost of a mercy flight to Japan, if that is the only way they can return home, is just one coin in the barrel of money Filipino seamen remit to their homeland,” he added.
Earlier, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the first Filipino on board the ship who tested positive for the virus had been successfully treated.
