OFWs shielding RP from US woes - BSP

MANILA, Philippines – Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have eased the impact of the US financial crisis on the Philippine economy, a ranking central bank official said yesterday.

Diwa Guinigundo, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor, said the OFWs’ foreign exchange remittances have buttressed the local economy even as the global financial markets reeled from the effects of the US subprime crisis.

“OFWs are now saving and investing their hard-earned money which helps generate economic activity,” Guinigundo told reporters at the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo news forum.

The US downturn has left giant institutions shuddering, including Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy; insurance giant American International Group, and investment bank Merrill Lynch.

A BSP survey showed that at least 30 percent of OFWs are saving their money or have gone into business.

“Instead buying expensive iPods, OFWs are now engaged in small-scale businesses,” Gunigundo said, adding that the impending mass layoffs in the US are unlikely to affect Filipino workers, who are mostly nurses and caregivers.

“The US government, despite a recession, will continue to cure and take care of the sick and the old people and that’s where the caregivers and nurses will fill the need,” he said.

Moreover, Guinigundo said, most of the OFWs are deployed in the Middle East which has been less affected by the US financial meltdown.

Filipino workers send home yearly around $13 billion. Many Filipinos opt to work abroad due to poverty and lack of opportunities in the country.

There were more than 884,000 Filipinos working abroad between January and August this year, up from almost 700,000 in the same period last year.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) estimates that the number of Filipinos working abroad will reach 1.1 million by year-end.

 ‘Economic failure’

A group that claims to champion the rights of OFWs said the rising number of Filipinos opting to work abroad is “the most glaring sign” of the government’s failure to stabilize the economy.

Migrante secretary-general Connie Bragas-Regalado made the pronouncement in reaction to the country’s hosting on Oct.24 of the second Global Forum on Migration and Development.

Senior labor officials from 180 countries are expected to attend the conference.

Unable to set into motion a viable economic plan, the Arroyo administration, according to Migrante, “has to depend on the billions of dollars of OFW remittances to keep the economy afloat.”

Regalado said the coming forum will “only lead to further exploitation and intense commodification of migrant workers.” 

Migrante also assailed President Arroyo for allegedly portraying herself as the poster girl of migrant rights as part of the government’s preparations for the forum. 

“Arroyo has no right speaking for the migrants. In the first place, she does not listen to us,” Migrante spokesman Gary Martinez said. “How, then, can she claim to represent us?” 

He said the Arroyo administration is “responsible for policies that are some of the most blatant attacks on the rights of migrants, not to mention her criminal neglect of our welfare abroad.”

He said some of the issues that the Arroyo administration failed or refused to address are the exorbitant remittance charges, cases of human rights violations including mysterious deaths of Filipinos abroad, undocumented workers, unbridled misuse of OFW funds and the lack of employment opportunities in the country.  – With Sheila Crisostomo