[3] One of the recent trends in Filipino contractual workers Archived 2015-07-07 at the Wayback Machine is that as years pass by, more and more women have traveled out of the country, outnumbering the men.
[7] According to the book Philippine Labour Migration, these workers can be categorized into eight criteria, by type, countries of deployment, gender, rural or urban origin, civil status, age, education and skills, and occupation.
As of 2013, the top destinations for OFWs are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
[8] Number of Deployed Landbased Overseas Filipino Workers by Major Occupational Category, New Hires[8][9] A chart on the cash and personal remittances of OFWs in millions of US Dollars[10][verification needed] * Remittances coursed through a bank **Partial data only until April 2015 A chart on remittances of OFWs according to regions in millions of US dollars[11][verification needed] *Partial data only until April 2015 The history of Philippine labor migration policies can be traced as far back as 1521, when the Filipino natives started to man ships in the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade.
In order to escape maltreatment by the Spaniards, many of those Filipino workers resorted to "jumping ship", settling in state ports like Acapulco, Mexico and Louisiana, USA.
The creation of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (RA 8042) was triggered by the growing pressures on the Philippines imposed by the murder case of Flor Contemplacion.
[12] This case almost severed bilateral ties between the Philippines and Singapore (Contemplacion's host country), negatively affecting the former's economy with a $61.3B decrease in investments by the latter.
This includes the inefficiency of the migration policies to resolve illegal recruitment cases, professionalization of the Household Service Worker Sector or the HSW has been unknown to migrant workers, minimum wage provision has been violated by the stipulation of a lower minimum wage, and issues regarding the no-placement fee provision.
For a country who chooses to solve its unemployment by making work abroad more convenient for Filipinos, the Philippines has made several processes in order to protect and support its citizens.
To be able to work abroad, Filipinos must go through a licensed recruiter or a government agency or have their contracts approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
In order to be a licensed recruitment agency, it must be Filiipino-owned, meet capitalization and bonding requirement as well as not charging the worker more than one month's salary as a placement fee.
To be able to provide quality labor to other countries and support to Filipinos, the Philippine government provides a number of subsidized benefits such as pre-migration training on social and work conditions abroad, life insurance and pension plans, medical insurance and tuition assistance for the migrant and his or her family, and eligibility for pre-departure and emergency loans.
In the case of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011–2016, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are to be required to apply for all social security schemes of the government Asset Reform.
[21] It was expected by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on June 22, 2015, that the number of OFWs testing positive to HIV could breach 4,000 if the government fails to take action.
President Benigno Aquino III held off from announcing whether or not the country will send a team of health workers to West Africa.
Precautions were made to prevent the spread of the virus through education, close monitoring, and working with global authorities to deal with the diseases.
[25] Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto suggested to increase the number of trained government personnel who can give comfort and aid to OFWs.
According to Migrante International, a militant group supporting overseas workers, the current administration holds the record of having the most number of OFW executions since the implementation of the Philippine labor export policy in 1974.
[31] In April 2015, the nation witnessed Mary Jane Veloso's clamor for clemency from the government of Indonesia, in order to reverse her death sentence due to her drug trafficking case.
[34] Regarding the Legal Assistance Fund for OFWs, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad stated that the DFA has an allocation of Php100 million in the 2015 national budget in response to militant groups’ accusations of insufficient funding for the sector supposed to extend support to overseas workers facing criminal charges in other countries.
[35] These two cases are just a microcosm of the difficulties that Overseas Filipino Workers encounter in the event that they get caught in the intricacies of foreign law and regulations.
Not to be forgotten is the case of Flor Contemplacion, sentenced to death in 1995 in Singapore, which paved the way to the review of the international labor laws of the Philippines.
[37] The high number of those remaining in the death row under the present administration poses an alarming state for the OFW community in various parts of the world.
[38] During the 1990s the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) calculated that the country needed to create at least one million jobs annually in order to reach full employment by the year 2000.
The country's GNP grew because of high rates of OFW remittances and the government believed that the money remitted was used to help start-up small businesses, boost consumer spending and enable small-scale construction.
As well as the social issues caused by OFWs and those they leave behind, the decrease in specialists has forced companies and government agencies to hire less experienced workers for highly skilled jobs.
[44] With what is colloquially called "brain drain," the Philippines loses its human capital with the continuously growing number of Filipinos who decide to work abroad mostly for better compensation.
On the side of the Philippines, this diaspora of Filipinos is a loss to the country due to the productivity that they could have contributed had they been working in the domestic sectors rather than abroad.
[45] In addition, the Labor Export Policy conceals the national economy's innate weakness through the remittances of OFWs to their families, with the local manufacturing industry performing poorly but nonetheless compensated for by the said source of income.
Such effects include "broken marriages, drug addiction, sexual immorality, crimes, suicidal attempts and psychological breakdowns.