Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) expects that some 80,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be returning home on the first half of 2021.

Around 370,000 Filipinos have already been repatriated due to the coronavirus pandemic.

OWWA Administrator Hans Cacdac said that they are ready on the influx of arriving OFWs.

“Sa ngayon po, one to two days, lumalabas na ang resulta ng kanilang mga swab tests,” he said.

Cacdac said this will definitely have an impact on the remittances, which serve as a lifeline of the economy.

The OWWA chief, however, said that deployment is starting to pick up.

“Nakikita natin na nag no-normalize na yung pag-alis ng mga kababayan natin. Nakikita natin na umakyat na ng 20% to 40% ang deployment ngayon,” he said.