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Friday, September 30, 2005
RP urged to capitalize on demand for OFWs
By Jessica B. Natad
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
For lack of a better and proven niche in the global economy, the Philippines should capitalize on the increasing demand for Filipino workers all over the world, according to Asian Institute of Management president and former finance secretary Roberto de Ocampo.
During a gathering of personnel managers at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, he said the “production of Filipinos for export” has benefited the country, and has been saving the country’s economy from recession, which could have happened with the series of political and social crises recently.
De Ocampo said the dollar remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), such as nurses, health care workers, information technology professionals, construction workers and teachers, among others, have sustained the country’s economy.
He said the Philippine economy has shifted to being a consumer-based economy from a production-driven economy.
Advantage
“When OFWs send dollars to their families in the Philippines, their families spend these in the malls, among others,” he said citing that the economy is driven by the expenditures of the families of OFWs.
“We might as well take advantage of the demand for Filipino workers abroad,” De Ocampo said.
Real estate companies like AboitizLand and Sta. Lucia Realty Development Corp. are also looking at the OFW market as the sector that will drive real estate growth during difficult times.
In an interview, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Assistant Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the steady growth of the remittances of the OFWs have helped stabilize the value of the peso to the dollar, which is one of the indicative signs of the status of investors’ confidence in the country.
Increase
He said the $7.7 billion OFW remittances from January to November last year represented an 11 percent increase from the remittances in the same period a year ago.
Earlier, Antonio Her-bosa, Punongbayan and Araullo corporate finance division principal and a member of Grant Thornton International, said the Filipinos’ emotional quotient (EQ), a product of the constant chaos in the country, is one of the reasons why the world has opened up to Filipino workers.
“If China is the brawn of Asia, and India, the brains of Asia, the Philippines is the heart of Asia. The world is trusting in Filipinos to take care of the old and young in this world because we have the EQ. The future of the Filipinos is abroad,” he said.
Aside from their dollar remittances, some OFWs with entrepreneurial minds and skills are also potential investors in the country.
An example of this is Edward Dampor, who worked in Dubai as a welder. After saving enough capital for business, he went back to the country and established his own welding firm, Brilliant Metal Craft.
Hannah, a teacher, who gave up her profession and worked as a domestic helper for five years, is also back in the country for good.
She told Sun.Star Cebu of her plan to invest her hard-earned money in a preparatory school in Minglanilla.
“I am not going to spend what I earned on nothing. I gave up my profession, humbled myself and worked as a maid for a brighter future here (in the Philippines),” Hannah said.
(September 30, 2005 issue)
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