Migration contributes to inequality in RP--study

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO
OFW Journalism Consortium

FIGURES from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that remittances from January to
July this year have increased by US$847.55 million over the same period last year.

For the said period, BSP figures revealed that US$4.263 billion in foreign remittances
came to the formal banking system as compared to US$3.416 billion last year. On
this basis, the BSP is forecasting that an all-time high of eight billion dollars in
remittances will be achieved by the year's end, as reported last October 26 in the
Philippine Daily Inquirer.

However, while remittances have largely helped keep the Philippine economy afloat,
a recent paper by a migration research expert from De La Salle University raises
some alarming findings related to migration, poverty and inequality.

Migration's benefits don't go down to the poor?

In a faculty experts' media forum organized by DLSU's Marketing Communication

Office (MCO) last November 7 in Makati City, Behavioral Science professor Stella Go
said the economic benefits of international labor migration "have not trickled down to
the poor and less developed regions in the country."

Go's preliminary analysis was contained in a paper titled "Migration, Poverty, and
Inequality: The Case of the Philippines," which she presented at a conference
organized by the Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network (APMRN) last September
24 to 26 on the Pacific island of Fiji.

She based her findings from the Family Income and Expenditures Surveys (FIES),
the Surveys on Overseas Filipinos (SOF), conducted annually by the National
Statistics Office (NSO), the official government statistics on remittances and migrant
outflows from the Bangko Sentral and the migration-related agencies, and poverty
statistics from the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB).

Go, who is also president of the Philippine Migration Research Network (PMRN), said
that the poorer segment of Philippine society "have been largely excluded from the
opportunities provided by migration."

She based this on her finding that OFWs come from regions with the lowest poverty
incidence, and these regions have the most number of migrant outflows such as the
National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog.

In sharp contrast, Go added, the regions in Mindanao, which have high levels of
poverty incidence, have the lowest proportion of OFWs. These include the conflict-
ridden Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (the poorest region where the
smallest proportion of migrant workers come from), Central Mindanao (region 12),
Southern Mindanao (region 11), Northern Mindanao (region 10), and Western
Mindanao (region 9).

Poverty incidence versus number of OFWs per region

The National Capital Region, according to the 1997 FIES, has 6.4 percent of its
residents at or below the poverty threshold, and contributes 19.1 percent of the
country's total OFWs.

The provinces of Luzon, whose six regions-excluding the NCR--have a 30.1 percent
poverty incidence rate, contribute 53.2 percent of the country's total overseas
workers. Migrant workers from Mindanao, the country's poorest geographical area
with a 44.6 percent poverty incidence rate, however, only account for 12.3 percent of
the country's total OFWs. Visayas, with a 38.2 percent poverty incidence rate,
accounts for 15.4 percent of the total number of OFWs.

Southern Tagalog, with a 25.7 percent poverty incidence rate, ranks second
nationwide in terms of OFWs' regional origins with 18.9 percent. OFWs from Ilocos,
which has a 37.8 percent poverty incidence despite having a long history of labor
migration to the US, comprise 12.6 percent of the national total.

OFWs from Central Luzon, with a 15.4 percent poverty incidence, account for 12
percent of the national total. ARMM, though it has the highest poverty incidence rate
of 57.3 percent in the 1997 FIES, only accounts for 1.9 percent the country's total
OFWs.

From the 1997 FIES, the Philippines has a 31.8 percent national poverty incidence,
although 2001 figures from the NSCB show that the figure rose to 40 percent. Go did
not include the 2001 poverty incidence figures in her paper.

Go notes in her paper that studies on migration and poverty and inequality are
insufficient, with their common assumption "that poverty must have pushed the
migrants out of their place or origin to search for better economic opportunities
elsewhere."

Impacts on OFW, family, community vary accordingly

On how migration affects the OFW, his or her family, and community or region of
origin, Go said the economic returns to labor migration vary across skills and country
destinations "because foreign wages and placement costs also vary accordingly."

"On the whole, wages increase with skill level, with professionals receiving higher
wages than domestic helpers; however, wages vary significantly within each skill
category according to the country of destination."

"For instance, domestic helpers in Europe receive higher wages than those in the
Middle East, while Hong Kong pays higher than Singapore and Malaysia. Computer
programmers are paid five times more in the US than in Saudi Arabia while
accountants in Singapore are paid three times more than those in American Samoa,"
Go wrote.
In her paper, Go, citing 1998 figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA), showed that accountants in Singapore earn $1,650 as
compared to $551 for OFW accountants in American Samoa. Nurses in the United
Kingdom, now a prominent work destination, earn $1,984 as compared to the $406
for nurses working in Saudi Arabia.

For domestic workers, those in France earn $900, $600 in the UK, $476 in Hong
Kong, $202 in Malaysia, and $200 in Saudi Arabia, a country where a recent labor
arrangement between the country's Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
and the Kingdom's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was made--affecting unskilled
workers, with domestic workers included.

BSP deputy governor Amando Tetangco, quoting an Inquirer report, said the
prospects of the rise of remittances are bright "with the expanded hiring of the
United Kingdom in the medical field." Recent reports showed that local doctors or
dentists undergo nursing training to qualify them for work in the UK as nurses.

On an annual basis, accountants who work abroad can earn P281,843 a year,
compared to local accountants who earn P145,584. For domestic workers, OFWs earn
P98,719 annually as compared to the P24,000 of the local domestic workers for an
annual wage differential of P74,719.

Urban families benefit more from migration than rural families

A significant proportion of Filipino families has relied on remittances or "income from

abroad" as the main source of income, Go noted. Citing the 1997 FIES, Go said that
a total of 881,263 Filipino families, or 6.2 percent of the total number of families,
derived their main source of income from remittances.

But the bigger part of that number who benefits from remittances comes from urban
families. In the 1988, 1991, 1994 and 1997 FIES, urban families who cite income
from abroad as their main source of income outnumber the rural families.

These include NCR and Central Luzon, Go said, with the exception of Ilocos, which
has a long history of international labor migration to the US. Despite the region's
high poverty incidence, which is pegged at 37.8 per cent, Go said FIES figures show
that Ilocos "has reported the highest proportion of families relying on remittances as
its main source of income." The region accounts for 12.6 percent of the country's
total number of OFWs.

"The percentages of families at the lower end of the income groups receiving income
from abroad tend to be higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas," Go said.

She added that families from the higher income groups "also receive larger
proportions of income from abroad than the lower income groups." In marked
contrast, Go added, the lower income groups derive the largest part of their income
from domestic resources."

'The most disquieting aspect of international labor migration'

For this set of data, Go concluded that the "poorer segment of Philippine society has
been largely excluded from the opportunities provided by migration."

"International migration," Go added, "appears to have contributed instead to the

long existing problem of inequality in Philippine society. If this is so, it is perhaps the
most disquieting aspect of international labor migration from the Philippines today."

Although Go said much research should to be done on migration and poverty and
inequality to understand their links to each other. Migration "may fuel a simmering
social volcano instead of douse it" in a country that is "fraught with social problems
and economic difficulties."

For this purpose, the PMRN president said that serious attention must to be given to
"channeling remittances into more productive investments to fuel economic
development."

"The challenge is to manage the economic gains from international migration so that
these can be more equitably shared by a much large number and cross-section of
Philippine society."

Since 1999, the Philippines has received over US$6 billion in remittances--with all
those passing through formal channels such as banks. Last year, the figure was
US$6.235 billion--with US$5.124 billion from land-based OFWs and US$1.093 from
the sea-based (the latter figure being the highest for the sector thus far).

BSP's remittance records showed that OFW remittances reached a high of US$7.367
billion in 1998. This figure is despite the perils brought by the 1997 Asian financial
crisis.

Showing the macro-benefits of migration, from the period 1990 to 1999, Go said that
remittances contributed an average of 20.3 percent to the country's export earnings
and 5.2 percent of gross national product (GNP).

It should be noted that remittances are made directly to OFW families and
beneficiaries, and as such, the national government does not receive any portion of
OFW remittances.

OFW Journalism Consortium

Table 1: Remittance figures (from Go, 2002; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)

January to July

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2001

Total (in US$

5,741,835 7,367,989 6,794,550 6,050,450 6,031,271 4,263,594 3,416,044
million)
Land-based (in
5,484,223 7,093,440 5,948,341 5,123,773 4,937,922 3,560,995 2,804,910
US$ million)
Sea-based (in
257,612 274,549 846,209 926,677 1,093,349 702,599 611,134
US$ million)
 Remittances as %
22.8 16.7 19.4 Not Not
of Export
percent percent percent available available
Earnings 1
Remittances as %
6.6 7.1 8.7 Not Not
of Gross National
percent percent percent available available
Product (GNP) 2

Remittances/OFW $7,679.4 $8,859.6 $8,117.5 $7,189.0 $7,194.7

(US$)Total

Land-based $9,806.8 $11,112.3 $9,289.5 $7,964.8 $7,770.9

Sea-based $1,366.9 $1,420.3 $4,302.3 $4,672.5 $5,334.5

1 - From 1990 to 1999, the percentage of remittances to export earnings is 20.3 percent
2 - From 1990 to 1999, the percentage of remittances to GNP is 5.2 percent

Table 2: 1997 Distribution of OFWs and Poverty Incidence of Families by Region (Go, 2002)
% Distribution of Poverty Incidence of Families
Island Group / Region Rank Rank
OFWs (%)

Philippines 100.00 31.8

National Capital Region 19.1 1 6.4 15

Luzon 53.2 30.1
* Cordillera Autonomous Region 2.0 12 42.5 5
* Region 1: Ilocos 12.6 3 37.8 10
* Region 2: Cagayan Valley 5.0 6 32.1 12
* Region 3: Central Luzon 12.0 4 15.4 14
* Region 4: Southern Tagalog 18.9 2 25.7 13
* Region 5: Bicol 2.7 9 50.1 2
Visayas 15.4 38.2
* Region 6: Western Visayas 9.4 5 39.9 8
* Region 7: Central Visayas 4.2 7 34.4 11
* Region 8: Eastern Visayas 1.8 14 40.8 6
Mindanao 12.3 44.6
* Region 9: Western Mindanao 3.0 8 40.1 7
* Region 10: Northern Mindanao 1.3 15 47.0 4
* Region 11: Southern Mindanao 2.6 10 38.2 9
* Region 12: Central Mindanao 2.4 11 50.0 3
* Autonomous Region of Muslim
1.9 13 57.3 1
Mindanao
 OFW: Times’ Person of the Year
By WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL

They are called the country’s “modern-day heroes.” They are the estimated 8.1 million
overseas Filipino workers and migrants in 194 countries and territories all over the world.

Of the total, 3.2 million are permanently living abroad and 3.6 million are temporarily
working overseas. Illegal migrant workers are estimated at 1.3 million.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said overseas Filipinos have become an emerging
economic class of Philippine society, bringing in $8.5 billion in remittances in 2004 —
the highest level since 1970, when highly paid professionals first entered the labor market
overseas. The remittances made up about 9.2 percent of the country’s gross national
product.

Records of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that since September 2005 remittances
from land-based OFWs have reached P6.71 billion, up from last year’s. By year-end the
total is expected to hit over $10 billion.

Time and again, the overseas Filipinos’ dollar remittances have propped up the country’s
economy.

But the impact of their contributions is even more significant this year, when the
economy felt the fallout from the political crisis that had gripped the Arroyo
Administration.

The role of the OFW in keeping the economy healthy makes him or her the hands-down
choice of The Manila Times as its Person of the Year.

The Times editors considered several other movers and shakers as Person of the Year,
including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Filipino athletes who gave the
Philippines the overall title in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games.

Making the choice

The Manila Times launches its Man of the Year award to honor Filipinos who have made
great contributions to the nation. The Times, together with the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran
Foundation, also conducts the yearly Jose Rizal Awards for Excellence to recognize and
honor outstanding Chinese Filipinos. More than 40 outstanding Tsinoys have received the
awards since 2002.
Of the total number of OFWs abroad, about one million have found work in the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia. Other countries with large concentrations of Filipino workers are the
United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar in the Middle East; the United Kingdom
and Italy in Europe; the United States and Canada in North America; and Japan, Hong
Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia in Asia.

The overseas employment program was initiated in 1974 by the statesman Blas F. Ople
during his stint as labor secretary. To carry it out, he created the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration to serve as the program’s regulating agency, and the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, its welfare arm.

Ople also created a corps of private fee-charging recruitment agencies to help the
government scout for labor markets for Filipino workers. More than a thousand licensed
placement agencies are now operating in the country.

To give greater protection to the OFWs at the job sites, Ople also created a corps of labor
attachés and welfare officers in countries worldwide. Welfare centers were created to
serve as the homes of runaway maids and other distressed workers.

The Department of Foreign Affairs opened an office for migrant workers’ affairs, which
renders legal and repatriation assistance to OFWs with problems. The office played a lead
role in the release of OFWs abducted by extremists in some countries and in the
evacuation of workers affected by disasters and internal conflicts in their host countries.

All documented workers are insured as members of the Philippine Health Insurance
Corp. The OWWA gives them predeparture loans and livelihood loans. A halfway house
was established at the OWWA Building for arriving OFWs, especially those from the
Visayas and Mindanao, who cannot go home immediately for lack of transportation.

Saudi Arabia top OFW drawer

Since Sept. 26, the country has sent almost 14,000 OFWs to 170 host destinations more
than the 711,813 that were deployed in September of last year.

Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Sto. Tomas said
the biggest number of OFWs is still in Saudi Arabia, making up 26 percent of the 209,293
land-based OFWs deployed in various countries during the first quarter of 2005.

Next to Saudi Arabia are Hong Kong with 28,006 OFWs, or 13.3 percent of the total
deployed land-based OFWs; United Arab Emirates with 9.47 percent (19,817); Japan
with 8.22 percent (17,213); Taiwan with 5.8 percent (12,222); Kuwait with 5 percent
(10,216); Singapore with 4 percent (8,660); and Qatar with 3.4 percent (7,193).

In terms of demand for land-based OFWs, Qatar registered the highest increase,
employing 50 percent more than the 4,793 Filipinos it hired in the first quarter of 2004.
Other countries with marked increases in their demand for OFWs are:

• Bahrain, 49 percent (1,810 to 2,693)

• Kuwait, 24 percent (8,213 to 10,216)

• Malaysia, 21 percent (1,748 to 2,114)

• UAE, 15.4 percent (17,172 to 19,817)

• United States, 13.6 percent 1,074 to 1,220)

• Singapore, 12.8 percent (7,678 to 8,660)

Sto. Tomas said at least 6 percent of Filipino families receive income from abroad; 6 out
of 10 of these families live in urban areas and are relatively better off. It’s no wonder,
therefore, that migrant workers and their families are regarded as the new middle class.

With the number of overseas employment and the volume of OFW remittances growing,
the country managed to generate a consumer-led economic growth amid recession and
high unemployment, Sto. Tomas said.

Money is not the only thing our migrants abroad have brought home. They have also
brought honor and fame to the country.

Melitza Anne Chan, a 27-year-old nurse from Manduriao, Iloilo, works as assistant to the
chief of the Dental Department of the Marabi Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Chan was recently commended for honesty after reporting to her bank some 10 million
Saudi riyals (around $2.6 million or more than P150 million) erroneously credited to her
own account. Chan had first discovered the 10 million Saudi riyals in her account while
applying for a visa to the United Kingdom.

Arthur Lucas, a trainee-worker in South Korea, demonstrated world-class skills in a

construction event that won for him second prize, proving once again that Filipinos have
the capability to compete in the global arena.

Lucas won at the 13th Construction Association of Korea Competition on Korean

Construction Techniques, held recently in Seoul.

He was awarded a plaque of appreciation and 700,000 won ($674). Lucas was the only
Filipino among four foreigners and 276 Koreans who joined the competition.

He competed with 27 other contestants in the rebar category.

But if there are OFW winners, there are also losers. A Department of Foreign Affairs
“global situationer” report has counted 4,775 Filipinos being held in foreign prisons, a
quarter of them women.

One of those in jail is Guen Aguilar, who is languishing in Singapore’s Changi Women’s
Prison for the alleged murder of her best friend and fellow Filipina, Jane La Puebla. Parts
of La Puebla’s dismembered body were discovered in two places in the city-state.

Sto. Tomas said the Department of Labor and Employment is providing all assistance
possible to all jailed OFWs in parts of the world.

She said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in almost all the Philippine diplomatic
posts abroad see to it that the OFWs who have had brushes with the law in their host
country are given legal and humanitarian assistance.

Homecoming gifts

In recognition of the OFWs’ contribution to the country, President Arroyo recently

honored outstanding OFWs by presenting them with the coveted 2005 Bagong Bayani
Awards.

The Bagong Bayani Awards is an international search recognizing OFWs for their efforts
in fostering good will, enhancing and promoting the image of the Filipinos as competent,
responsible and dignified workers, as well as their contributions to the development of
their communities and the country as a whole.

This year’s awards had four categories: Outstanding Employee; Community and Social
Service; Culture and Performing Arts; and the Blas F. Ople Award para sa Natatanging
Bagong Bayani.

Leading the Bagong Bayani Outstanding Employees was Kuwait-based Zenaida

Batillano, a recipient of the OFA Presidential Citation for her courage and leadership
during the Iraqi conflict in 2003.

Batillano is also the founder of an organization that collects donations for disaster
victims.

The other outstanding employees are seaman Lugen Ortillano, Melvin Malvar of
Northern Marianas Islands, Jaime King of Saudi Arabia, Veronica Ugates of Libya,
George Palencia of Saudi Arabia, Marlon Joseph Molina of United Kingdom and the
Filipino crew of the MV Merino Express, who earned the esteem of the Australian
Government and the livestock exporting community by keeping alive their cargo of
56,000 livestock while battling extreme heat and thirst during a voyage that lasted 86
days.
Receiving the Bagong Bayani for Community and Social Service were Jesse James
Agustin, chief technical assistant in the Ministry of Development in Brunei, who
established the international office of the Social Security System for OFWs; Leonor
Mohammad Gile, who worked with the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah without expecting
anything in return in solving the problems of OFWs against their employers; and the
Filipino crew of the MV Stolt Capability, who received the Lloyds List International
Rescue at Sea Award by helping rescue the crewmen of a sinking Vietnam-registered
ship.

The Bagong Bayani Award for Culture and Performing Arts went to the photographer
Gerico Canlapan, whose works are presented in group exhibitions in Riyadh and used to
produce a calendar that benefited the Gawad Kalinga program.

In Ka Blas’ memory

Besides the Bagong Bayani Outstanding Employee Award, Zenaida Batillano also
received the Blas F. Ople Award para sa Natatanging Bagong Bayani for being the only
Asian woman in her company’s top management level who influenced the hiring of
Filipinos for supervisory and management positions. She also led the Filipino community
in managing the Iraqi crisis in 2004 and became its pillar of strength and courage.

Following tradition, the President on Dec. 23 welcomed the OFWs returning to the
country for Christmas. She handed out gifts, including a mobile livelihood store each to
four lucky OFWs.

One of them was Alicia Gabasa Ponce, who comes from Jordan, Iloilo. She worked for
14 years as midwife at the Al-Fakkih Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration also reached out to the less fortunate
OFWs, choosing an OFW family from each region in the country to be given goods and a
livelihood project, Sto. Tomas said.

She said all the arrival counters of the OWWA at the NAIA, Cebu, and Clark
international airports are now manned by a complement of workers’ assistance officers
who will be on continuous duty in three shifts to facilitate the arrival and exit from the
airport of returning OFWs.

“These OWWA assistance officers will be on the job until the last arriving flight on Dec.
31, 2005, and from Jan. 1 to 15, 2006, when the workers are expected to return to their
jobs, the same officers will be on hand at the predeparture lounge to assist and send them
off,” she said.

OWWA, together with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and Phil-
Health, has set up kiosks and satellite counters in Robinsons Galleria, Fiesta Duty Free,
and in SM in Cebu, Iloilo, and San Fernando, Pampanga, where OFWs can renew their
membership in OWWA, pay membership fees to Phil-Health, and file for Overseas
Employment Certificates.

Sto. Tomas said the POEA has also set up the Balik Manggagawa Express Clearance
Delivery System at its central office in Mandaluyong City.

(The Manila Times)

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