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MetroVanIndependent.com
August 2015
News
Number of OFWs leaving the Philippines daily
rose from 2,500 in 2009 to 6,092 in 2015
Global alliance of overseas Filipino
workers belied President Aquino’s claim
in his last State of the Nation Address
(SONA) that the number of OFWs (overseas
Filipino workers) have been reduced due to
supposed improved local job generation.
In its SUMA (Summing-Up of the
State of Migrants Under Aquino 20102015), Migrante said under the Aquino
administration, the number of OFWs
leaving the country increased due to
chronic joblessness and low wages – from
2,500 daily before Aquino assumed office
in 2009, 4,018 in 2010, to 6,092 daily by
early 2015 (per Department of Labor and
Employment data).
Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) data likewise
showed that the Aquino government has
breached the two-million mark in OFW
deployment processing in 2013, the highest
record in the history of Philippine labor
export.
Migrante International also said that the
number of OFWs deployed far outpaced
the jobs generated domestically.
According to a Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) report, the number of
locally employed Filipinos was only 1.02
million in 2014, or an average of 2,805
additional employed in the country daily.
The group said that while POEA data
showed that there had indeed been a
slight decrease in the OFW deployment,
it was only in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) data
likewise showed that the Aquino
government has breached
the two-million mark in OFW
deployment processing in 2013,
the highest record in the history
of Philippine labor export.
According to POEA data, 1.7 million OFWs
were deployed during the last quarter of
2014, or 4,508 deployed daily. Deployment
data nine months prior, however, pegged
the number of OFWs leaving daily at 5,200.
In the past years, there had been a
steady increase in the number of new hires
and re-hires of land-based and sea-based
OFWs.
POEA data clearly shows that the
number of land-based workers deployed
increased by 34.52%, or by 32.93% for
new-hires and 35.26% for re-hires.
For seafarers, there was also an
11.11% increase in deployment from 2009
to 2013. Combined with the growing
number of irregular OFWs who leave the
country through the backdoor overall
government figure of deployment does
not support Aquino’s claim that migration
has considerably lessened during his
presidency.
In fact, OFW deployment has picked up
considerably despite ongoing crises in host
Year
Number of OFW's
deployed
Average per Day
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
1,470,826
1,687,831
1,802,031
1,836,345
1,844,710
----------
4,018
4,624
4,937
5,031
5,054
6,092 (DOLE)
Annual Report of OFW Deployment, POEA
countries – to date, policies such as the
Nitaqat or Saudization, stricter immigration
policies and criminalization and deportation
of millions of undocumented OFWs.
"If the government is attributing a
so-called 'reverse migration' due to these
factors, then it is right on spot. Since 2010,
thousands upon thousands of OFWs in
distress have been deported or forcibly
repatriated back to the country due to civil
unrests, calamities, economic instabilities
and other similar factors in migrantreceiving countries," said Sol Pillas,
Migrante International secretary-general.
Pillas said that with the continuous
repatriation of distressed OFWs from
Saudi, Egypt, Syria and Libya, and the
deportation of undocumented OFWs in
Europe, Canada and the United States,
then a “reverse migration” phenomenon
could further be expected in the coming
months.
"But to attribute a “reverse migration”
due to so-called “inclusive growth” is
outright deceitful and misleading.
With the record-high unemployment
rate and the lack of a comprehensive
and sustainable reintegration program
for returning OFWs, a so-called “reverse
migration” will not be tantamount to the
Aquino’s claim that OFWs have been opting
to come home for good. Filipinos will not
be stopped from being forced to leave the
country in search for “greener pastures”
abroad. And so the cycle continues," she
said.
Migrante International maintained
that the number of OFWs has increased
significantly since Aquino took office. By
2012, at least one-fourth of the country’s
labor force has gone abroad to find work.
According to DOLE, there are now
12 million OF Ws abroad. Migrante
International pegs the number of overseas
Filipino workers between 12 to 15 million,
to include undocumented OFWs.
Japanese factories In China to relocate to the Philippines