Marawi OFWs, families to receive aid from OWWA-ARMM

COTABATO CITY -Some 3,500 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families affected
by the siege in Marawi City are set to receive assistance from the Overseas
Workers Welfare Administration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OWWA-ARMM).

Active OWWA members or those whose
membership are still valid and has not yet expired will receive P10,000 cash assistance while
inactive members or those with expired membership, will receive P5,000 pesos, according to Lawyer Odin Abdulla, OWWA-RMM chief program and services division officer.If the OWWA-member OFW is not in the
country now, the immediate family will need to secure a special power of an
attorney to prove that the receiving party is a legitimate immediate family
member of the OFW, Abdulla said.According to him, OWWA-ARMM is now conducting validation
of the list submitted earlier by the chairpersons of the 24 barangays in Ground
Zero.

The 24 baranggays are Tolali, Daguduban,
Nubonga Madaya, South Madaya, Norhaya Village, Lilod Madaya, Banggolo, Raya
Madaya 1, Raya Madaya 2, Lumbaca Madaya, Sabala Manao 1, Sabala Manao Proper,
Dansalan, Datu A Dansalan, Sangcay Dansalan, Datu Naga, Marinaut East,
Wawalayan, Marinaut, Kapantaran, Moncado Kadingilan and Moncado Colony.

Around 7,000 people were on the list submitted by the barangay chairmen as probable program beneficiaries.

Abdullasaid they are expecting that half
of the number would be included at the end of the validation process. OWWA-ARMM
has already validated 1,000 people in the list.

Early last month, OWWA-ARMM Director Amy
Crisostomo visited Marawi City with her team went to assess the number of OFW
beneficiaries affected in Ground Zero.