UP Forum September-October 2012

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

UP FORUM s h a p i n g m i n d s t h at s h a p e t h e n at i on

VOLUME 13 NUMBER 5

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2012

labor migration 2 | Manpower Export and Philippine Maldevelopment

I

n 1975, then Labor Secretary Blas F. Ople told us at the Institute of Labor and Manpower Studies that the Philippines had to undertake a “temporary” program of exporting “overseas contract workers” (OCWs) primarily to the petro-dollar-rich Middle East.

The program was officially justified by the martial-law government as a short-term employment program meant to ease the unemployment problem at home while the “new” eco-

3 | Migration in our Development Policy

F

ilipinos overseas are the acknowledged modern-day heroes of the country. The sacrifices they endure to provide a better life for their families back home are both acclaimed and documented. The remittances they send back to their loved ones in the Philippines have become a lifesaver for the economy.

Yet for all the substantial contributions and sacrifices of overseas Filipinos, they are hardly incorporated into the development planning process. Previous Philippine national plans have consistently failed to reflect the mag-

24 | In Search of Silver Linings: Making Labor Migration Work for Us

T

he negative verdict on “brain drain” stands in migration discourse.

But the idea of host country wins-originating country loses is now being challenged. Terms such as “brain gain,” “reverse brain drain,” “brain circulation” and “brain exchange” have been floated in various studies, policies and programs as a way of reversing the negative impact of brain drain.

Some countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and

2 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

The following articles take on the phenomenon of Philippine labor migration in terms of national development. Professor Ofreneo revives the long-standing critique of Philippine economic development, which has failed to spur progress and generate jobs. On the aspect of development planning, Professor Tigno brings to task the government for the lack of foresight to include migration in a national development agenda. - F.C. Llanes, Issue Editor

MANPOWER EXPORT AND PHILIPPINE MAL-DEVELOPMENT... continued from page 1

nomic program propounded by the newly-established National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)—the labor-intensive export-oriented or LIEO program—had not taken off.

For the initial OCW year (2005), the country deployed a total of 36,035 workers, largely through the assistance of the Bureau of Employment Services and the National Seamen Board, whose functions have now been absorbed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). In the same year, the country recorded a total of US$103 million in remittances.

Today, 37 years after Ople’s announcement, the “temporary manpower export” program has become permanent, and the total number (called “stocks” by government statisticians) of OCWs (renamed as “overseas Filipino workers” or OFWs) is estimated by the Commission on Overseas Filipinos to have ballooned to around ten million or roughly ten percent of the resident national population.

The overseas workers remit over US$20 billion a year. These migradollars provide sustenance (food, education, etc.) to at least a third of the population, sustain the ever-expanding chains of SM and Robinsons malls, and enable the national government to proclaim annually that the country is on course in its positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

In a country experiencing a continuous erosion of its industrial and agricultural base, such growth is only possible because of the large inflows of migra-dollars. This is why Philippine growth has been described as “consumption-led.”

Meanwhile, the LIEO program, shortened in the 1980s as exportoriented industrialization or EOI, has also remained. In fact, it has been institutionalized through a series of World Bank-supported “structural adjustment program” (SAP) policies consisting of trade and investment

upgrading, which could enable local industry and agriculture stakeholders to adjust to tariff-slashing and liberalization programs. This was aggravated further by the weak enforcement of safeguards and antismuggling laws.

The Fair Trade Alliance (FairTrade), a multi-sectoral coalition of businessmen, workers and peasants, seeking “fair and balanced trade” in the globalized market at home and around the world, has documented a long list of industries that have collapsed under a regime of “unilateral” SAP liberalization and the ensuing flood of imported industrial and agricultural goods.

The best proof of the disastrous effect of the EOI/SAP on the local agro-industrial capacity and on the economy in general is the emergence of the Philippines as a major “net agricultural importing country” since 1995 and a market for all kinds of industrial “surpluses” and consumer products dumped by China and other countries. One can simply visit any mall and supermarket and check.

This year, a maverick Asian Development Bank (ADB) economist, Norio Usui (Taking the Right Road to Inclusive Growth, 2012) writes what we already know: The Philippine economy has been hollowing out—with the share of manucontinued on page 4

"In spite of...the

has hardly incorpo

"Under a pattern of growing dependence on migration and agricultural development at home, the Philippine economy highly uneven, unequal and unsustainable manner."

By Rene E. Ofreneo liberalization, deregulation of key sectors (finance, agriculture, etc.) and privatization of government-owned corporations, assets and services.

The theory was that the more open an economy is, the more foreign and domestic investments would pour into the country, and the ensuing growth of export-led and competitive domestic industries would generate more jobs and wealth to the point that labor migration would dwindle to insignificance.

A theory's failure This idea of a migration-development “turning point” is illustrated by the experience of South Korea, whose labor migrants in the 1970s-1980s helped fund Korean industrial accumulation. Industrialization turned out to be so rapid and successful that South Korea became a labor-importing country herself in the 1990s.

But in the Philippines, it is abundantly clear that the EOI/SAP theory has failed in the light of the continuous growth of overseas migration for work and the country’s deepening dependence on migrant remittances. Philippine exports did go up.

However, these were mainly sewn garments and assembled electronic and auto parts products.

With the government’s failure (from Marcos to GMA) to implement the integrated development and modernization of its garments-textile sector, the textile industry has now become a ghost industry declining from close to 300 firms in the 1970s to less than ten firms today. As for the garments industry, it now has less than 100,000 workers (from a high of almost a million in the 1980s) because the country has not become a full-package producer having relied mainly in the past on quotas provided by the old Multi-Fibre Arrangement.

It is only the electronics industry that has remained, accounting for two-thirds of the country’s total exports. However, given the dependence of the electronics industry on imported raw materials assembled in the duty-free ecozones, the value added in the electronics industry is less than 15 percent.

The problem, however, does not end here. The EOI/SAP proponents neglected, even denigrated, the growth and development of domestic industry and agriculture.

These sectors, often labelled by neo-liberal economists as “rent-seeking dinosaurs,” were subjected to precipitate liberalization without a program of communication and

Director of the UP Diliman School of Labor and Industrial Relations Center for Labor Justice Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 3

MIGRATION IN OUR DEVELOPMENT POLICY... continued from page 1 nitude of international migration in fueling Philippine development. Instead, government plans and programs typically cite the welfare concerns, problems and issues confronting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), especially women.

In the last two decades or so, labor migration from the Philippines has also become highly gendered, with a growing number of women taking up jobs as household service workers, caregivers, entertainers and nurses abroad. Women migrant workers are now likely to find jobs in the Gulf states where their rights are not observed and respected, causing problems and making them more vulnerable as foreigners and as women. Women

UP Diliman Department of Political Science professor Dr. Jorge V. Tigno

impact migration has made on society, the Philippines

orated this extensive phenomenon into its development planning framework."

By Jorge V. Tigno migrants have figured prominently in the Philippine labor migration discourse both at the political and societal levels.

Cited are numerous sensational media reports of women being abused, exploited, and even killed overseas.

This negative reportage on women, among other unfavorable items, gives rise to the impression that migration is more of a liability than an asset. Not much effort has been exerted on the part of the government to effectively and systematically harness the remittance and non-monetary resources of overseas migrants for development apart from diaspora philanthropy activities (like medical missions) that occur from time to time.

The gap in the way that migration is examined and appreciated leads one to think of migration as something that brings no good but simply spawns social and psychological problems, ranging from troubles with migrant children and broken families to sad stories of abuse and solitude among the migrants themselves.

But migrant remittances make up a substantial percentage of the country’s GDP, larger than the official development assistance (ODA) it receives from development countries and greater than the earnings from the top five Philippine exports. A significant portion of the country’s skilled and semi-skilled Filipino labor force is employed overseas.

Being a highly selective phenomenon, migration also affects different parts of the country at different levels. At the sub-national level, certain regions have sizeable populations of migrant households that allow for higher expenditures for education, housing, and health care among others (e.g., the proliferation of pawnshops, banks, remittance centers, etc.). Finally, migration represents a significant effort to reduce poverty in the Philippines.

Yet, in spite of its significant character as a country of emigration and the impact migration has made on society, the Philippines has hardly incorporated this extensive phenomenon into its development planning framework. Migration is barely seen through the development

d weak industrial and has developed in a

lens of the country’s policymakers.

Unfavorable consequences This situation leads to several untoward consequences. The first is the institution of an ad hoc system to address the negative effects of migration without maximizing or benefiting from its positive impacts. It is ironic that a decades-old policy of labor migration, for instance, has not seen its profound integration into the development planning framework of the country. Different migration concerns are each handled by different bureaucratic agencies, leading to the tentative character of policy decisions.

The second consequence is that migration planning has been largely determined (especially after 1986) by politicians (e.g., legislators and politically appointed civil servants) who may not have a full appreciation of the historical and economic significance of international migration and are predominantly aware only of its welfare issues and concerns.

The third consequence is the inability of government to utilize the wealth of information already at its disposal to harness the development potentials of migration. The outcome is the apparent disconnect between those who produce data and those who would use them for planning and policy.

While national government agencies have not placed much importance on migrants and their families in terms of development planning, local governments are also equally incapacitated to see the part that international migration can play in local development apart from the 'balikbayan nights' they bring during town fiestas.

Without denying the seriousness of the problems confronting migrants and their families, there is now a need to focus the public’s attention on the critical role that overseas Filipinos (OFs) can perform in fostering national and local development. More specifically, there is a need to bring to the attention of government authorities, institutions and other relevant stakeholders the need to systematically tap the development potentials of overseas Filipino remittances.

Not much investigation has also been done on the existing capacities of these government institutions to purposefully and effectively gear these remittances and other OF resources toward attaining local and national development objectives.

Generally, local government authorities tend to link overseas migration with certain national government agencies (e.g., the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) for the attainment of vague national development objectives that are often detached from local needs. At the same time, both national and continued on page 5

Photo on front cover: Protest action of Migrante International Hong Kong taken in 2010. The photo is available at Migrante International's Flickr photostream at http://www.flickr. com/photos/migranteinternational/.

4 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

MANPOWER EXPORT AND PHILIPPINE MAL-DEVELOPMENT... continued from page 2

facturing in total employment plummeting from 11.9 percent in 1970 to 8.4 percent in 2010, whereas our neighboring countries in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand increasing the percentages for manufacturing employment from less than ten percent in 1970 to over 20 percent in 2010. He adds, the Philippine economy is unsustainable if it will continue relying on the growth of services, fueled largely by the OFW remittances and the call center/BPO boom.

Usui is right because the remittance and call center phenomenon will not wipe out the reality of poverty in the country. The Philippines today is essentially a “one-third society,” with two-thirds consisting of millions of urban and rural poor, often called as the “informal sector,” who are unable to enjoy the benefits of growth under the failed EOI/SAP program. In Metro Manila, the National Statistics Office (NSO) puts poverty incidence at three percent based at a poverty threshold of P46 a day per person; but for the World Bank, at the poverty threshold of US$2.00 a day, poverty incidence is over 50 percent.

The truth is that mass unemployment, mass underemployment and mass poverty have persisted since the 1970s, when the “temporary” OCW and supposedly long-term LIEO programs were simultaneously launched, up to the present decade, when it is clear that the OFW program has become the country’s lifesaver under a failed LIEO/EOI/SAP development platform.

Unsustainable situation Now why can’t the urban poor and the rural poor also go overseas and earn migra-dollars? This is wishful thinking. Filipino OFWs occupying low-end jobs in the Asian newly industrialized countries (NICs) and the Gulf Area like the domestics, who earn US$200-300 a month, are at least college-educated and English-speaking.

Migration tends to deepen the pattern of inequality in the archipelago, as its more developed regions are the ones able to send out more migrants. In turn, their earnings are invested on the same regions in the more upscale communities such as those being developed by the Villars and the Ayalas, increasing further the inequality with the less developed regions.

Then, the increased outflow of skilled professionals, a phenomenon of the last two decades, is hurting further the development of local industry, as it takes time to train and develop talents and skills suited to specific industry requirements. With no assistance from the government, exasperated industrialists simply shift their businesses away from industry in favour of trading and services.

This exacerbates the industrial hollowing out phenomenon and the continuing import dependence of the country. And yet, some lazy economists still make a hasty and false conclusion—the Philippines has failed to take off industrially because of a so-called “Dutch disease,” the remittance abundance discouraging investments in industrialization!

Under a pattern of growing dependence on migration and weak industrial and agricultural development at home, the Philippine economy has developed in a highly uneven, unequal and unsustainable manner.

We, in industrial relations, cannot even do the old-style analysis of job-skills/education matching because graduates are being primed for overseas employment or deployment and not for local hiring in support of a dynamic industrial structure at home, which is non-existent. Oddly, some economic commentators would even say that there is a skills/education mismatch because we can not fill the job demand of some countries for accountants, IT programmers or English teachers. Is the education and skills system being developed to meet the manpower requirements of other countries?

Or is it not really time to change the fourdecade-old economic growth model favoured by the neo-liberals in government?

As to the abuses, indignities and pains suffered by majority of the millions of first- and secondgeneration migrant workers who have braved the harsh work environment in foreign climes, yes, they are heroes and heroines to an impoverished Philippines.

But they are victims, too—refugees of maldevelopment at home.

--------------The author is a professor and the director of the Center for Labor Justice of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations. Email him at reneofreneo@gmail.com.

"Is it not really time to change the four-decade-old economic growth model favoured by the neo-liberals in government?"

- Ofreneo

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 5

"There is now a need to focus the public’s attention on the critical role that overseas Filipinos can perform in fostering national and local development."

- Tigno

MIGRATION IN OUR DEVELOPMENT POLICY... continued from page 3 local government authorities also tend to associate migration with the welfare-related problems and abuse of individuals and groups of migrants (mainly OFWs) instead of its potentials for development.

Philippine migration policy since 1986 has been largely determined within the legislative and executive branches of government. The prevailing public policy environment pertinent to migration is one that is heavily influenced by the interplay of varying and arbitrary social and political factors (e.g., the media coverage of migrant cases, the perception of the President and Vice-President, existing legislative priorities as well as the ambitions of politicians, and outcries from non-governmental organizations and social groups) rather than sound rational thinking.

A "disconnect" Little of the work produced by academic and research institutions is directly utilized in the policy process. This situation engenders the ‘disconnect’ between data producers (e.g., demographers, sociologists, economists, etc.) and policymakers and implementers.

Policy advocacy has been reduced to how well a group or NGO is able to lobby (often along emotional lines) with their respective politicians and legislators. The ability of academic institutions and

researchers to directly impact upon the policy processes in Congress and the executive branch is severely limited. It is difficult to determine how much of the data that is produced by researchers is actually appreciated by policymakers.

How do we make sense of the so-called migration-development nexus? It is possible to understand this nexus along three lines: developing partnerships; arriving at a common understanding; and initiating concerted action.

Partnerships are crucial because they are more likely to benefit all stakeholders, including the migrants themselves and their families. No one person can accomplish much by himself, especially given the complexity of migration. From a development standpoint, such partnerships can help reduce the costs associated with migration. Moreover, these can lead to a successful leveraging of the positive development impacts of migration, i.e., minimizing ill effects, maximizing gains.

However, a successful partnership has to emanate from a common understanding of the problems that need to be addressed. How a particular problem is defined is important in any partnership undertaking.

There has to be a common understanding of such migration concerns as human trafficking, brain drain, and reintegration. If no common understanding exists, the partners may likely proceed in different directions and this can lead to a significant degree of waste of time and resources.

This common understanding should be accompanied by a high degree of coherence among the partners.

State institutions such as the POEA and OWWA continue to play important roles in promoting overseas employment, but not in seeing to it that migration contributes to development. Much of what is known about migration is one-sided, i.e., mainly those who leave, where they go, and what they do abroad. There is little information generated about those who return, which is more crucial for development planning purposes.

The role played by civil society groups needs to be reexamined further beyond their desire to criticize and ‘shame’ national authorities to compel them to ratify or comply more fully with international human rights standards and migration norms. Migrant groups also tend to advocate issues that receiving countries may not be willing to consider, such as granting of citizenship and the right to demand equal treatment and protection, including the right to organize and to be politically represented. To be fair, there are NGOs that have initiated projects promoting migration for sustainable development either by enterprise and livelihood development or pooling migrant remittances.

Government authorities certainly have a critical role to play as catalysts of development and in making sure that OF remittances are fully and effectively tapped to enhance development goals.

There is also a clear need to reorient existing mindsets, develop capabilities, and improve competencies of government officials and institutions as well as other stakeholders (e.g., migrant family associations, hometown associations, financial intermediaries).

--------------The author is a professor at the Department of Political Science of UP Diliman. Email him at jvtigno@gmail.com.

6 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

Photo from Maid in Manila, http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/aatienza/AwayFromHome.html

Migrants in Danger

The plight of OFWs in areas of conflict

By KIM Quilinguing

I

n 2006, the world watched in horror as Israel bombed several cities in Southern Lebanon after “militant” Palestinians allegedly based in the area launched rocket attacks and abducted Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.1 In an effort to rescue the soldiers and bring the abductors to justice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched an offensive in several areas in Southern Lebanon where militant Palestinians were believed to be hiding. The conflict would drag on for several months, putting not only Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese lives at risk, but also those of overseas Filipino workers.

The plight of the overseas Filipino workers was unnoticed by the foreign press. But what they missed out on was covered extensively by Filipino media outfits, which had sent crews to cover the conflict.

The coverage brought to the fore of Filipino consciousness the plight of overseas Filipino workers in areas of conflict. The Bagong Bayani, as they were christened during the Ramos years, were shown caught in the midst of violent military strikes and counter-strikes.

Filipino domestic workers and other professionals working with Lebanese families and offices were advised to evacuate their homes by the Lebanese government. Several heeded the call and moved to the nearest Philippine consular offices.

Over 6,000 Filipino migrant workers were brought home to the Philippines as a result of the crisis.2 And then there were some who had to escape their employers just so they could get to the consular offices. According to Martin Babiano in Caught in the Crossfire: OFWs in Lebanon, two Filipinos died during the conflict.

Both fell from the houses they were working in as they tried to escape their employers, who were against

their decision to be evacuated.

Twenty-nine other migrant workers were injured as they fled the conflict zones and as their employers refused to let them leave.

The Arroyo administration earmarked P500 million for the repatriation of the workers caught in the conflict in Lebanon. Checks of P5,000 each were also given by the government to the 29 injured migrant workers while the families of Mary Jane Pangilinan and Michele Tomagan, the workers who died, were given at least P20,000 each.3 But the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) was criticized after difficulties in funding the safe return of the migrant workers surfaced. Partylist representatives called for a probe, where former Solicitor General Frank Chaves claimed that President Arroyo used the funds for her election campaign in 2004.4 Scenes of the migrant workers escaping from their employers were documented by the media and shown on Philippine television. The TV coverage brought to the living room the

harsh reality of working abroad.

At the cost of the family In recent years, the stability of the Philippine economy amid a global recession has largely been credited to the remittances brought into the country by around 10 million Filipinos working abroad. Analysts cited the millions of dollars brought into the country by the bagong bayani as the reason why the country remained afloat while economies from America to Asia were floundering.

In 2011, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas estimated the contribution of migrant workers at $19.76 billion or 14 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.5 This steady flow of remittances has positioned the Philippines as one of the most stable economies and among the fastest growing in the world—proof of the huge contribution of overseas remittances to the country’s growth.

This is not the first time that the hard work of overseas Filipino workers saved the Philippines from the

Illegal recruitment. Trafficking in women and children.

Contract violations. Violations of human rights. Violence against women. An average of two to three people returning to the country in boxes.

sad fate that befell her neighboring countries. In a paper written in 2003, UP Professor Mary Lou Alcid in said that “remittances from…overseas workers shielded the Philippines from the economic and financial crisis that hit many of its Asian neighbors [in 1997].”6 In recent years, the Aquino government has even helped stabilize remittances by deploying more Filipinos abroad. In August this year, the Bangko Sentral said that remittances have totaled $ 1.8 billion in June, registering a 4 percent growth compared with the remittances of the previous year.7 The total remittances contributed by migrant working Filipinos for the first half of 2012 have totaled $ 10.13 billion, showing an increase of 5.1 percent compared to June 2011’s $ 9.64 billion.

The Bangko Sentral also said that most of the remittances, which contributed to the increase in the first two quarters of this year, came from migrant workers in the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.

But while the increase in remittances have generally been viewed as a positive economic factor by financial analysts, its impact on Philippine society, social development and the policy environment, has not always been rosy. The family is one institution that may have suffered much.

Government policies and programs for migrant Filipino workers since the boom in the 1970s have always been focused on the government’s generation of much-needed foreign reserves. The Ibon Foundation and Migrante International said that “Philippine migration policy is disproportionately focused on maximizing the overall inflow of remittances as a development goal in itself without weighing this against the continued on page 7

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 7

MIGRANTS IN DANGER... continued from page 6

welfare of migrant workers and their families.”8 Very little has been done over the years to address the impact of absentee parenthood, the lack of jobs in the domestic market, and the financial and livelihood alternatives to OFWs upon their reintegration to Philippine society.

Still, in the eyes of migrant workers and their families, the monetary benefits and social mobility acquired with having a family member abroad oftentimes weigh more than considerations of distance, dangers arising from civil and military conflict, and in the event of conflicts or the misfortunes of having abusive employers, death.

Returning to the country in boxes Notes Alcid: “Overseas employment has been the country's lifesaver…But the problems it has spawned are just as tremendous, if not more.

Illegal recruitment. Trafficking in women and children. Contract violations. Violations of human rights.

Violence against women. An average of two to three people returning to the country in boxes.”

The sad stories of OFWs leaving the country yet full of hopes and plans for themselves and their families, then coming back in coffins enclosed in steel boxes, has been a nagging reminder of the lack of protection of migrant workers abroad.

A more recent case is that of Marianne Aguilar Jimenez of Davao City, who died in Doha, Qatar. Jimenez was rushed to the Trauma Intensive Care Unit of Hamad Hospital after she supposedly electrocuted herself inside her room, burning what a fellow OFW believed to be 95 percent of her body.9 A few months earlier, Apple Gamale, another migrant worker from Davao City, arrived home in a coffin from Singapore in May 16. Gamale died after allegedly committing suicide by jumping off the balcony of

her employer’s residence which was on the sixth floor of a building.

Over the years, stories of overseas Filipino workers returning to the country with injuries, incapacitated or in boxes like Jimenez and Gamale, have hogged the headlines. Other names like Sarah Balabagan, Flor Contemplacion, Delia Maga and Angelo de la Cruz, and the difficult or sometimes tragic circumstances they have found themselves in, have become embedded in the Filipino consciousness.

In North Africa and the Middle East, Filipino workers have been caught in the middle of unrest such as in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Libya, as well as in the armed civil strife in Syria. The threats that migrant workers in these countries face are real and daunting. Many had to leave in the midst or aftermath of violence and government transition.

In 2011, a total of 26,273 OFWs were repatriated to the Philippines from their host countries due to conflicts. Of this number, 9,162 came home from Libya during the revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi; 2,003 also returned home from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 599 came from

Madagascar and 550 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.10 The OWWA said that it had given assistance to 46,655 migrant workers after they were forced to quit work and return to the Philippines by unforeseen situations abroad.

In September this year, 263 Filipinos were brought home with the help of the International Order of Migration.11 A month later, another 261 returned, followed by another group of 43 OFWs, increasing the number of repatriated workers to 2,878. According to Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, a thousand more Filipinos are expected to come home as a result of the hostilities.12 Then in the midst of the rescue and repatriation of OFWs in Syria, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) discovered that 80 percent of the 1,800 migrant workers they processed for return to the Philippines were brought to the Middle Eastern country by human-trafficking networks.13 Mostly between 13 to 18 years old, these migrant workers hailed from Maguindanao, Basilan and Sulu provinces. From the Philippines, they transited through Malaysia or Singapore before travelling

[C]ases of migrant workers subjected to abuse, rape and murder under the country’s long history of laborexport policy have not been eliminated or reduced.

to Abu Dhabi or Dubai. From these cities they were transported to Syria.

According to IACAT Executive Officer Ruby Ramores, human trafficking groups and illegal recruiters earn about $37 million a year from the recruitment and transport of migrant work hopefuls, many of whom would not end up where they were made to believe they should be. The processing of these undocumented workers, Ramores added, is made possible with the collusion of immigration officials and agents at airports and ports reaping a portion of the annual income generated from these illegal activities.

Comparing the figures of migrant workers documented by the Department of Foreign Affairs with the actual figures of OFWs in Syria, Ramores said in September this year that as much as 98 percent of Filipino workers in Syria were undocumented.

But trafficking of Filipino migrant workers is not a problem in Syria alone. Illegal recruitment and human trafficking networks also process and transport OFWs to several other countries. In the 2012 Trafficking in Persons report, the US State Department said that some female Filipinos recruited for work overseas end up in sex trafficking networks, which send them to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and in several Middle Eastern countries.14 Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as the "act of recruiting, transporting transfering and harbouring or receiving a person through the use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them."

Undocumented work, according to The Undocumented Worker Transition Project of the European Union, is defined as "nondocumented economic remunerated activities, which can be carried out by nationals and continued on page 8

8 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

Books on Migration Minding the Gaps: Migration, Development and Governance in the Philippines.

Maruja M.B. Asis, editor. Scalabrini Migration Center 2011.

Transnational Bridges: Migration, Development and Solidarity in the Philippines.

Maruja M.B. Asis, Fabio Baggio, J.M. Palabrica and G.M. Roma, editors. Scalabrini Migration Center and Commission on Filipinos Overseas 2010.

Public Policy Journal Vol X No 1, UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies, 2006

MIGRANTS IN DANGER... continued from page 7

nonnationals."

With these distinctions in mind, it can be said that undocumented overseas Filipino workers may not be victims of human trafficking networks at home. But it can be safely assumed that victims of human trafficking are undocumented migrant workers.

In a 2011 report of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, as many

Nationals program, enabling the Department of Foreign Affairs to conduct a more capable and timely response to the needs of Filipinos in distress and those in areas of conflict.

The OFWs from Syria, particularly those victimized by the human trafficking networks, were among those who benefitted from the increased funding of agencies tasked to rescue them and ensure their safe trip home.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has “67 embassies, 23 consulates,

Photo courtesy of the Advocacy and Social Media Division of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)

as 658,370 OFWs are undocumented.

Protecting the Bagong Bayani In an effort to stem the growth of, if not eliminate, human trafficking of Filipinos workers, the Philippine government has pumped more funding into the IACAT. From $230,000 in 2010, the Aquino administration gave $1.5 million to the agency in 2011.

The government has also allocated $9.86 million to the Assistance-to-

four permanent missions, one extension office, and 38 Philippine Labour Overseas Offices that assist Filipinos living and working abroad.”15 And where there are large concentrations of Filipino migrant workers, Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 mandates the department to establish a Filipino Workers Resource Center. RA 8042 was the legislative reaction to the Flor Contemplacion-Delia Maga case in Singapore in the same year.

Brick by Brick: Building Cooperation between the Philippines and Migrants’ Associations in Italy and Spain.

Fabio Baggio, editor. Scalabrini Migration Center 2010.

Chasing Rainbows (in DVD format), Scalabrini Migration Center, 2006

While the infusion of cash and the presence of Philippine government agencies in several countries may seem to provide a sense of protection for the OFW, cases of migrant workers subjected to abuse, rape and murder under the country’s long history of labor-export policy have not been eliminated or reduced.

Reports of Filipinos returning home minus a limb or in coffins remain graphic images on the front page of newspapers and in the headlines of TV and radio news programs.

The Philippine government, while continuously praising Filipino migrant workers for their contribution to the country’s economy through their remittances, could do more than inking agreements with countries where OFWs are deployed. It needs to ensure the safety of its citizens even when they are simply working in the homes and offices of other nationals.

Unable to do that, words of adulation for the bagong bayani ring hollow to the ears of grieving families.

Empty paeans to the bagong bayani also turn out to be romanticized cover for government failure to provide jobs at home.

--------------Email the author at forum@up.edu.ph.

NOTES:

1 Report to the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

(2006, January 21-2006, July 18). Retrieved from http://domino.un.org/unispal.NSF/fd80 7e46661e3689852570d00069e918/87e250 8779d8ec83852571b6004c761f 2 Llanto, Jesus. (2008, October 23). Survivors: OFWs have endured major crises. ABSCBNNews.com. Retrieved from http://www. abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/10/23/08/

Exodus Series: A Resource Guide for the Migrant Ministry in Asia, Scalabrini Migration Center, 2005

survivors-ofws-have-endured-major-crises 3 Uy, Veronica. (2006, September 26). P155M spent so far for Lebanon repatriation – OWWA. Inquirer.Net. Retrieved from http:// www.inquirer.net/specialreports/lebanon/ view.php?db=1&article=20060926-23241 4 Babiano, Martin. (2010, October). Caught in the Crossfire: OFWs in Lebanon. Philippine Human Rights Information Center. Retrieved fr o m h ttp ://p h i l ri g h ts.o rg /w p -co n te n t/ uploads/2010/10/Caught-in-the-crossfire. pdf 5 United Nations Development Fund. (nd).

Overseas Filipinos for Development: Building a Future Back Home, United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org.ph/Downloads/ knowledge_products/poverty/20111104%20 -%20OFs-RED%201dot6.pdf 6 Alcid, Mary Lou. (n.d.). "Migrant Labor in Southeast Asia," Country study: The Philippines, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Project on Migrant Labot in Southeast Asia.

7 BSP: OFW remittances up 4%, reach $1.8B in June. (2012, August 15). GMA News Online.

Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork. com/news/story/269896/economy/ moneyandbanking/bsp-ofw-remittances-up4-reach-1-8b-in-june 8 Ibon Foundation and Migrante International.

(2009, July-August). The Myth of Migration for Development, IBON EDM: Education for Development. Retrieved from http:// iboninternational.org/downloads/getfile/76 9 Casas, Ariane Caryl. (2012, September 22).

Dabawenya OFW arrives in coffin. Sunstar Davao. Retrieved from http://www.sunstar. com.ph/davao/local-news/2012/09/22/ dabawenya-ofw-arrives-coffin-244201 10 Calonzo, Andreo. (2011, December 19).

OWWA: Libya had highest number of displaced OFWs in 2011. GMA News Online.

Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/ news/story/242109/pinoyabroad/owwa-libyahad-highest-number-of-displaced-ofws-in2011 11 Over 200 OFWs arrive from Syria. (2012, September 11). ABS-CBNNews.com.

Retrieved from http://www.abs-cbnnews. com/global-filipino/09/11/12/over-200-ofwsarrive-syria 12 Apolonio, Eric. (2012, October 29). 43 more OFWs from Syria coming home. InterAksyon. com. Retrieved from http://www.interaksyon. com/article/46756/43-more-ofws-from-syriacoming-home 13 Rampant trafficking of OFWs in Syria uncovered. (2012, September 9). Inquirer.net.

Retrieved from http://globalnation.inquirer. net/49632/rampant-trafficking-of-ofws-insyria-uncovered 14 US Department of State. (2012). Trafficking in Persons Report 2012. Retrieved from http:// www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/192368.htm 15 Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Migrant Workers’s Rights to Social Protection in ASEAN. (2012).

Retrieved from http://www.fes-asia.org/ media/publication/2012_

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 9 Photo from Inquirer Global Nation, http://globalnation.inquirer.net/49866/282-filipinos-arrive-from-syria-300-more-stay-put

The Widening Gap

By Andre Encarnacion

An Economist's View of Labor Export and Inequality

Prof. Ernesto Pernia of the UP School of Economics shares his perspective on the economic implications of labor export.

O

n May 1, 1974, just a few years after the declaration of Martial Law, President Ferdinand Marcos enacted Presidential Decree No. 442. Also known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, one of its goals was the “careful selection of Filipino workers for the overseas labor market to protect the good name of the Philippines abroad.”1 For a number of experts, these words would become the foundation of what is today an aggressive overseas employment program by the government.

Supposedly a stopgap measure at that time against rising unemployment and the lack of sufficient foreign exchange earnings, overseas labor migration would grow into a phenomenon that has made the country one of the world's largest sources of foreign workers. After the enactment of the Labor Code, three agencies were created to support overseas labor: The National Seamen Board (NSB), the Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB), and the Bureau of Employment Services (BES).2 Then, in 1982, President Marcos institutionalized the deployment of Filipino workers abroad with the issuance of Executive Order No. 797. This EO turned over the functions of all the three agencies to the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). It is this same agency that has since regulated and protected what many consider to be the country's most valuable export today.

The question many Filipinos have asked since those days has been: was it worth it? Few can deny the benefits of remittances to both families and the economy. A World Bank report in 2010 stated that the Philippines was by then the world’s fourth-largest recipient of overseas remittances. These contributions amounted to 12 percent of the country's GDP a year before. No wonder that World Bank lead economist Dilip Ratha called them a “lifeline to poor countries like the Philippines.”3 These benefits come with real risks and costs. The lack of jobs and low wages have led millions to seek work abroad, where many are abused. The psychosocial costs borne by both the migrant workers themselves and those

left behind are well-documented.

In response to the execution of Flor Contemplacion in 1995, Republic Act No. 8042 or the Migrant Workers Act of 1995 was enacted to protect migrant workers from abuse. Despite this and subsequent initiatives to protect Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), cases of abuse that sometimes lead to death have persisted. According to Migrante International, the conditions of OFWs have continued to worsen under President Benigno S. Aquino with thousands of workers languishing in jails or falling prey to illegal recruiters.4 Are the economic gains we receive from international remittances worth this heavy toll? To answer this, at least from an economic standpoint, we must look into how exactly remittances affect the whole economy, especially the poorest of the poor. If remittances could be shown to improve the lives of the country's poorest, lifting them out of poverty, then perhaps a case could be made in favor of the country's over-reliance on overseas labor, despite its concomitant tragedies.

UP economics professor and former ADB lead economist Ernesto Pernia, however, had a less optimistic assessment.

Not a Trivial Difference “Have remittances resulted in more ‘inclusive’ (poverty- and inequalityreducing) economic growth?” Pernia asked in an article early this year. For him, there is little doubt that these remittances have benefited everything from households to regions. He asserted that despite criticisms, the impact of remittances on poverty as a whole “is not trivial.” Citing data from 2009, Pernia said that remittances actually accounted for 3.8 million people getting out of poverty.

One would think from such statements that the Philippines dogged reliance on remittances could, at its core, be sound economics. Surely a phenomenon that positively affects the country's poverty incidence could lead to a more continued on page 10

Table 1. Household income in pesos without and with remittance by quintile (all households), 2000 & 2006

Note: International remittance is defined to include cash receipts, gifts, support, relief and other forms of assistance from abroad.

Source: Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), 2000 (sample: 39,608 households) & 2006 (sample: 38,483 households). (taken from Pernia 2008)

10 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

THE WIDENING GAP... continued from page 9

not, the lion's share of the remittances is still being funnelled to more develjust and humane society oped areas of the country in the longer term. which is “(n)o wonder The truth, unfortuwhy the country's regional nately, is not so simple. development seems lopAnd Pernia had the sided.” figures to back this up. “A Lastly, foreign exchange closer look at the data... is the name of the game on reveals that the poorest the macroeconomic level, of the poor were hardly with remittances providing touched,” he said. He also a shot of this much needed revealed that despite agasset to developing coungregate poverty reduction tries. For countries like due to remittances, “both the Philippines, that are, in the poverty incidence and his words, “beset by fiscal number of poor people deficits, external debts, rose over the period of persistent trade imbalanc2003-2009.” Why would es, and scant foreign direct this be the case? investment,” remittances “In recent years, there Photo courtesy of the Advocacy and Social Media Division of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) are a godsend. has been much hype Rather than the typical about the surge in remitincrease in prices that comes with inflows of foreign exchange, however, tances,” Pernia said. “It has boosted the peso, eased the debt burden, tamed Pernia observed that the country's reliance on imports means that the reverse inflation and contributed in general to a rosy picture of the economy.” These happens. “Moreover,” he added, “these inflows may spur a real appreciation boons have meant that labor export, far from becoming a cause for concern of the exchange rate, thereby constraining the development of export-orientfor the government, has even been encouraged. ed and import-competing industries.”

The country's over-reliance on this boon is reflected clearly in the data.

One of the most troubling aspects of remittances is that, in Pernia's view, Despite trailing India, China and Mexico in overall remittances received, the advantages they provide lull the recipient country into complacency with the Philippines has the highest figure among the four relative to GDP. With a respect to pursuing important reforms. “For one thing, migration seems to massive amount flowing in to increase the purchasing power of local househave helped window-dress the employment problem.” It has made it easier holds, it is a wonder that the number of Filipinos in poverty remains astrofor the government to “avoid biting the bullet of hard policy reforms.” nomically high. What is even more troubling is the fact that the gap between the rich and the poor seems to be widening.

The Short End of the Stick Biting the Bullet In Pernia's study “Is Labor Export Good Development Policy?” he sought to find the effects of international migration and remittances on individual households, human capital investment, poverty and regional development.

With respect to remittances, he found that their effects could be assessed on three levels: the micro, the meso and the macro.

On the micro level, one of the most disturbing issues is the possibility that members of the recipient families may reduce their work effort, depleting the local pool of workers. Evidence shows a decline in labor force participation among said recipients, with gender being determined by whether the husband or the wife was the one left at home.

On a brighter note, however, Pernia cited research from Yang (2007) and Tullao, Cortes and See (2004) to show the advantages of remittances, at least on this level. For those overseas workers who experienced favorable exchange-rate shocks, the remittances they sent back helped their respective households to reduce child labor, increase spending for education and acquire more durable goods. Remittances also generally led to more human capital investment, particularly in health and education.

Going a level higher, however, he discovered that the more developed regions in the country sent out more OFWs than the less developed ones.

This led to more remittances being sent to these regions rather than their less developed counterparts. On the other hand, OFWs from the poorer regions tended to remit more.

Why did this happen? Pernia mentioned two theories to explain this behavior. The first is the possibility that the increased altruism of OFWs from these regions towards their less-advantaged families drove them to send more of their paycheck back home. The second explanation, “not in variance with the first,” he said, is that the selection of OFWs from the less developed regions tended to come from higher skilled, thus higher-paying, professions.

But regardless of whether they came from higher-skilled professions or

To better view the effect of remittances on poverty, Pernia studied households with and without remittances. Using data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), Survey of Overseas Filipinos (SOF), and Labor Force Survey (LFS), he divided them by income and looked into the specific increases due to remittances and how poorer and richer households stacked up against each other.

He also used the same data to see how remittances affected the incidence of poverty across his sample—particularly how many households were able to breach the poverty threshold with this added boon.

What he found out was that the average amount of remittances received by all households increased with income in both 2000 and 2006. That means that the higher you are on the scale, the more you are likely to have your income significantly increased by international remittances.

As seen in Table 1, his survey of families in the year 2000 that both did and did not receive remittances revealed that remittances raised the income of those with the lowest incomes by a mere 1.1 percent. This percentage increased as incomes rose, such that when you reach the highest bracket, Pernia found that remittances raised income by nearly thirteen percent.

Similarly, in 2006, the gains of the poorest households were scant at best, with remittances only accounting for a 1.4 percent increase in income.

Households with the greatest incomes, however, whose average incomes without remittances are more than ten times that of the former, raised their incomes by nearly sixteen percent. When taking into account how large the disparity of their base incomes is in the first place, the lopsided relationship between the two becomes even clearer.

The difference is even more pronounced when Pernia focused solely on households that received remittances. Table 2 reveals that while at the lowest level, only about 7 percent of household received remittances in 2006, a whopping 44.7 percent of households at the top received remittances for that continued on page 11

Table 2. Household income in pesos without and with remittance by quintile (households with remittance), 2000 & 2006

Source: FIES, 2000 (sample: 7,154 households) & 2006 (sample: 8,971 households) as cited from Pernia (2008).

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 11

Table 3. Poverty incidence by income quintile (households with remittance), 2000 & 2006

Source: FIES, 2000 (sample: 35,749 persons) & 2006 (sample: 42,851 persons) as cited by Pernia (2008).

the initial question: Is this trajectory a sustainable one for the country? For Pernia, the answer was a resounding 'no'. “(I)t would seem that labor export cannot be relied upon as a policy for reducing poverty, redressing income inequality and, for that matter, fostering the country's long-run development,” he said.

He even predicted that the global labor market's demand for higher level professional and technical workers could result in “a persisting social inequality.” When combined with the aforementioned psychosocial costs and the brain drain caused by the migration of more skilled members of the workforce, the future does not exactly look rosy. Pernia saw the country's Persistent and Worrying current stance on migration as dangerous to the country's future human capiWhat are the effects of remittances then on poverty reduction? “In the tal requirements. “The human capital industry has its limits.” absence of remittances,” said Pernia, “there would have been more than 28 Pernia compared the Philippines to its Asian neighbors South Korea and million persons, or 37 percent of the total population considered poor beThailand to highlight exactly where he thinks our country got it wrong. In longing predominantly to the first two quintiles.” contrast to the latter two, whose governments adopted labor export as a Despite this good news, Pernia still discovered that though remittances temporary measure, the Philippines has not pursued the necessary reforms had a significant effect on poverty, the poor benefit from them far less than on both the labor demand and labor supply sides to enable a strong and those from richer households. In fact, Table 3 reveals that in 2000, remitsustained path of growth. tances practically wiped out poverty in the top three quintiles in households A “tale of diverging twins” is how Pernia described the contrasting fates that received them, while the bottom quintile was barely touched. of Thailand and the Philippines. While in 1970, both had populations In 2006, on the other hand, remittances contributed to lowering poverty of about 37 million, growing at 3 percent annually; in 2010, Filipinos incidence “from about 28 percent without remittance to 12 percent with realready numbered around 94 million, increasing about 2 percent annually. mittance.” Compared to the richest households, however, which experienced In contrast Thailand had about 67 million, with an increase of just 0.6 an almost complete eradication of poverty with remittances, the poverty percent that year. incidence among those with the lowest incomes, was much less significant, Furthermore, poverty incidence in the Philippines stood at 26.5 percent reducing by only 14.5 percent. at the time—all this while remaining one of the largest rice importers in Despite some of the positive effects on poverty reduction that the numbers the world. Poverty in Thailand on the other hand stood at 7.8 percent and imply, the reality remains that the welfare-enhancing effect of remittances it is, in contrast, one of the biggest rice exporters. rises consistently with income quintile—a persistent and worrying trend.

The actual story may be more complex than the numbers show. But “International remittances appear to raise average incomes for all housethere is little doubt, especially for Pernia, that a long hard look at our holds for all income groups but more so for the richer households than for country's policies is needed if we ever hope to make up for lost time. the poorer ones,” Pernia concluded. Despite the perception that international --------------remittances tend to uplift many of the poorest households, the reality is that The views and data in this article were largely taken from Prof. Ernesto the higher you are on the scale, the more likely you are to be a beneficiary of M. Pernia’s articles, “Do remittances foster inclusive growth?” pubremittances, and receive bigger amounts of them. lished in BusinessWorld, Introspective 2 April 2012; and, “Is Labor In fact, Pernia discovered that domestic remittances are more welfareExport Good Development Policy?” (UP School of Economics Discusenhancing for lower-income households than international remittances. First sion Paper, October 2008), with permission from Prof. Pernia. Email quintile households manthe author at forum@ Photo courtesy of the Advocacy and Social Media Division of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) aged to raise their averup.edu.ph. age incomes in 2006 by NOTES: 17.4 percent with domes1 Medina, A. and Pulumbarit, V. tic remittances compared (2012, September 21). How Martial Law helped create the to only 7.7 percent for OFW phenomenon. GMA News the fifth quintile. And Online. Retrieved from: http:// though all things being www.gmanetwork.com/news/ s t o r y / 2 7 5 0 11 / p i n o y a b r o a d / equal, international reofwguide/how-martial-lawmittances do significantly helped-create-the--phenomenon enhance incomes, raise 2 Ibid.

3 Philippines 4th among world’s spending, and help lift top remittance recipients. (2010, households out of poverNovember 10). Trade Union ty; the overall increase in Congress of the Philippines.

Retrieved from: http://www.tucp. regional incomes seems org.ph/news/index.php/2010/11/ to benefit higher income philippines-4th-among-worldshouseholds more than top-remittance-recipients/ 4 Conditions of OFWs worsened their counterparts on the under Aquino – migrant group. lower end of the scale.

(2012, June 15). Bulatlat.

THE WIDENING GAP... continued from page 10

same year. A similar asymmetrical relationship between the highest and lowest divisions is also evident six years before.

A closer look at the numbers indicates that while the average income from the poorest households of nearly P44,000 was raised by 18.7 percent in 2006, households with average incomes more than ten times that amount at the opposite end of the spectrum further increased their incomes by 35 percent. The data also reveal that there were far more numerous rich households that benefited from remittances than there were poorer ones.

A Tale of Diverging Twins We must now return to

com. Retrieved from: http:// bulatlat.com/main/2012/06/15/ conditions-of-ofws-worsenedunder-aquino-%E2%80%93migrant-group/

12 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL COST OF LABOR MIGRATION GERA: With the increasing integration of world economies, labor migration and its impact on development has become an imperative agenda for nation-states and global partnerships. With international labor migration, we see economic gains being enjoyed by both countries of origin and destination.

Receiving countries benefit in terms of meeting labor supply requirements (i.e. cost-efficient manpower and skills) for their changing labor market needs.

Sending countries gain much in terms of employment opportunities, as in the case of the Philippines.

About 10 million of our people couldn’t be effectively absorbed by the local job market, with 7 percent unemployment rate and

Weena Gera, PhD Assistant Professor, Political Science Program UP Cebu Postdoctoral Research Fellow Institute for Sustainability and Peace United Nations University underemployment rate rising to 22.7 percent as of July (NEDA/NSO, 2012). The remittances they bring in substantially contribute to the country’s gross national product (GNP), social services and its consumptiondriven economy. More and more women have also been provided opportunities for economic participation through labor migration.

But there is the other side of the equation: the social costs of labor migration. Human rights violations

migration have become prevalent.

Many unprotected and undocumented labor migrants, particularly among the unskilled and the poorly educated, become acutely vulnerable to human trafficking and various exploitative practices, including unscrupulous recruitment activities from both labor-sending and laborreceiving countries. Many migrant workers, often by lack of guidance or desperation, continue to use informal channels that either cost them

"UP can also extend its arm in the building and sharing of knowledge through interregional dialogue on labor migration among its academic counterparts in the developing region." and labor exploitation have been reported against overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). These are in the form of unjust compensation and lack of labor welfare protection in certain host countries, as well as psychological stresses and physical abuse. The breakdown of family units is also symptomatic of such costs.

Moreover, cases of illegal labor

their source of living or put their lives at risk.

The University of the Philippines, as a highly regarded academic institution in the country, should position itself in mitigating such challenges within the framework of its mandate. UP can contribute to the process of institutionalizing a more continued on page 18

PAUNLAGI: The weakening global economic situation among European Union countries and the geopolitical tension in some Middle East countries were thought to lead to a reduction in the number of Filipinos working abroad. However, this did not happen. The approved job orders for Filipino workers who applied for work abroad numbered 527,370 in August 2012 (Remo, 2012). Similarly, remittances rose to $11.94 billion in the same month, 5.2 percent higher than the $11.35 billion in 2011.

Remittances are considered a key factor in the health of the Philippine economy. They not only add to the foreign exchange reserves, the current account, and deposits in the banking system (PDI, 2012) but they also help alleviate poverty. Families receiving remittances invest more in housing, education, and health care.

However there are also social costs. Children of overseas migrant workers are quite vulnerable to significant psychological, educational, and social challenges (Capelloni, 2011). They also experience feelings of loneliness and isolation, and even depression.

The study of Edillion (2008) found that school-age children from Filipino OFW families have greater capacity to attend school and are more achievers than children of non-OFW parents. NonOFW children, however, tend to be happier and more active in socio-economic organizations than OFW children.

Edillon reported that OFW children want more attention. There is a greater need to address the emotional needs of OFW children. The school is a place where values and skills learned at home by OFW children should be strengthened or improved. With the absence of the parents, guardians and caregivers can be the school’s ally in imparting values to the children.

This is where the University of the Philippines can contribute to lessen the social cost of migration, both at the policy and implementation levels. At the policy level, the UP through its policy and governance units can suggest reforms to enrich the curriculum for teachers by integrating

Q.

Merlyne M. Paunlagui, PhD University Researcher III and Director Center for Strategic Planning and Policy Studies College of Public Affairs and Development UP Los Baños issues on migration and its effects on the children, particularly those who are left behind by OFW parents. These policies can then be included in the production of teaching materials and in the training of teachers.

Moreover, university extension units can design short-term training programs for school officials to be sensitive to the situation of OFW children. Officials and teachers can be trained to recognize signs of psychological problems affecting them and to understand threats confronting families that are breaking up due to physical separation. continued on page 18

.

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 13

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL COST OF LABOR MIGRATION GERVACIO: Labor migration in general has provided huge benefits to both sending and receiving countries. In 2011 alone, the Philippines gained from the huge remittances of about USD 20.12 billion sent by our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

However, migrant workers and their families are also confronted by many issues such as children being left behind, which make them vulnerable to drug abuse, early pregnancy, etc.

On the other hand, the OFWs themselves could be exposed to human rights abuses and reintegration issues, among others.

What are various options for UP to address the problems brought about by labor migration?

(1) Develop and implement programs and courses geared towards knowledge enhancement and lifelong learning that will benefit the labor migrants and their families.

At the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) , 10 percent of the students are based offshore and they come from 40 different countries. Through UPOU’s courses which are conducted through open and distance e-learning (ODeL), those who enroll at the university are given the chance to pursue quality education that would equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills that they need even if they are outside the country. Moreover, it will also help them prepare for better jobs once they decide to come home for good. A UP education in addition to their work experiences will surely benefit the country.

UP should continue to develop and offer programs and courses that would enable Filipinos to learn anytime and anywhere. It must collaborate with the government and the private sector to determine relevant

What should UP do to help solve the problems brought about by labor migration?

FERNANDEZ: The modern “heroes” of our economy are overseas workers (OWs). An estimated 12 million of our kababayans, mostly women, are working in about 200 countries. That is more than 10 percent of our population. They are able to send home US$20.1 billion annually. Notwithstanding the contraction of the global economy the Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas reveals that demand for our OWs remains high. They remitted US$10.13 in the first half of this year and some US$1.8 billion in June alone.

But behind the apparent success and positive impact of existing national and international migration policies are the sufferings, hardships and exploitation being experienced

by our citizens abroad. Most OWs are domestic helpers or caregivers and they are also the most vulner-

capacity building-programs that will address these issues. These courses may include, but are not limited to, financial management to enable the labor migrants and their families to learn how to manage their finances, specifically in terms of savings and investment.

Courses that aim to increase awareness about the impact of labor migration, human rights, reintegration and other related concerned are also relevant.

(2) Continue to conduct research related to labor migration.

UP is a research university; hence, it should continuously conduct research related to labor migration.

This includes evaluating existing policies and programs related to labor

Juvy Lizette M. Gervacio, MPA Assistant Professor and Chair Master of Public Management Program Faculty of Management and Development Studies UP Open University migration. It is important to evaluate how government agencies implement the programs related to labor migrants and their families and recommend how they could be improved.

Many stories have been documented about the benefits gained as well as challenges learned in the lives of the

OFWs and their families,and these accounts should also be utilized to improve policy implementation.

Creating a venue to enable our OFWs to become co-creators of knowledge is also important. With the use of information communicacontinued on page 19

"Design and conduct training programs on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and capacity-building for OWs and their families to prevent dependence on remittances and promote diverse economies." able. Stories of abused Filipino domestic helpers and executed drug mules clearly illustrate that failures and gaps exist in policy and practice.

The social cost of exporting our labor resources cannot be overemphasized.

Contract violations, human rights abuses, violence against women, illegal recruitment and trafficking take their toll on the bodies, minds and families of our people. Also, the nation’s pool of human and social capital is degraded as thousands of teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers and other professionals troop abroad. The remittances we receive, on the other hand, may lead continued on page 18

Pepito R. Fernandez Jr., MA Associate Professor 7 Division of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences UP Visayas

14 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL COST OF LABOR MIGRATION Zorayda E. Leopando, MD, MPH Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine College of Medicine UP Manila LEOPANDO: I will answer the question with a series of questions: In what context are we looking at the issue? What are the causes and the impact of the problems brought about by labor migration? Within the University, are there interventions to address the issue? Has there been a university-wide discussion to identify strategies which can address the issue?

In what context are we looking at the issue?

In the new UP Charter (Republic Act 9500), added to the mandate of being the national university, a graduate university and a research university, is UP’s being a public service university. UP should also “lead as a public service university by providing various forms of community, public, and volunteer service, as well as scholarly and technical assistance to the government, the private sector, and civil society while maintaining its standards of excellence.” 1 UP is a publicly-funded university heavily subsidized by the government. During budget hearings, UP has its own separate allotment of the budget, whereas all other colleges and universities

of which are in the health professions. It also has the university hospital, the Philippine General Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health. Being a public service university is not new to us because the health profession is a service profession.

During University commencement in almost all campuses, some students and graduates carry banners and placards with a common message: ”SERVE THE PEOPLE” or “ISKOLAR NG BAYAN, SAMBAYANAN ANG PAGLINGKURAN.” But where are the ISKOs and ISKAs after graduation? Are UP graduates included in labor migration?

It is also proper that we start looking into the agreements signed by our government with other countries because this may be promoting labor migration. The Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) of the ASEAN countries will be enforced in 2014.

Mutual recognition arrangements are being prepared for the seven professions—accountancy, architecture, dentistry, engineering, nursing, medicine, and surveying. Three out of seven in the list are in the health professions.

impact of the problems brought about by labor migration?

The UP Alumni Association website shows that there are 167 accredited chapters of the UPAA as of May 31, 2011, categorized as follows: (a) school-or collegebased: 49; (b) fraternityor sorority-based: 20; (c) UP orgs-based: 13, and (d) regional chapters (geography-based) 80; of which 38 are in the Philippines, 32 in North America, and 10 in other parts of the world. 5 These figures show that there is labor migration among our graduates.

Health migration is a big issue in the health professions. The Philippines is the number one exporter of nurses in the world and the number two exporter of physicians. We can always say that we have few graduates and our contribution to the health migration may be minimal. But we are not talking of numbers; we are talking of percentage of graduates who have left for overseas jobs.

also later for APEC may be costly for developing countries like ours because we may end up supplying the professionals, our graduates, whom we have trained and whose education has been subsidized by the Filipino people.

Why do people leave to work abroad? Let me quote what I have written in a 2006 editorial of the Asia Pacific Family Medicine Journal: 7 “Previous studies on causes of migration of physicians identified the following: decades of under-investment in their education; 8 demoralization of personnel and a dramatic deterioration of health services due to lack of basic equipment and drugs; 9 political and economic instability and poor governance; lower salaries and benefits; poor work environments characterized by heavy workload, lack of supervision, and limited organizational capacity; environmental considerations with potentially dangerous workplaces due to lack of sanitation and supplies to protect workers from diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.” 10 These are still true for most health professionals.

During the early up to the mid2000s, many physicians and other professionals took up nursing in response to increased global demand. To the question why they decided on a second career, the common answer was it opened up opportunities to their children and the possibility of migration with the whole family.

What then is the impact of heath migration? Every now and then, continued on page 15

"The protection of health care workers from abuse

should be a component of any discussion on health care provider mobility, especially for those who

choose a career abroad in less desirable positions or locations." of the state are grouped together.

By this, therefore, the university should be more accountable to the Filipino people.

When we say University, we mean its people—the faculty, administrative staff, the students and the alumni- the sectors represented in the Board of Regents.

When we say University, we also mean the curricular programs, the researches and projects, consultancies and extension services rendered by its units, colleges, departments, faculty, and students through their organizations.

UP Manila is the Health Sciences Center of the country. It has nine degree granting units, eight

In a recently concluded workshop of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), it was said that the agreement will extend to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in the future.

The common objectives of the MRA for the medical/dental practitioners and nursing professionals are to facilitate mobility within the ASEAN; exchange information and enhance cooperation in respect of mutual recognition; promote adoption of best practices on standards and qualifications; and provide opportunities for capacity building and training. 2,3,4 What are the causes and the

According to Dr. Jaime GalvezTan, more than 50 percent of the UP College of Medicine graduates before the 1990s are in the US. 6 It is less for graduates after 1990.

This will have to be updated not only for UP Manila but for the rest of the constituent units.

Labor migration is something we cannot prevent because of the universal declaration of human rights which guarantees freedom of movement for all people. I said in one editorial that we also cannot stop physicians from searching for better lives for their families and for more fulfilling careers in medicine. The forthcoming MRA not only for ASEAN but

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 15

RTD: LEOPANDO... continued from page 14 we read in the newspaper how much the Philippines has gained from remittances which are contributing to the bulk of our dollar reserves. But how much of the contribution has been allocated for the improvement of health services or for student scholarships in the health professions is a big question. Outmigration has affected many people in rural and remote areas as they have been deprived of physicians who could meet their health needs.

The shortage of health workers also leads to an overburdened staff in public hospitals and health centers, individuals not competent enough to perform critical skills in the delivery of health care services, and the loss of popular confidence in the health care sector.

Some of these migrants used to be involved in managerial and training roles and their flight abroad can be seen leading to a loss of institutional knowledge, thereby affecting an institution’s capacity for quality health care.

Finally, the outmigration of health professionals also incurs a significant financial loss to the source country because their training entailed great investment costs. We lose the returns on investment when graduates leave the country. 11 Within the university, are

Photo above from Pinoy99, reprinted from the Manila Bulletin, http://pinoy99.blogspot. com/2011/09/higher-pay-for-nursessought-manila.html

there interventions to address the issues?

Return service agreement was first practiced in UP from 19151920 when students of the College of Medicine were offered tuition waiver in exchange for a two-year practice in Mindanao.

In 1976, the School of Health Sciences (SHS) was established in Leyte. Its students do not take the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) and do not pay tuition fee. They cannot apply to the school directly but instead, the barangays apply for a slot for them in the school. The same community is expected to assist the students in their education, service leave, on-the-job training (OJT) and placement after graduation. Students serve for two years for every year of study.

The school has a ladderized curriculum. Students study first to become midwives, do OJT then take the licensure examination.

Depending on the needs of the community, they can do further studies to become a nurse, do OJT then take the licensure examination for nurses. They can further pursue their education to become physicians if the municipality so desires and if the student is assessed as able to cope with the rigors of medical education.

The SHS has more than 90 continued on page 16

Reviewing the Exodus of Health Workers

By Fred Dabu

W

hile Filipino health professionals leave the country for a chance at a better life, they leave behind not only their families but also the impoverished majority who need health care.

UP Staff Regent Jossel Ebesate, RN, pointed out that since 2008, the country has seen an increase in the number of unemployed or mis-employed nurses.

He said “although Philippine government hospitals need a 300 percent increase in the number of nurses to meet the ideal 1:12 nurse-to-patients ratio, the lack or absence of a comprehensive health human resource plan aggravates what can be considered as a cyclic oversupply of nurses for a certain period and the depletion of our health professionals due to out-migration.”

The research done by Fely Marilyn Lorenzo, RN, DrPH and Kriselle Icamina of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, National Institutes of Health (NIH), UP Manila, and Jaime Galvez-Tan, MD, MPH and Lara Javier of the College of Medicine, UP Manila, discussed the patterns, benefits and costs of Filipino nurses’ migration, as well as pragmatic approaches that may address the identified issues.1 According to the study, “the Philippines is a job-scarce environment and, even for those with jobs in the health care sector, poor working conditions often motivate nurses to seek employment overseas.” As the country’s unemployment rate continued to grow from 1990 onwards, overseas deployment of Filipino workers had registered a growth rate of 5.32 percent per year. “One out of every five employed workers is underemployed, underpaid, or employed below his/her full potential,” it stated.

A report by Erlinda Castro-Palaganas, PhD, RN in 2008, citing NIH data, pointed to the United States of America, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Ireland and Singapore as the top five destinations of Filipino nurses as of 2004.

Europe, especially the UK, The Netherlands, and high-income Asia were reported as "new markets" and Japan as an emerging destination for migrating Filipino nurses. The report also revealed that "more than 9,000 doctors have already left as nurses from 2002 to 2005 while around 80 percent of public health physicians have taken up or are enrolled in nursing."2 Dissecting the brain-drain In his October 2008 keynote presentation for Workshop No. 9 (Health, Globalization & Migration: Issues and Struggles of Migrant Health Workers) during the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees held in Manila, Ebesate, then serving as the secretary-general of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), cited the Lorenzo study indicating the Philippines as the “number one exporter of nurses worldwide with 85 percent of Filipino nurses working in some 50 countries.”3 As early as 1975, the World Health Organization had considered the Philippines as the number two exporter of doctors. It said “68 percent of Filipino doctors work overseas, next to India.” continued on page 17

16 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL COST OF LABOR MIGRATION RTD: LEOPANDO... continued from page 15

percent retention rate for doctors and 85-90 percent for nurses and midwives. Most of those who had left had served the mandatory return service obligation and paying back is not an option. 12 During its centennial celebration in 2005, the College of Medicine realized that it needs to live by its vision—provide a communityoriented medical education serving the underserved—and decided to implement strategies to fulfill this vision. It started undertaking the Acceptance to Serve and Assumption of Liability (ASAL) for

leges (Doctor of Dental Medicine.

BS Nursing, BS Pharmacy, BS Physical Therapy, BS Occupational Therapy, BS Speech Pathology, BS Industrial Pharmacy and BS Public Health) to work in the Philippines in compliance with the two-year Return Service Agreement. They have to serve within five years after graduation. UPCAT takers in 2010 were notified and those who enrolled in 2011 started signing the RSA. Those taking a four-year course shall start serving in 2014.

Has there been a universitywide discussion to identify strategies which can address the issues?

Photo from The Pinoy.net, http://thepinoy.net/filipino-md-picks-life-as-nurse-in-us/

courage our graduates to stay and contribute to nation building.

Introducing the Return Service Agreement similar to what we have in UP Manila can be replicated in all constituent units (CUs). However, it will require social preparation, academic enhancement as in values reformation, and educational reforms relevant to what our nation needs.

Linkages and networking with government agencies and private enterprises are needed so that our graduates can be guided on where to go while they are serving their RSA. The other stakeholders who can be potential migrants are our faculty. How can we prevent this? Improve salaries and benefits; improve work environments by decreasing workload; improve supervision and expand organizational capacity. The government has to improve governance and aim for political and economic stability.

If there is brain drain, there is also brain gain. Taiwan and South

3. That support should be extended to less developed countries in the modernization of their medical education systems so that they produce doctors who are trained to work in health systems that rely on clinical skills rather than on advanced technology.

4. That with the UN as lead, an international code on ethical guidelines for recruiting physicians and other health professionals from less developed countries should be formulated. This code would be endorsed by member countries and guide them in the ethical recruitment of health professionals.

Regulating recruitment from countries facing critical shortage of health workers may be necessary. 15 5. That efforts should be pursued to create bilateral agreements or other mechanisms for promoting health worker flows that are more

"Source countries should negotiate with host countries to reimburse the source country’s financial investments in training health care professionals."

Regionalization students.

Upon graduation and passing the physicians licensure examination, graduates shall serve for five years in their regions of origin. If they can not serve, they have to pay double the cost of medical education in UP, less the tuition they paid. Graduates will start serving in 2012. In 2008, the College of Medicine had a college-wide consultation and recommended that the rest of medical graduates be required to serve for three years within five years after their graduation. There were choices on how they can serve/work in the country. 12 The first batch will serve in 2014.

In 2009, the Board of Regents approved the recommendation of the UP Manila University Council for graduates of the health col-

In 2010, there was a universitywide workshop on UP as a public service university. One encouraging output of the workshop was the call for the inculcation of values in research and teaching.

These values are: 13, 14 • Love of country • Service to humanity • Independent thinking • Fundamental respect for others as human beings with intrinsic rights • Sense of being a Filipino • Vocation for service, especially national service • Personal integrity and intellectual honesty • Sense of professionalism • Value of enlightened spirituality in rendering considered judgment Hopefully, these values can en-

Korea invited their nationals who are overseas to come back to their country and help in research, teaching and investments. This is also ongoing in our country but how many of our professionals have availed of this privilege?

Their return can be temporary through the Balik-Scientist program of the DOST, or they can be visiting professors/visiting researchers, thesis/dissertation advisers. When Singapore invites scientists, they were given good compensation package, modern research facilities and available research grants.

If we are dealing with migration of health professionals, we can try what Bundred and Levitt have recommended: 10 1. The source countries should negotiate with host countries to reimburse the source country’s financial investments in training health care professionals.

2. That the more developed countries should train sufficient health professionals to meet their projected human resource needs without relying on graduates from other countries.

beneficial to source countries. The protection of health care workers from abuse should be a component of any discussion on health care provider mobility, especially for those who choose a career abroad in less desirable positions or locations. 11 These efforts must be worked out at the national and international levels, involving governments, the United Nations, health professionals, non-governmental organizations and community leaders.

--------------Email this author at dfcmdada@ yahoo.com REFERENCES:

1 Republic Act 9500, The New Charter of the University of the Philippines.

2 ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Medical Practitioners. Retrieved http:// www.aseansec.org/22231.htm 3 ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Dental Practitioners. Retrieved from http://www.aseansec.org/21870.htm 4 ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Nursing Service. Retrieved from http:// www.aseansec.org/19210.htm 5. UP Office of Alumni Relations website, http://alum.up.edu.ph/?page_id=105 6 Galvez-Tan, Jaime. (2005). "From Idealism to Pragmatism." In E. Arcellana-Nuqui et al (Eds.) Siyento. Manila: UP College 0f

continued on page 19

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 17

REVIEWING THE EXODUS OF...

Continued from page 15

[E]mployment

Lorenzo, et al. said that nurses form the largest group of direct health care providers in the country.

The study noted: “[T]he Philippines has a net surplus of registered nurses.

However, the country loses its trained and skilled nursing workforce much faster than it can replace them, thereby jeopardizing the integrity and quality of Philippine health services.”

In a recent seminar held in Cavite, Ramon Paterno, MD, MPH, said we are dealing with “overproduction, maldistribution, high out-migration, nil in-migration, and low return migration” in the Philippine health human resources situation.

He said, using 2010 data, health professional schools have been estimated to produce annually 50,000 to 100,000 nurses from 491 nursing colleges, 2,000 doctors from 30 medical colleges, 1,500 midwives from 129 schools, 2,000 dentists from 31 dental schools, 1,500 pharmacists from 35 pharmacy colleges, and 1,000 physical therapists and 200 occupational therapists from 95 PT/OT colleges. (See Figure 1 on page 15.)

Ebesate’s 2008 estimates, citing earlier researches that covered a span of ten years, showed over 2,000 nurses and 250 doctors leaving the country each month. About 15,000 health professionals per year also migrated to another country for better pay and benefits.

However, data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) even showed higher deployments of health professionals abroad. The POEA’s Overseas Employment Statistics for 2010 reveals

conditions should be improved and education should not only be accessible to all but also geared to produce graduates who shall commit to serve the people.

the deployment of 21,724 to 29,273 nurses and caregivers per year, based on the number of new hires deployed to the top ten destinations from 2004 to 2010.4 Ebesate also noted that since 2003, “about 50 percent of nurses employed in specialty hospitals like the Philippine Health Center, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Lung Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Children's Medical Center went abroad.”

Younger nurses and even doctors-turned-nurses at that time also intended to migrate. The decreasing number of anesthesiologists, obstetricians, pediatricians and surgeons, especially doctors from rural health centers, worsened the country’s brain-drain problem.

Ebesate cited the attractive rewards for working abroad, the high demand of developed countries for skilled health workers, and the waning interest of their natives in the nursing profession as the top reasons for migration. The “economic factor,” which includes mis- or unemployment, low salaries, unjust working conditions, and rising cost of necessities, among many others, pushed many Filipino health workers to pursue dreams of a better life abroad.

Filipino health workers, while being “among the most overworked,” receive salaries that “cannot afford…decent, healthy and humane living conditions,” Ebesate said. Based on 2008 data, nurses in private hospitals receive a salary of P6,000 (US$130) while those in government hospitals are paid P12,026 (US$261) per month. Government physicians, meanwhile, earn about P19,168 (US$417) per month, which he said “is way below the monthly cost of living of P27,100 (US $565) for a family of six.”

Worse, “health workers are deprived of economic benefits, such as overtime pay, night-shift differential, housing allowance and holiday pay,” added Ebesate. In addition to economic woes, basic rights are also curtailed.

Ebesate furthered that many health professionals abroad find work as nannies or health caregivers for children or the elderly.

Effects of exodus Lorenzo, et al. pointed out that “a shortage of highly skilled nurses and the massive retraining of physicians to become nurses elsewhere have created severe problems for the Filipino health system, including the closure of many hospitals.”

Ebesate said “it is very ironic that in a country exporting tens of thousands of nurses, seven out of 10 Filipinos are dying without being seen by health personnel. Migration aggravates the already dismal health care system.”

“Fifty percent of the population has no access to health care. The Philippines is a record holder in the incidence of tuberculosis in the past years, but only 60 percent of the population has access to essential drugs. The health indicators of the Philippines are worse compared to selected Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand,” revealed Ebesate, citing the findings of continued on page 19

Photo from Migrante Partylist's photos on r

029&type=3&theate

513 13&set=t.100000210

p?fbid=4648014379

.ph .facebook.com/photo Facebook, http://www

18 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL COST OF LABOR MIGRATION RTD: GERA... continued from page 12

comprehensive and effective labor migration system through policy research, training and consultancy.

Beyond integrating discussions of development issues including labor migration in core courses for all students, it is imperative for the UP academic staff to engage and invest in research and analysis that does not stop at theoretical elaborations on socio-political and development issues. It needs to rethink its capacity for an integrated and comprehensive migration policy research and analysis that directly inform policy, responsive to the actual needs of our labor migrants, toward a viable framework for regulation and overall management of migration process.

In close collaboration with relevant government agencies and international partners, UP can invest in producing an integrated labor market opportunity analysis vis-àvis national development objectives (i.e. skills requirements) across the globe. This can be narrowed down to target destination countries in cross-analysis with that of the Philippines’ labor supply, migration profile and the absorptive capacity of our economic sectors. This is critical in calibrating our policy strategies (i.e. investment decisions on training/skills upgrading and effective placement of our labor pool) where we can best optimize the economic benefits of labor migration and raise the bargaining capacity of our country without compromising migrant welfare and protection.

The institution can make itself continually relevant to strengthening the institutional capacity of partner government institutions in migration management by setting up enduring structures and mechanisms of training, monitoring and evaluation. Key stakeholders have to be strategically capacitated, involved and sensitized to the multidimensional issue of migration.

Also urgent is to capacitate our labor market. Cheap and unskilled labor is often most vulnerable.

Protecting our migrant workers from social costs means empowering them by expanding their choices through skills upgrading, awareness and institutional support that could lessen cases of illegal migration.

Establishing a system of collaboration and coordination in migration governance, UP can also extend its arm in the building and sharing of knowledge through interregional dialogue on labor migration among its academic counterparts in the developing region. It can likewise create opportunities for networkbuilding, inter-regional cooperation, and bilateral agreements with destination countries.

--------------Email this author at weenagera@ yahoo.com

"At the policy level, the UP through its policy and governance units can suggest

RTD: PAUNLAGI... continued from page 12

Development communication institutes and centers of the university can also help by conducting campaigns that convey to communities the challenges facing children of OFWs. These programs could focus on drug alcohol abuse, depression, sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy.

Finally, proposed policy options and strategies will require financial and technical support. For this reason, UP should lobby for the use of migration-related revenues to subsidize programs and projects for children of OFWs. --------------Email this author at merlynep@yahoo.com.

reforms to enrich the curriculum for teachers by integrating issues on migration and its effects on the children, particularly those who are left behind

by OFW parents."

Photo from Northern Dispatch (Nordis) Weekly, http://www.nordis.net/?p=2459

RTD: FERNANDEZ... continued from page 13

to dependence on the export of labor rather than on building diverse local economies and environment-friendly practices.

It is highly dangerous to rely on the export of labor for our national development. Receiving countries have their own interests to pursue. The University of the Philippines (UP) can steer policy-making through research and advocacy for reforms, as well as assist government and other stakeholders to implement and monitor corrective programs and interventions.

As the national university of the land, UP has the social responsibility to help resolve policy failures and fill gaps related to international labor migration and deployment. By virtue of our citizenship and scientific training, we in UP can contribute towards progressive change in a justified and transparent manner. We also need to create and enhance efforts to deploy scientific, technological, and socio-ecological interventions to promote sustainable development.

Specific suggestions to address the major issues and concerns brought about by the “labor export” phenomenon include the following: 1. Using multidisciplinary perspectives and methodologies, conduct policy-relevant research to describe and assess the impact of labor migration and remittances on the political (e.g., national/local governance capacity), social (e.g., social/gender/ethnic inequality), econotechnological (e.g., poverty reduction and livelihood strategies) and ecological (e.g. impact on biodiversity) dimensions of Philippine society. The data can aid legislation, policies and programs to address real and potential problems at different levels and in various sectors.

2. Review relevant international agreements and campaign for countries to ratify conventions, treaties, standards and protocols for the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of Filipino OWs. 3. Advocate for the gradual phaseout of the deployment of vulnerable labor groups (e.g., domestic helpers).

4. Facilitate policy-oriented assessment and dialogue among labormigration commissions and administrations (e.g., POEA), development-oriented departments (e.g., NEDA), and other stakeholders (non-government groups, recruitment agencies, etc.) to complement

and coordinate migration and development policies and programs.

5. Design and conduct training programs on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and capacitybuilding for OWs and their families to prevent dependence on remittances and promote diverse economies.

6. Host and institutionalize dialogue and collaboration among labor migrants, government, educational institutions, private firms, and other stakeholders towards creating policies/programs that include labor migration in development goals, as well as the school curricula and skills training programs to meet national and global labor needs.

7. Provide research support and extension services for LGUs to identify support programs and sustainable local development projects for OWs and their families.

8. Offer policy options and operational support to the national government to design and implement incentives to encourage foreign-based continued on page 19

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 19

REVIEWING THE EXODUS OF... continued from page 17

RTD: GERVACIO... continued from page 13

tion technology (ICT), they are no longer simply subjects of research but they now become sources of knowledge themselves. It is easier for them to share their experiences through online community sites; hence research can be enhanced through their shared insights. It is also easier to share research results since there are many online journals where outputs can be made more accessible to everyone.

(3) Assist the policymakers in crafting policies related to labor migration.

UP has the responsibility to continuously provide information and share its expertise in reviewing and setting policy directions pursued by the government with respect to labor migration. It should continuously assist and collaborate with policymakers in the government and private sectors to craft policies or programs that would address labor migrants’ issues. The responsibility includes reviewing regulatory mechanisms that respond to the issues of illegal recruitment and undocumented OFWs, among others.

Again, ICT should be maximized in conducting consultations with and encouraging active participation from the OFWs. --------------Email this author at juvylizette. gervacio@upou.edu.ph.

RTD: FERNANDEZ... continued from page 18

Filipino scientists and professionals to return or invest in the country.

9. Deliver research support to the national government to help enhance the personnel needs and coordination of government agencies in promoting the protection and welfare of OWs. The estab-

RTD: LEOPANDO... continued from page 16 Medicine,. p. 337-344.

Leopando, Zorayda. (2006). Medical migration in the Asia-Pacific region: A cause for concern in family medicine and general practice. Asia Pacific Family Medicine, 1. Retrieved from http://www. apfmj-archive.com/afm5_1/afm26.htm 8 Warning over healthcare migration. (2005, May 11). BBC News. Retrieved from http:// news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4535805.stm 9 Alkire S. and Chen L. (2004, October 25).

Medical exceptionalism in international migration: Should doctors and nurses be treated differently? In Joint Learning Initiative. Human Resources for Health and the Global Equity Initiative. Boston: Harvard University Asia Center, p. 7.

10 Bundred PE, Levitt CB. (2000). Medical migration: who are the real losers?

Lancet, 356: p.245–6.

11 Hamilton K, and Yau J. (2004, December 1). "Migration Information Source Feature 7

"[UP] should continuously assist and collaborate with policymakers in the government and private sectors to craft policies or programs that would address

the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), Council for Health and Development (CHD), and the NIH.5 Lorenzo, et al. presented what they saw as “the most troubling indicator of declining access to health services.” They said the immunization rates among children dropped from a high of 69.4 percent in 1993 to 59.9 percent in 2003.

“While there are undoubtedly multiple factors that impact this decline in immunization rates, the association between the lack of health human resources and immunization coverage is indisputable,” the study pointed out.

Ebesate said the fast turn-over of nurses had lowered the standard of care in hospitals. HEAD reported a 10 to 55 percent decrease in enrollment in medical schools and a 50 percent decrease in applicants for medical residency positions to become specialists since 2006. Citing Galvez-Tan’s earlier findings, Ebesate noted that “in 2003 to 2005, some 200 hospitals were completely closed, 800 partially closed for lack of doctors and nurses.”

Ebesate criticized the Philippine government’s neoliberal and labor export policies that lead to the reduction of budgets for social services, freezing of wages, promotion of unjust labor conditions, and failure to resolve the many dilemmas that push Filipino workers to migrate to foreign land.

But forced migration, in spite of its great social costs, enable the day-to-day survival of most Filipinos and the national economy through the steady flow of dollar remittances.

Without doubt, as the Lorenzo study affirmed, migrants and their families are the primary beneficiaries of the exodus. Respondents of the study believed that returning migrants would be able to help our country by sharing the knowledge and technologies they learned abroad while the overseas workers continue to send dollar remittances to support their families here.

Meanwhile, as reported by Castro-Palaganas, there is a continuous draining of government resources for the education and training of staff replacements for migrating health professionals.

Focusing on solutions The 2007 Lorenzo study proposed workable policies and strategies that the Philippine government can pursue through its agencies with the help of concerned organizations and sectors of society. It also supported a Philippine Nursing Development Plan to enable the country to manage migration in collaboration with foreign or international partners under mutually beneficial arrangements.

The said proposals aim to secure benefits not only for the migrating health

labor migrants' issues."

lishment of a national department for OWs should be considered.

10. Assist the Department of Education (DepED) in revitalizing the national elementary and high school curriculum on Filipino nationalism, history, culture, and language.

--------------Email this author at sonny.fernandez@gmail.com

S t o r i e s : T h e G l o b a l Tu g - o f - Wa r f o r Health Care Workers." Migration Policy Institute.

12 Excerpts from the minutes of the 1252nd Meeting of the Board of Regents held on 18th December 2009 at the BOR Room UP Diliman Quezon City.

University of the Philippines Manila Return Service Agreement as an Admission Requirement.

13 University of the Philippines Manila.

(2011). Proceedings of Workshop for Operational Plan to enhance UP Manila’s Role as Public University.

14 Bautista, Ma. Cynthia Rose. (2010, April). |The University of the Philippines, the University for Our People," synthesis of the UP System Conference on UP as a Public Service University held April 2010.

15 Scott ML, Whelam A, Dewdney J, and Zwi AB. (2004). Solving health workforce shortages and professionals from developing countries. MJA ,180: 174–6.

Photo from Nightingale Chronicles, the official blog site of Nurse Alvin Dakis, http://nightingalechroniclesph. blogspot.com/2012/05/vital-signs-column-reviewing-jpepa.html

professionals but also for the educational institutions and hospitals they leave behind. Ebesate, however, emphasized that the focus should be on “addressing the economic crisis and poverty affecting the majority of the Filipino people.”

He said that employment conditions should be improved and education should not only be accessible to all but also geared to produce graduates who shall commit to serve the people.

“At the policy level, pressures must be exerted to scrap the “labor export policy.” Policies like wage freeze, freeze hiring, streamlining, cuts in social services, contractualization, and privatization being implemented in accordance with globalization policies should be exposed and opposed. Meaningful programs like genuine land reform and nationalist industrialization should be implemented,” Ebesate said.

--------------Email the author at forum@up.edu.ph.

NOTES:

1 Lorenzo, F.M.E., Galvez-Tan, J., Icamina, K., and Javier, L. (2007, June). Nurse Migration from a Source Country Perspective: Philippine Country Case Study. Health Research and Educational Trust.

Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1955369/pdf/hesr0042-1406.pdf 2 Castro-Palaganas, E. (2008, November). The Global Migration of Philippine Trained Nurses.

Retrieved from http://www.docin.com/p-279039133.html 3 Ebesate, J.I. (2008, October). "Migration of Health Workers & Professionals: The Philippine Experience," Keynote Presentation for Workshop No. 9 (Health, Globalization & Migration: Issues and Struggles of Migrant Health Workers). International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees.

Retrieved from http://iamr3.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/effectsofmiginhealth.pdf 4 Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). (2010). Overseas Employment Statistics, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.poea.gov.ph/stats/2010_Stats.pdf 5 Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD). (2006, September). Export of Filipino Nurses: From Brain Drain to National Hemorrhage to NLE Leakage. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/loloowen/ nursing-education-situation-in-the-philippines

20 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

Finding jobs for 1.4 million overseas Filipino workers, in a country that already has a 7 percent unemployment rate and around 8.5 million underemployed people, would be difficult.

UP Diliman School of Economics Dean Ramon Clarete

IN SEARCH OF SILVER LININGS... continued from page 24 grew only by 5.3 percent, while the agriculture sector lagged behind with a minus 1.3 percent growth rate.

According to Clarete, we opened up the economy to trade liberalization sometime in the 1980s and 1990s, [and] obviously, the issue of exposing our local industries to more competition came up, to the detriment of our local industries, whose products could not compete with the influx of foreign goods. Eventually, he says, imports took over majority of the market. Local manufacturing, which provides jobs, has not been active enough in giving employment.

Many of our manufacturing companies have closed down. What he sees in the statistics is a flat growth rate in the manufacturing and industrial economic activities.

“Now imagine if there was no outlet for our labor force,” he says.

“That would result not just in an economic crisis, but a politically explosive situation. So [migration] is like a breather for us.”

Finding jobs for 1.4 million overseas Filipino workers, in a country that already has a 7 percent unemployment rate and around 8.5 million underemployed people, would be difficult. Thus when the alternative is potential civil unrest, letting our people find jobs elsewhere to support their families is the best possible makeshift solution.

However, this is definitely “not the most ideal situation,” Clarete says.

“What we should have done is fix our economy, promote local investments and foreign direct investments into the economy so that these local industries can stand up again, become competitive, and provide jobs to our

local population.”

Money in, money out Remittances are the second direct benefit of migration to our country.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, by January 2012 remittances from overseas Filipinos reached $1.557 billion, increasing by 5.4 percent from the previous year.

Remittances have not dipped below 10 percent of our country’s GDP in the past six years until 2010. It has been cited as the reason behind the country’s relative resilience in the face of the 1997 Asian crisis and the current global financial downturn.3 All these sound like good news, and for the families who buy food and clothes, pay the rent, and go to school on the dollars being sent back home by the OFWs, remittances are the key to a better life.

But the steady flow of remittances into the country also has a downside.

Combined with the recent attractiveness of the Philippines to foreign investors in light of the crisis in Europe and the US, remittances have worked to drive up the value of the peso. “[These] provide a lot of foreign exchange here, which strengthens the peso,” says Clarete. “It seems good that the peso is strengthening, but it isn’t really, because [with a strong peso] our exports will become uncompetitive.”

It costs a lot more to produce export-worthy goods with a strong peso, which would jack up the prices of our goods compared to those produced by other countries. “So if you look at our export of goods and products, it has been recently flat,” Clarete adds. According to UP economics professor Dr. Benjamin Diokno,4 a strong peso would be bad news for OFWs as well, since it forces them to

send more dollars back home to keep their families afloat.

There is no denying though that remittances are an important resource for the country. The question is how to use them wisely. “What is really our challenge is to transform these remittances into actual direct investments, so we can increase the productive capacity of the economy and be able to provide jobs for our people,” says Clarete. Direct investments include industries, manufacturing companies, factories, and permanent infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools and the like, which provide concrete, substantial and above all long-term benefits to the people.

This runs counter to our heavily consumerist spending habits. Household consumption expenditures, the NSCB notes, continued to expand in the second quarter of 2012. While these boost our economy, they provide mostly short-term benefits.

Savings and direct investments in the country rank low, if at all, in the typical OFW’s list of things to spend their hard-earned money on.

Sibal describes the situation as “free-wheeling.” Again, this is completely natural, unless interventions are made. “If you come from a poor family, and you get a chance to become a professional and work abroad, the natural consequence is that you will become a consumerist.

You set yourself to acquiring all those things you only dreamed of before.

This is why you became a professional in the first place. It

There is no denying that remittances are an important resource for the country.

The question is how to use them wisely.

UP Diliman School of Labor and industrial Relations Professor Jorge Sibal

wasn’t as if you trained to become an industrialist or a government bureaucrat who will guide the government toward achieving the national development goals.”

“Consumption is the immediate goal in [the OFWs’] use of money.

Investing is just not their priority,” says Clarete. “And even if they do have savings, there are no welldefined channels where they could invest some of their surpluses.”

Some inroads, however, are being made with OFWs, Filipino-Americans and other returning Filipinos investing in real estate. “That’s good, because that’s more long-term. But it would also be good if there were more ideas as to how they could use their available savings…as long as they make use of the financial markets to invest their savings,” Clarete adds.

What is needed is a massive information and education campaign for our OFWs, according to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Labor Communications Office Director Nicon Fameronag.

Clarete agrees: “You cannot expect our workers to be investment experts, but at least they know there are some continued on page 21

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 21

When the OFWs come home, we give them a choice....If the OFWs choose to stay home, then the DOLE is ready for them.

DOLE Labor Communication Office Director Nicon Fameronag

IN SEARCH OF SILVER LININGS... continued from page 20 financial instruments, options where they can park their money and even earn some returns. Then these monies can be consolidated by financial institutions [and made] available for lending for direct investors. This is what we should be developing, so that their remittances will become more useful for the long-term growth of the country.”

Bringing them home Both benefits are at present critical to our economic survival. However, both Sibal and Clarete stress that these are merely stopgap measures, intended only to alleviate the pressure resulting from our failure to develop our agricultural and industrial sectors. Due to a combination of colonial interferences in our development, decades’ worth of misguided economic policies, and a general lack of long-term planning, these stopgap measures have become the crutch we depend on to get by.

However, with “matuwid na daan” and “inclusive growth” as its watch words, the new administration is working to reverse what had been the trend in previous administrations of

encouraging our OFWs to risk their lives for family and country.

“We [in the DOLE] are discouraging our OFWs from going abroad to work,” Fameronag says, adding that OFWs have noticed a distinct lack of promotional materials urging them to stay and work in, say, Australia, in contrast to the previous administration. “We are not going to act as pimps and actively ‘sell’ our people to countries abroad anymore.”

This is in accordance with the Philippine Labor & Employment Plan (PLEP) 2011-2016 of the DOLE, which supports the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 of the Aquino administration.

The PLEP’s policies include utilizing returning OFWs to conduct training to help upgrade the skills of our services workers; assisting OFWs in achieving financial stability through training, investment and savings programs; completing a global trading master plan that relies on the labor, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit of the OFWs; and facilitating the re-integration of returning OFWs by favorable terms of investment, tax incentives, access to government financial institutions and other benefits.

Among the programs based on the PLEP, Fameronag cites as an example the Balik-Pinay, BalikHanapbuhay Program, which was part of the government’s response of mandatory repatriation of Filipino workers due to tensions in the Middle East.

The program is one of the DOLE’s OFW reintegration packages,

which targets women OFWs. Under the program, the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) provides a P10,000 livelihood development assistance to returning women OFWs who opt to stay permanently in the country.

The money will be used as start-up capital for the former OFW to start a small business or livelihood project.

In addition to the capital, the women OFWs are also given skills training and business starter kits.5 Professional OFWs can avail of low-interest, collateral-free loans for as much as P2 million under the P2billion National Reintegration Program, which was launched last year

by President Benigno Aquino III. The reintegration program is a special loan program that aims to support enterprise development among OFWs and their families.

Borrowers can avail of loans ranging from a minimum of P300,000 to a maximum of P2,000,000. The program also requires the completion of the Entrepreneurial Development Training Course.

“When they [the OFWs] come home, we give them a choice,” says Fameronag. Those who choose to leave again have to undergo seminars informing them of the risks involved in going abroad. If the OFWs choose to stay home, then the DOLE is ready for them.

The chosen few Government programs to help returning OFWs find new ways to support themselves and their families without having to leave is particularly welcome for low-skilled workers, who are the most vulnerable to abuse and oppression. But in order for the country to fully maximize the

effect of a brain gain, much more is required.

Drawing back our STPs (scientists, technologists and professionals)— people with the training, knowledge and vision needed to build up the country’s industrial sector—must be a systematic and comprehensive undertaking. “It cannot be a standalone program, but a component of a bigger program of the government, a national industrial development plan,” says Sibal.

After all, this was how the other countries did it: through a deliberate, comprehensive and long-term national program that encouraged the brain drain and subsequent reverse brain drain of their highly skilled scientists, engineers and professionals.

And to maximize the benefits of a reverse brain drain, you have to choose which OFs to woo back home.

“When we talk about OFWs, often what we refer to are the contractual workers. But they do not form the majority of the OFWs,” says Sibal.

“The bulk of our OFWs are what you call the permanent [OFs]—the ones who have permanent employment abroad. And most of these are in the US.” According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas' stock estimate, as of December 2010, out of a total of 9.45 million overseas Filipinos, 47 percent are permanent OFs. A whopping 2.88 million permanently reside in the US, and remittances from the US totaled $6.683 billion from January to September 2012 alone.

“When it comes to remittances, the bulk comes from the US,” says Sibal.

“It doesn’t come from the domestic helpers, although they do have a share.” Still it is the professionals, especially the doctors and nurses, who continued on page 22

Essentially, all that is required of an OF is a strong desire to help the country and a little bit of support BGN Executive Director Dr. Paco Sandejas

from like-minded people.

22 UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012

IN SEARCH OF SILVER LININGS... continued from page 21 provide most of the remittances. “We cannot expect these professionals to come back, to contribute their skills, to put up business and industries here because they are not industrialists,” he adds.

Which is just as well, because all we need to turn things around, Sibal notes, is for a few nationalistic people who are experts in their fields to come back home and take up key positions in the government, industrial and S&T sectors.

“In the development process,” he says, “it is normal to have just a few who occupy the right positions, just like what happened in Japan, Korea

and other countries.” He clarifies that we don’t need all of them to come back home, because that would only cause more problems for us. It is not volume we need. What we need is a few determined people who have extreme love for country and its development, such as Silicon Valley visionary Dr. Diosdado Banatao and many engineers and scientists from UP, and entrepreneurs like Manuel V. Pangilinan.

“That’s all you need: certain people strategically placed within the P-Noy government,” says Sibal.

who have the expertise, know-how and resources to help. Philippine universities can also tap these Filipino experts, including their own alumni.

The same goes with Filipino industries that benefit from the consultancy services of OFs who work on the cutting edge of global industry.

On the other hand, OFs who want to invest in the Philippines by establishing start-up businesses, setting up collaborative research projects between Philippine universities and universities abroad, or simply helping the government do better at its job, can contact key people in the country.

“Filipinos abroad want to help; they just don’t know where. And there are many ways [they can help],” says Sandejas. “What I [and my friends in the BGN] are trying to do is provide information. What can you do? The number one [thing] you can do is connect to somebody else who can help you do things. So the core of the BGN is its human resource database.”

Essentially, all that is required of an OF is a strong desire to help the country and a little bit of support from like-minded people. If an OF decides to come home for good, then there is a place for them here.

But coming home to stay is not the only option. “Me, I’ve been traveling back and forth for the last 17 years, and I think I’m better for it because I get to know what’s happening in the Philippines intimately, and I am still in touch with the state-of-the-art research and technology in the US,” shares Sandejas, who invests in Silicon Valley on behalf of the Philippine-based Narra Venture Capital.

Other OFs may not be able to nor wish to come back. But again, this is no obstacle for a Filipino who truly wants to help. “There are

many different ways to help, and the BGN’s tools [found in its website, http://www.bgn.org/] can help,” says Sandejas. “Some people will never come back even once. But they can give advice. ‘Take a look at this. This technology is perfect for Filipinos.’”

If we build it, they will come To promote brain gain in the country and encourage more OFs to pitch in requires a unified, collaborative effort from all sectors. On the part of the government, more support such as funding and incentives should be allotted to developing our researchers, scientists, engineers, PhD holders and professionals, as well as to provide an ecosystem where Filipino research, innovations, products and technologies are encouraged, utilized and commercialized.

Sandejas credits the government though for finding ways to support the development of our country’s human resource capital through an increased amount of budget. National programs aimed at producing researchtrained scientists and engineers, such as the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) program, also help. “But we also have to invest in R&D, because if we produce MS and PhD people, they will simply become part of the brain drain if there’s nothing for them to do here.”

The academe and the private sector, meanwhile, can work together to create strong manufacturing companies and do cutting-edge research that is commercially viable and useful to Filipinos. This is to entice the scien-

Sandejas is optimistic: “We’re seeing some honest efforts to govern properly. I’m sure it’s not perfect, but I see people trying. And because people are trying, there’s a lot of trust engendered in the OFs, and I see them coming back. I guess it’s also lucky that the state of the economy in the western world is not very good.

It’s a perfect convergence of circumstances that [can get] many Filipinos to think, ‘Hey, we can get rich in the Philippines.’”

For his part, Sibal sees the emergence of a kind of “renaissance” of Filipino nationalism as more and more Filipinos abroad begin to identify with their home culture, partly as an offshoot of the discrimination they experience abroad. In time, the desire to come back home will follow.

“You don’t need to make all the OFWs come back,” he says, “because ultimately, if you progress [and develop], that will serve as the magnet that will bring them back home.

This is natural. Whether you entice them to come back or not, they will return.”

--------------Email the author at forum@up.edu.ph.

NOTES:

1 Llana, Sara Miller, Ford, Peter, Marquand, Robert, Pflanz, Mike & Ibukun, Yinka.

(2012, October 22). "Reverse brain drain: Economic shifts lure migrants home."

Minneapolis Post. Retrieved from http:// www.minnpost.com/christian-sciencemonitor/2012/10/reverse-brain-draineconomic-shifts-lure-migrants-home 2 Dassin, Joan. (2005, May-June).

"Brain gain, not drain, fosters."

International Educator, 14(3), p. 22.

R e t r i e v e d f r o m h t t p : / / w w w. n a f s a . org/_/File/_/InternationalEducator/ BrainGainMayJune05.pdf 3 Le Borgne, Eric. (2009, April 7).

Photo from Pinoy-OFW.com, http://www.pinoy-ofw.com/news/9598-public-urged-global-filipinosoverseas-filipino-workers-ofw.html

The Brain Gain Network One example of how Filipino STPs abroad are working together is the Brain Gain Network (BGN), a network of experts, professionals and organizations focused on increasing the competitiveness of the Philippine economy.

The BGN’s goal, according to its website, is “to encourage cooperation among highly-skilled, expatriate Filipino professionals and students, and Philippine-based professionals, students, and corporations through advanced technologies, fostering high-technology entrepreneurship in the Philippines and other forms of technology transfer.”

The BGN brings people who can initiate new ventures together, whether by starting companies in the Philippines, providing consultancy services for Filipino industries, government agencies and educational institutions, or forming foreignbased companies for business in the Philippines. One of its founders and its current Executive Director is UP alumnus Dr. Paco Sandejas, with Dr. Banatao and his wife Maria as the BGN’s chief advisers.

“When we called it the Brain Gain Network back in 1992, we were thinking of ways to make people aware of the potential benefits of brain circulation,” says Sandejas.

“And we were engineers, so when we asked, as opposed to ‘brain drain,’ what’s an interesting term to give this movement, we thought of ‘gain,’

which is a term in electrical engineering. When you have an amplifier, [you get] a gain [from] how much you amplify a signal. To get a good amplifier, there’s also an important aspect called feedback. So just to be cute, we called it ‘brain gain,’ because there’s feedback and circulation [involved].”

Through this network and other similar organizations, Filipinos abroad who are in a position to help are able to get in touch with the Filipinos at home who are in a position to effect change. Government agencies seeking to build better roads, develop their IT services, or improve the S&T capabilities of state universities can contact Filipinos abroad

tists, researchers and professionals abroad to come home or to invest.

Bringing our OFs back home is a “chicken or egg situation,” says Clarete. “They will not come back here if there are no good opportunities here.

But if there are good opportunities here, they will come back. So I’ll go back to my original proposition: Let’s fix our country first.”

Fixing up our country is of course a challenge, but we do have a window of opportunity, brought about by a combination of circumstances.

"Remittances and the Philippines' economy: The elephant in the room."

Blog entry for East Asia & Pacific on the Rise: Blogs.worldbank.org.

Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank. org/eastasiapacific/remittances-andthe-philippines-economy-the-elephantin-the-room 4 D i o k n o , B e n j a m i n . ( 2 0 1 2 , J u l y 11 ) .

"When appreciation of the peso is a bad thing," blog entry in the blog entitled Stimulus Capital Ideas. Retrieved from http://stimuluscapitalideas.wordpress. com/2012/07/12/when-appreciation-ofthe-peso-is-a-bad-thing/ 5 “Government ready for OFW repatriates f r o m S y r i a : T h r o u g h B a l i k - P i n a y, B a l i k - H a n a p b u h a y P r o g r a m . ” ( 2 0 11 , December). Philippine Labor: The official news magazine of the Department of Labor and Employment, 30(5)p.15.

UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 23

Philippine Daily Inquirer Editorial Cartoons on Migration

From http://opinion.inquirer.net/41178/editorial-cartoonnovember-20-2012/editorial-cartoon-11202012

From http://opinion.inquirer.net/30967/editorial-cartoonjune-19-2012

From http://opinion.inquirer.net/27333/editorial-cartoonapril-22-2012

From http://opinion.inquirer.net/10447/editorial-cartoonaugust-23-2011

From http://opinion.inquirer.net/10159/editorial-cartoonaugust-18-2011

From http://opinion.inquirer.net/files/2011/07/editorialcartoon-june-3-2011.jpg

Not once but several times has the Philippine Daily Inquirer taken up overseas labor migration in its editorial, underscoring the magnitude of the phenomenon in terms of policy-making and social cost. - Issue Editor

Legislative and Executive Actions on Filipino Migrant Workers RA 10022 Amendatory Law on Magna Carta for Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Republic Act 10022 (RA10022) was enacted on March 8, 2010. It amended RA 8042, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos. The first amendatory law, RA9422, repealed in 2007 sections 29 and 30 of RA 8042 on deregulation. The new law added a provision on mandatory insurance for migrants deployed by recruitment and/or manning agencies. - Apr 15, 2010 [See http://www.lawphil.net/ statutes/repacts/ra2010/ra_10022_2010. html] RA 9189 Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 The 12th Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act 9189, otherwise known as the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003, giving back to Filipinos overseas the right to participate and vote in Philippine elections. It took Congress 16 years to fulfill the provision of the 1987 Philippine Constitution to enact a system for overseas absentee voting. - Mar 31, 2009 [See http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2003/ra_9189_2003.html] Senate Bill 2054 An Act Establishing a Credit Assistance program for Overseas Workers. It was filed by Sen. Manuel Villar on Feb. 5, 2008. [See http://centerformigrantad-

vocacy.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/ senate-bill-20541.pdf] Senate Bill 2333 SB 2333 seeks to amend RA9189 (OAV Law). An important proposal is the repeal of the disqualification provision for Filipino immigrants and permanent residents. Senate President Manny Villar and Minority leader Nene Pimentel, Jr. filed the bill on May 27, 2008. [See http://www.senate.gov.ph/ lisdata/74816707!.pdf] Senate Bill 2231 An Act Providing an Assistance Program for Overseas Filipino Workers in Distress, both documented and undocumented, providing Funds Therefor and for other purposes, filed on April 30, 2007 by Sen. Manuel Villar. [See http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/72126449!.pdf] House Bill 3201 HB 3201 seeks to amend the 2003 Overseas Absentee Voting Act to effect improvement in the implementation of the law and to make it more effective and enfranchising to as many overseas Filipinos as possible. It was filed on Nov. 25, 2010 with Congressman Walden Bello as principal author. [See http://centerformigrantadvocacy.files.wordpress. com/2012/06/house-bill-3201.pdf] House Bills 699, 700, 701 HB 699, 700 and 701 are amendatory

bills to RA 8042. These are authored by Valenzuela Representative Rexlon T. Gatchalian. - Feb 20, 2008 [See http:// centerformigrantadvocacy.com/resources/policy-and-public-advocacy-resources/policy-and-public-advocacy-2008/]

physical permanent actual residence in the Philippines. - Dec 07, 2007 [See http://centerformigrantadvocacy.com/ resources/policy-and-public-advocacyresources/policy-and-public-advocacy2007/]

House Bill 1357 House Bill 1357 authored by Rep. Roseller Barrinaga was filed in the 13th Congress of the Philippines. It provides for an OWWA charter that shall govern the operation and administration of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Currently, in the 14th Congress, no proposed bill on OWWA has been filed. CMA recommends to study the merits of the proposed Charter for the purpose of drafting a bill on OWWA - Jan 07, 2008 [See http://centerformigrantadvocacy.files.wordpress. com/2012/06/hb-1357-on-owwa-charter. pdf]

Administrative Order 248 In response to retrenchment of OFWs because of the global crisis, the President ordered the creation of a Filipino Expatriate Livelihood Support Fund with DOLE and OWWA as lead agencies. - Jan 22, 2009 [See http://centerformigrantadvocacy.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/administrative-order-2481.pdf]

House Bill 3209 House Bill 3209 authored by Representatives Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel of Akbayan Pary-list, Ma. Isabel Climaco, Zamboanga 1st District, Rufus Rodriguez, Cagayan De Oro, 1st District and Rexlon Gatchalian, Valenzuela, 1st District, seeks to amend RA9189 or the overseas absentee voting law. The proposed amendments include the repeal of the requirement for Filipino immigrants and permanent residents to sign an affidavit of intent to return and establish

Administrative Order 247 In light of the current global economic crisis, the Office of the President ordered the POEA to refocus its functions from regulation to full blast market development efforts for jobs abroad for OFWs. - Jan 22, 2009 [See http://centerformigrantadvocacy. files.wordpress.com/2012/06/administrative-order-2471.pdf] --------------From http://centerformigrantadvocacy. com/resources/policy-and-public-advocacy-resources/, slightly edited. The Senate and House bills can be accessed at http://www.senate.gov.ph and http:// www.congress.gov.ph, respectively. The text of RA 10022 and RA 9789 can be accessed at The LawPhil Project, http:// www.lawphil.net/.

Photos on back cover: Top photo on right side from Business Inquirer, http://business.inquirer.net/49549/january-remittances-rise-5-4-to-1-56b. Middle photo on right side courtesy of the Advocacy and Social Media Division of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Bottom photo on right side is of Silicon Valley visionary Dr. Diosdado Banatao, who has done so much for S&T research and development in the country, addressing the audience during the 31st Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE) Meeting and Symposium held in UP Diliman in 2011.

The UP FORUM Prospero E. De Vera Editor-in-Chief

Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta

Flora B. Cabangis Managing Editor

Andre P. Encarnacion

Ferdinand C. Llanes Issue Editor

Arbeen R. Acuña Fred E. Dabu KIM G. Quilinguing Writers

Arbeen R. Acuña Graphic Artist Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta Layout Artist KIM G. Quilinguing Webmaster: Forum Online

Sol R. Barcebal Researcher Bong Q. Arboleda Misael A. Bacani Jun M. Madrid Photographers

Cristy M. Salvador Obet G. Eugenio Alice B. Abear Tom M. Maglaya Victor D. Imbuido Administrative Staff

U P S yste m I nform ati on Of fice  M ez z anine F lo o r, Qu e z on H a l l , U P D i l i m an, Q ue z on C i ty  Te l e fa x 9 2 6 - 1 57 2 , tru nk line 9 81-85 0 0 lo c . 2 5 5 2 , 25 49 , e-mail: fo r um@up.edu.ph

THEUP UP FORUM 24 FORUM Volume 13 No. 5 September-October 2012 University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1101

APPROVED PERMIT NUMBER/INDICIA Business Mail Permit No. 2ND-07-010-NCR Entered as Second class mail at the U.P.P.O. Valid until December 30, 2012 Subject to Postal Inspection (for printed matter only)

With the Philippines being one of the world’s major suppliers of migrant workers, it helps to know that such an unfavorable and risky situation for us may well reveal a silver lining.

By Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta IN SEARCH OF SILVER LININGS... continued from page 1 China)1 have promoted the return migration of its skilled citizenry to boost domestic investments and economic development so successfully that they are being touted as examples of how to reverse a brain drain and make it work for you.

Going with the flow Dr. Joan Dassin, Executive Director of the International Fellowships Fund, Inc., wrote in the MayJune 2005 issue of International Educator:2 “New forms of communication and transportation, a new global role for non-governmental organizations, and the rise of multinational corporations, among other characteristics of globalization, have mitigated the effects of out-migration among highly skilled professionals.”

For example, she observed that skilled professionals may physically return from time to time to their home countries. Or they may set up international networks and organizations that include home-country colleagues, and maintain regular contact through frequent and inexpensive electronic communications, among others.

“All these trends suggest that ‘brain circulation’ is an intrinsic feature of today's global economy,” she added.

With the Philippines being one of the world’s major suppliers of migrant workers, it helps to know that such an unfavorable and risky situation for us may well reveal a silver lining. This is especially because migration is an inevitable occurrence, according to UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations Professor Jorge

Sibal. He says: “The training available to people gears them toward work in the modern sector. The more trained and skilled they are, [the greater] their natural tendency to migrate to the more modern sector, because that is where they get to use their skills.”

This applies as well in internal migration from rural to urban areas, with the possible exception of modern agriculture. Sibal adds: “Most of the technical and professional jobs are in the urban areas. Then when they reach the urban areas, they will be attracted [by the richer opportunities abroad]. You cannot stop this.

Even if you close down the Philippines, it will happen,” he says.

Jobs elsewhere or else Completely halting the outward flow of our citizens would not be a

good idea in any case as this would deprive us of the two most immediate benefits of social migration. UP School of Economics dean Dr. Ramon Clarete sees the recent phenomenon of a great part of our workforce getting jobs abroad as a blessing.

“Otherwise, we would have a very serious economic problem on our hands,” he says.

The root of this problem is the uneven development of the three pillars of the economy—the agricultural sector, the manufacturing and industrial sector, and the services sector. According to the National Statistical Coordination Board, as of 2012 the services sector remains the main driver of our GDP’s growth.

But while it posted an 11 percent growth rate from the second quarter of 2011 to 2012, the industry sector continued on page 20