Philippines witnesses reverse migration

The information was disclosed by the Philippine Labour and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, who said Entertainment City is beginning to introduce better opportunities to the country’s people, with salary and benefits in the Philippines comparing favourable against overseas offers.

A Filipino lawyer and labour arbiter herself before rising to the ranks of secretary, Dimapilis-Baldoz made the announcement on Friday before leaving for Jeddah on Saturday to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on household service workers there — the first such agreement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Baldoz said that the current development of reverse migration among overseas workers, is what Philippine President Noynoy Aquino, Jr. earlier stated when he said once the domestic economy of the country is strengthened, many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will come back home.

“It is now happening and it is happening fast,” said the labour secretary. She said that the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) found out in a survey that 60 per cent of the Filipinos leave the country to take jobs abroad while they are still working in the Philippines.“They do not go abroad because of unemployment.”

She also said that the cost of recruitment and the processing of overseas workers in the Philippines are also the cheapest among labour-sending countries.

“We know that if we have competitive salary packages at home, our workers will stay because they will be living with their families.”

The labour secretary is positive that the current reverse migration will continue as more industrial sectors are catching up in terms of labour package and training.

In the UAE, she said, the openness of the government to improve bilateral agreements concerning the deployment of expatriate workers from labour-exporting countries is laudable.

She said the possibility of negotiations with the UAE for a new MoU concerning the deployment of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) is great. “This MoU shall incorporate the same terms and conditions the Philippines has with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan.”

Baldoz lauded the UAE authorities for their willingness to find solutions to labour problems.

On Friday, before representatives of over 70 Filipino clubs and organisations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, Baldoz said: “UAE and other labour receiving countries have acknowledged the contributions of foreign workers to their economy and in enhancing their culture and society.”

Middle East and North Africa remains to be the number one region for Filipino contract workers just as North America is the number one continent for permanent Filipino migrants, she added.

About 72 female wards at the Filipino Workers Resource Centre of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) met with Baldoz over lunch on Friday. While there, the labour secretary expressed hope that the number of OFWs absconding from their respective employers would be reduced to a minimum.

She acknowledged the fact that there are OFWs, who are not ready to work overseas and, said that the Philippine government is finding ways and means to address human trafficking and other issues concerning household service workers. — lily@khaleejtimes.com

“The Philippine government is working hard to open domestic entrepreneurship, including the Re-integration Programme for OFWs who go home because the government wants to see that overseas migration is just a choice and not a necessity for OFWs.”