Paradigm shift to check migration

“DO WE want to export labor forever?”

This was the question posed by former budget secretary Dr. Benjamin Diokno in a forum last April where he said the country’s real problem amid the global crisis was “the rising unemployment.”

Diokno called on candidates in the 2010 elections to give their position on the labor export policy and the issue of population management, saying two million babies are born yearly in the Philippines, “which is already the size of some small countries.”

"Matod Pa Sa Lola ni Noy Kulas." Join the story-writing contest on Cebuano folklore and win prizes.

Even before the global crisis hit, he said, there were already 2.6 million unemployed and 5.7 million underemployed Filipinos. On top of this, there are one to 1.5 million new entrants to the job market yearly.

National development

The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 says “the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve national development.” But 14 years later, the government has only intensified efforts to send Filipinos abroad.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration-Visayas Director Evelia Durato said that in these difficult times with many displacements, including locally, “we have to work hard to look for other options for livelihood, and there’s an opportunity for sending workers abroad.”

The global crisis wasn’t always there, though. But overseas deployments have risen yearly in the last 10 years, except in 2003—perhaps because instead of targeting lower overseas deployments, the government targets, and applauds, increased overseas deployments.

Safeguard rights

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Samuel Chioson said the domestic economy cannot absorb all the Filipino workers.

“We need more investment from abroad so we can create jobs,” he said. He finds nothing wrong with exporting labor so long as the rights of the OFWs are safeguarded.

The problem is Philippine labor offices tasked to help OFWs abroad are only in places where there is a high concentration of Filipinos. And there are complaints of slow action from them.

In 1994, the Program of Action adopted by 179 governments at the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt encouraged more cooperation between countries of origin and countries of destination to maximize the benefits of migration to both.

But as the Philippines’ experience with the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families has shown, waiting for destination countries to act can be an exercise in patience. The convention has been signed by 37 signatories, but as of April, most were the countries of origin of the migrants.

Allowing abuse

In some cases, even if there is an avenue for redress, OFWs don’t complain, perhaps because returning to the Philippines, earning less or nothing at all, is not a better option. Beggars can’t be choosers.

To reduce the number of victims, government should start by truly putting away illegal recruiters. According to the Office of the President, although more than 300 warrants of arrest for illegal recruitment have been issued since 2005, there have been only 13 convictions.

Preserving gains

The best protection against abuse by foreign employers, of course, is for full and decent employment to be made available locally as one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals targets for 2015.

But that is unlikely to happen—unless the government executes a paradigm shift and spends more energy bringing investment in rather than sending workers out.

In the meantime, cooperation by all stakeholders, including the OFWs themselves, is needed to preserve the gains of the export of labor. Bilateral agreements with destination countries, more money management and livelihood skills training, and better social support systems to help OFWs abroad and their families in the Philippines to cope with absent spouses and parents provide safety nets.

Investing in people

In line with the ICPD’s call for investment in human resource development to be given priority in development budgets, education for Filipinos at all levels should be given priority, as skills translate to empowerment and choices later in life.

Finally, the ICPD calls for the root causes of migration to be addressed, especially those related to poverty. For as long as people are poor, they will always be at risk of exploitation.