The country’s economic fundamentals may be strong amid the US recession and Europe’s debt woes. But that strength is heavily dependent on the billions of dollars remitted annually by millions of overseas Filipino workers. Global economic problems could reduce those remittances and render many OFWs unemployed. Worse, economic problems are fueling resentment directed at migrant workers and opening them to harassment and discrimination. Governments, trying to calm public unrest, are more open to policies that are unfavorable to migrant workers.
OFW organizations have raised concern over such trends in the Middle East and Hong Kong, and even in Britain. Compounding the problem is continuing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Thousands of OFWs have been urged to return home from Syria, where the path to regime change could trigger more violence before order is restored. So far the majority of OFWs in Syria have refused to leave, mainly for fear of losing their jobs and facing unemployment back home.
Erasing that fear must be one of the priority goals of President Aquino. In Hong Kong, OFWs said foreign maids have been the targets of hate messages online, calling them cockroaches and parasites that cause social chaos and should return home. OFW leaders urged the Aquino administration to create decent jobs in the Philippines so there will be no need for Filipinos to seek employment overseas.
The booming business process outsourcing sector is starting to meet this need, but most returning OFWs will need retraining to qualify for BPO jobs. Thousands of BPO job openings cannot be filled for lack of qualified workers. Returning workers can also be retrained for jobs in the tourism industry, which the government should promote as a major livelihood and revenue source.
The government must also fast-track measures that will improve the environment for the types of investments that can create the decent jobs that OFWs want. The country has a unique resource that its neighbors cannot offer: the quality of the Filipino workforce. But more incentives are needed and a better business environment created to make the Philippines more competitive. Through better education and training, the government must also prevent the deterioration of the quality of the workforce.
There is no place like home. Filipinos should not have to choose discrimination and security risks abroad over life in their own land.