OFW remittances up as peso weakens to the $

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are remitting more dollars back home apparently to take advantage of the soaring value of US dollars.

Remittances of OFWs for the first two weeks of year 2001 rose by 56 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Migrante, an organization of migrant workers.

Migrante information officer Vince Borneo said OFWs started sending more money to their relatives when the EDSA rally began or at the time when the value of dollar went soaring.

Borneo said that their data came from 12 "door-to-door" firms used by OFWs to send their money.

Migrant workers in the United States, Hong Kong and various European countries are now sending money to their families through "backdoor remittances."

He explained that majority of OFWs no longer send their money through government-run or crony-owned banks to dramatize their protest against the Estrada administration.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma admitted that there was a dropped in dollar remittances through the formal banking system in year 2000.

Laguesma cited reports reaching the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) showing that OFWs’ remittances dropped by about seven percent last year from the $7 billion recorded in 1999. – Mayen Jaymalin