Many OFWs return to RP penniless

They do well overseas and often earn more than they would at home, but most overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) still wind up penniless when they get home.

A series of public consultations with returning OFWs and their families show that migrant workers send practically all their monthly earnings home to their families — and their families often spend this hard-earned money unwisely.

"Based on consultations, many OFWs send their money to their families and other relatives who, most of the time, become too dependent and don’t want to work anymore," the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

Labor officials also said OFWs spend their money on furniture and expensive but unnecessary things, or lend their money to others and never get their investments back at all.

Concerned over the plight of OFWs over how their hard-earned wages are spent, the DOLE will soon expand the scope of the government’s reintegration program with the aim of changing the spending habits of OFWs and their families.

"Our OFWs were found to either spend their money unwisely or go into wrong investments," Labor Undersecretary Susan Ople said. "Thus (there is a) need to re-orient their spending habits towards more productive and income-generating endeavors."

Ople said OFWs will be encouraged to visit the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in their host countries for a life-planning session with trained counselors as part of the soon-to-be-launched "Sa Iyong Pagbabalik" program of the DOLE.

"At least six months before returning home, OFWs would be asked to attend a life-planning session so they could identify immediate and medium-term goals, as well as other options," Ople said.

She added that the DOLE would join hands with the private sector, including business groups that are willing to offer services and products to enable Filipino workers to expand their financial horizons.