All about Filipino Labor Export Policy

All about Filipino Labor Export Policy

Overall, 30 years of promoting outward migration and billions of dollars sent back to the Philippines in remittances did not make the country prosper. In fact, Labor Exportation has become an industry yielding an income roughly a quarter of the nation’s GDP.

In the past decade to the present, according to Philippine National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSC),  the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) grew by over 5.3% However, but, poverty also increased from 24.4% to 26.9%.

In 2007, more and more Filipino families are earning less than $1 a day to feed a family of five with an additional 4.7 million more families totaling 27.6 million living in poverty. 

The Philippines spends 3.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health (World Health Organization 2006), ranking on the bottom 121 out of 185 countries.  Neighboring Cambodia spends more on healthcare than the Philippines.

The Philippines ranked the third highest in the world in the number of physicians that left the country. In 2000,  about 9,800 physicians have left and sought a better life somewhere else (World Bank Migration and Remittances Fact book 2008)

The Philippines have 1.16 physicians per 1,000 people (World Health Organization 2006), ranking 100 out of 185 countries. However, this hides the fact that many doctors that have remained are concentrated in the urban areas like Manila and Cebu.

In Palawan, they have 1 physician per 42,197 people in some outlying islands (Philippine Government Provincial Health Report 2008).  

The island of Masbate ranked number one in the incidence of poverty with about 70.9% of its population are at or below poverty level earning less than $1 a day. Poverty continues to be worse in the more remote islands. (NSO)

Mindanao continues to be hit by poverty with 5 of the poorest provinces in the country are located in this southern island with about 58% to 61.9% of its population living at or below poverty level (NSO)

In 2005, the Philippine ranked in the top 10 emigration countries with 3.6 million Filipinos going abroad. Filipinos continue to migrate and leave the country in record numbers.(World Bank Migration and Remittances Fact book 2008). Since then, the OFW annual deployment has surpassed 4 million.

In 2010, Filipinos abroad are estimated to send $18 billion in remittance back to the Philippines, a record number bucking the trend of the ongoing worldwide recession (World Bank Migration and Remittances Fact book 2008). Since then, the OFW re4mittances has surpassed $20M mark.

In conclusion, 30 years of sending workers abroad has not made the Philippines prosper much. Migration has prevented the Philippines from dire economic straits.  The domestic economy has always been the problem and for this, Filipinos are “forced” to migrate (Opiniano: Diaspora Philanthropy by Filipinos, p. 30), and the Philippine government has done nothing concrete to dam this drain in our labor force.  The government thru the DOLE/POEA has become the giant recruiter of cheap migrant labor to be exported to foreign lands.