The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) called for the understanding of hotel owners whose establishments became quarantine venues for against COVID-19.

An OWWA official assured them the government will pay them for the accommodation of the returning overseas Filipinos who underwent quarantine in their hotels.

During the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing, OWWA Deputy Administrator Arnell Ignacio explained that their agency is just waiting for the Department of Budget and Management to release funds for them to pay the hotel owners.

"I’d like to assure them that in spite of the delays, it is impossible that they will not be paid... the funds are not under OWWA ,it will come from the Department of Budget and Management and now with the leadership of Sec. (Tina Rose) Canda we continue to release funds for the hotels," he said.

"So it’s more of reassurance that I would like to provide here so that our hotel owners will hear us," he added.

In a recent television interview, Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA) executive director Bong Bengzon, Jr. said OWWA accumulated around a debt of P 1.7 billion to quarantine hotels used by returning overseas Filipinos. Robina Asido/DMS