Migration blues

There are signs that the global financial crisis is affecting our biggest dollar earner, the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Remittances have tapered recently, and the number of migrants leaving for new jobs has also somewhat gone down.

These are but omens of more serious things to come. We will not feel these effects until global recession has fully bloomed, perhaps starting to rapidly spiral in six to nine months. The current decrease in new job openings will be followed by existing OFWs being laid off and sent home. If even just a quarter of our existing OFWs are sent home, this has a net effect of a decrease in remittances of about $3.5 million or P17.5 billion, enough to put up three rural banks.

According to the World Bank, total global remittances of migrant workers stood at $167 billion in 2006. At that time, our remittances were about $12 billion (today it is about $14 billion). We represent about 8% of total migrant labor force remittances worldwide. I would estimate that we are in the first three largest (if not the top) sources of migrant workers among Third World nations. Today, human resource, our largest dollar earner more than any export commodity, is our greatest economic asset today. Without the OFWs, our economy will go limp. Our skills inventory is high. Filipino workers, whether in IT, engineering, nursing or construction, skilled or unskilled, are the most sought after worldwide for several reasons.

First, we speak English better than the Indians or Chinese, the same reason we are a magnet for call centers. Second, Filipinos who have gone through protracted financial crisis naturally become hard workers. Third, we naturally have a good disposition, which employers and clients are attracted to. I have mentioned before that, in a Rotterdam cancer hospital, a patient asked, "Why is it that when a Filipino nurse touches my wound, it does not hurt? How come it hurts when a Dutch nurse touches it?" Our nurses are famous not only for efficiency but also for being "liefde," the Dutch word for "darling." The same is true for caregivers. Recently, Canada instituted a policy to prioritize Filipino nurses as they needed a whopping 10,000 in the next few years. As the elderlies increase, the demand for caregivers increases.

The dislocation of our OFWs is specific to industries affected by global recession. The oil-rich Middle East countries, which had a profit bonanza when global prices soared to $150 per barrel, may not get rid of the OFWs soon. But remember, when the price dove to $85 per barrel, they went into a panic, convened an OPEC meeting right away, and reduced production by 1.5 million barrels a day. So, the recession necessarily affects the oil industry because, if oil consumers lessen usage, this lessens their profit. Perhaps the nurses and caregivers will not be affected because governments have the money to fund the care of elderlies, but our OFWs in recession-related industries such as car manufacturing, microchips, shipping, airlines may be the first to be affected. We need a proactive plan to address OFW dislocation. An OFW bank to handle remittances at fees lower than current banks is one long-term vision.

Migration policies

The UN has assigned the Philippines to lead the global migration policy efforts. GMA is rooting for an international migration regulatory treaty. But a host of NGOs recently conducted a protest rally against the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) against policies affecting our OFWs. They picketed the Manila offices of the ADB, World Bank, European Commission, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. The NGOs included Peoples Global Action on Migration, Human Rights and Development, Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Kilusang Mangingisda, EU-ASEAN Fair Trade Alliance Campaign Network, Freedom From Debt Coalition, Focus on the Global South, Kalayaan, Stop the New Round Coalition, Sanlakas with Center for Migrant Advocacy, Transnational Migrant Platform), RESPECT Network Europe, Platform of Filipino Organizations in Europe, and the Transnational Institute.

They cite the danger of expulsion in Europe of about 100,000 undocumented OFWs. They say they are "trying to restrict migration in the name of rationalization of labor policy." They want only our highly skilled workers. They assailed GFMD’s move to relate migration policy to trade and development policies, which only results in "rationalizing labor exports under free-trade and economic partnership agreements" which are one-sided and only benefit the industrialized countries. The protestors say that the rich countries push for the liberalization of trade and investment regimes for their benefit but restrict migration policies to the detriment of poor nations. There seems to be no equitability in policies.

Migration policies are viewed by rich nations as a tool for controlling inflow. They need the poor countries to fill their labor shortages at cheap rates, that is all. Migration policies are viewed by poor nations as a tool for protecting migrants workers as victims of exploitation, maltreatment, and one-sided labor policies. Both rich and poor nations need each other now more than ever in the time of a ripening global financial crisis. They must have a consensus on migration policies which reflect the interests of both sides equally. That is the core issue today that affects our OFWs.

eastwind@motherignaciahealingministry.com

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