Lucena gives livelihood aid to OFWs forced home by Middle East unrest

By Rowena T. Cruz Mayor Mark Alcala meets with repatriated Lucena OFWs after the city released livelihood aid for workers displaced by Middl...

By Rowena T. Cruz

Mayor Mark Alcala meets with repatriated Lucena OFWs after the city released livelihood aid for workers displaced by Middle East unrest. (PIO City of Lucena)

LUCENA CITY, Quezon — Trouble in the Middle East reached Lucena through workers who came home without the jobs that had supported their families. Nine repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers received livelihood aid from the city government after conflict abroad forced their return.

Their return forced City Hall to confront the local cost of a crisis that began overseas and followed workers back through lost wages. Each beneficiary received ₱10,000 in financial assistance for possible use as capital in small business ventures.



The financial assistance marked only the first step in helping displaced workers rebuild their livelihoods after returning home. In many households, remittances cover food, utilities, school needs and debts that continue even after foreign employment suddenly ends.

With those financial pressures still waiting at home, the city placed the distribution under its reintegration support for returning migrant workers. The beneficiaries may use the assistance to open or support modest livelihood activities while staying close to their families.

Even so, the livelihood grant cannot replace the steady overseas income that many families relied on before the workers returned home. The amount will not replace a foreign salary, though it gives displaced workers a practical place to begin earning again.

That reality also explains why Lucena linked the distribution to its broader programs for OFW support, protection and opportunity upon their return. The city framed the assistance as part of its continuing recognition of the sacrifices made by migrant workers and the families who depend on them.

The conflict began thousands of kilometers from Quezon, but its consequences eventually reached households across Lucena that relied on overseas income. For the nine workers, the next struggle no longer involves getting out of danger but finding a way to begin again at home.