'Finally free' - homebound Filipinos cheer end to quarantine ordeal

MANILA, May 26 (Reuters) - Hundreds of repatriated Filipino
workers made their way to bus and airport terminals on Tuesday
to return to families, the first among around 24,000 nationals
stuck for weeks in the capital's quarantine facilities, hotels
and aboard cruise ships.
Weary but happy, the returnees queued or dozed in bus
stations and at Manila's airport, awaiting transport to home
provinces. Many have lost jobs abroad as the coronavirus batters
economies worldwide.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has told his government
to do everything possible to process within a week the thousands
of returnees, some of whom tested negative for the coronavirus
and completed the mandatory 14-day quarantine long ago.
The authorities blame testing bottlenecks for the quarantine
delays, including those experienced by thousands of Filipino
crew of more than two dozen cruise ships moored for weeks in
Manila Bay. Among those hit by the crisis was English teacher Anna Marie
Del Carmen, who has been stuck in the capital for two months
since her repatriation from Thailand.
"It feels really good. It's like finally being free from
jail, but I learned a lot while being under lockdown, and I met
and became friends with a lot of people," she said.
"So it was both a sad and a happy experience now that we are
all going our separate ways."
Overseas Filipino workers, better known locally as OFWs, are
breadwinners and a key support base of Duterte.
Their more than $30 billion of annual remittances is an
important driver of the Philippine economy, sustaining millions
of family members.
More than 30,000 overseas Filipinos have returned home and
515 of 27,000 tested for coronavirus were positive as of a week
ago, authorities said.
Roughly 10 million Filipinos work or have settled overseas,
with large communities in North America, the Middle East and
Europe.