OFWs: The country’s economic heroes
Since the 1980s, OFWs have been hailed as bagong bayani (modern-day heroes) for keeping the Philippine economy afloat through remittances.
In a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in March 7, 2022, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, OFWs were registered at 2.18 million, 2.11 million were OCWs and about 69 thousand were other Filipino workers abroad with valid working visa and work permits. The number of Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs) decreased to 1.71 million in 2020 from 2.11 million in 2019. Total remittance sent in 2020 reached 134.77 billion pesos, which was lower than the 210.40 billion pesos reported in 2019.
At the end of August 2020, there are now about more than 389,000 returning overseas Filipinos, around 60% of whom are land-based workers coming from badly hit industries such as logistics, construction, and the oil sector, while the rest are sea-based (National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, 2020, Department of Foreign Affairs, 2020, Mercene, 2020).
Made more challenging by the coronavirus pandemic, our labor force faces challenges which are not unique to the Philippines as the pandemic affects all cultures worldwide.
In The Manila Times (TMT) online business forum, titled “OFWs: The country’s economic heroes”, the newly formed Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) under Secretary Atty. Abdullah Mamao lays down the direction he is taking as the POEA transitions in the next two years; Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Leo Cacdac continues serving under the DMW umbrella; private employer representatives Mr. Joel Ong, President of Southeast Asian Placement Center, Inc. (SEAPCI) for health care workers sector, and CEO Mr. Antonio Galvez Jr. of Marlow Navigation Phils Inc. for seaferers sector, share the new requirements impacting OFWs in the new normal.
On Friday, May 6, 2022, the forum will be simultaneously livestreamed on The Times Facebook page, YouTube channel and Dailymotion account from 10 a.m. to noon with TMT editors Dafort Villaseran and Conrad Cariño as forum moderators.
