DOLE AKAP Cash Assistance success after 3 months

DOLE AKAP Cash Assistance, my husband successfully got it after 3 months. How about you?

 

2020 is not the best year for everyone worldwide, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is too bad in all aspects of life.

As of this time, COVID-19 Pandemic is almost in its first year and seems there is no sign of improvement at all.

Though there are a lot of things we should be grateful about, the best example is we are alive & healthy, and still surviving, but as a human, there will be a time that we will feel the sadness and hopelessness on the situation.

There is nothing wrong to feel that, we are only human beings with many limitations. Understanding fully, and fight hard this tremendous situation will never be easy.

In the Philippines, undeniably most of the people are distraught by the pandemic crisis. There are millions of Pinoys who losses their jobs and currently trying to survive for daily needs.

Thousands of OFW worldwide regardless of which country they are didn’t escape the COVID crisis. All over the news, we can see that tons of OFW successfully repatriated in the Philippines. Still, there are many Pinoy abroad that our government expecting to arrive anytime. While some of them chose to stay in their host country despite jobless. They are hoping that soon they can able to find another job. Going and starting back in the Philippines is not an option for some OFW.

Sadly, my husband and I are part of these circumstances. Though we can choose to stay abroad and try another chance, we decided to give up our ex-pat life for a few reasons. In our case, we find that starting back in the Philippines would be more practical. And when things get better maybe we will assess again the better plan for us.

Our exit from UAE is unplanned, and I admit we are not that ready financially. We are hoping from our companies to get all the benefits that dues to us, and additional monetary aid for our year of service. But at this time, the latter seems will never exist in some companies.

DOLE AKAP to the rescue

During the peak time where many OFW in UAE laid off from their job, and some are on a no-work-no-pay basis, thankfully the DOLE AKAP cash assistance has been launched.

We are happy to hear that and looking forward to getting assistance too.

But due to some negative feedback, we lost our interest in applying for it. Not because we don’t want the cash aid, but in that time of anxiousness we are not ready to face another rejection and complication.

Some say that applying and getting approval is very hard. The process is so complicated. On top of that, they are requiring many documents and proof that a particular OFW is directly affected by the crisis.

They need a letter from the company stating the reasons why you need the cash aid, at that time a few companies are hesitant to provide the said requirements.

 To make it short, getting approval looks impossible especially if you didn’t lose the job totally. Some say their application got denied after waiting for months.

After hearing these stories, we felt that processing it at that time is not ideal. So, we didn’t priority this matter while we are in Dubai.

We were so busy preparing all the stuff we need to pack. Processing of selling our cars, closing the bank accounts, and canceling all the subscriptions we had like the internet, telephone line, etc.

Landed safely in the Philippines, and start processing the DOLE AKAP

We arrived in Manila on July 20, and finally reach our province after our week’s quarantine on July 28.

Until then we never thought of applying in DOLE AKAP.

I only start processing it in the third week of August, at the moment that I finally got tons of free time.

 How and what documents I need to prepare are the things I reviewed and read a lot online for submission.

I submit two applications at the same time, for my husband and myself. Hoping and praying that both will be approved

Email communication and follow up with OWWA Team

Till the first week of September, I didn’t receive any update from OWWA Office at all. There is no acknowledgment that they got my application.

From the Facebook group, I learned that I can send an email to follow up with the OWWA team about my application. Since we are in region IV-A I sent the email to this address, (region4a@owwa.gov.ph) on September 07.

 

They only replied on September 30 which is an acknowledgment that they received my application and they are informing me that they are still waiting for the budget for region IV-A

On November 03, another email was sent to me and it looks my application is now on the evaluation step. And they are asking me to send a statement of how I lost my job abroad. 

And I hurriedly did it.

Upon reviewing that email, I happen to know that it is only particularly about my application, not for my husband.

I replied to them and reconfirm as well about my husband, but they didn’t respond again.

Until now, I didn’t have any updates about my application. When I checked it from the OWWA Tracker it says that it is still pending and I need to get in touch with the OWWA Regional office. I tried sending again an email but all my follow up email is now bouncing back, I am not sure why despite sending it to their same email address.

You might be wondering what happened about my husband’s application? in his case, on the first week of November, I straightly got a text message that his cash assistance is ready for pick up at any M Lhuillier branch. Wow! we are happy since both of us almost losing hope that we will get something from OWWA.

We are really thankful for that.

In my analysis, I think that the reason why it is easier for my hubby to get his is because I sent the complete requirements from the start. He has a letter from his company that his termination is due to the COVID crisis that their company is facing.

I am hoping that my application and all those still pending would have an update too soon. Don’t lose hope!

 

DOLE AKAP Application Requirements and Process:

• Ready all the documents that you be uploading in this link
• Passport copy
• Visa copy
• The boarding pass or Air Ticket
• Company Letter stating the reasons for your job loss, in my case I don’t have that letter. OWWA asks me to write a statement.
• You will not receive any acknowledgment in the email whether the OWWA got your application. As far as I remember, after submitting all the documents in the OWWA portal, I haven’t seen any message or icons that I successfully loaded it.
• That is one of the reasons why I decided to follow up on my application through email.
• Then wait for an update, or you can also check it from this link
• A text message will be sent to your declared number if the cash is ready for pick up.
• In the M Lhuillier make sure to bring a valid ID to collect it hassle-free

Wrong last name spelling from the text message

If in case your name spelling is wrong from the text message, I suggest you approach only the M Lhuillier in your region, they will give it to you even there is name spelling discrepancy. This is what exactly happens to hubby, one letter of his last name was wrong. When we tried getting the cash from M Lhuillier, not from our region they declined giving it. Then we tried another branch in our region, they did the amendments and told us they are allowed to do so since we are in the same region.

 

Once again, we are thankful for the 10K assistance. I know this is only a simple amount for some, but because of this, we felt that the government valued our hard work for many years and the contributions of many OFW in our country.

 

MY COVID-19 FLIGHT JOURNEY FROM DUBAI TO PHILIPPINES

 

 

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