OFWs have become ‘ambassadors of global culture’—study

MANILA, Philippines—Overseas Filipino workers have been doing more for the country other than sending remittances that virtually keep the Philippines afloat.

According to the Western Union, one of the country’s leading transfer firms, OFWs have become “ambassadors of global culture,” aside from sending in billions of dollars, which reached $1.62 billion in June, the highest monthly remittance ever recorded by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

OFWs “bring to life global attitudes…As they juggle between adapting to a foreign land and keeping ties with the families they left behind, they have also become conduits of practices, beliefs and values between their host and home countries.”

But “regardless of their role as agents of cultural change, they remain Filipino in heart and mind, and in some instances become even more fiercely Pinoy in spirit than before they left,” said the same study on “cultural transmission by OFWs from host to home country.”

The study, which covered 300 respondents, all OFW beneficiaries in Metro Manila and the nearby province of Batangas, was conducted recently by the research firm Synovate Phils., Inc.

Based on Synovate’s interviews, the respondents had observed several attitude or behavior changes among their OFW family members.

These include preference for gadgets (48 percent), branded or signature clothes (43 percent), foreign-made shoes and bags (37 percent), and food in their host countries (33 percent).

Many OFWs have also become socially conscious (43 percent), health-conscious (37 percent) while others have become more conscious about their appearance and grooming practices (33 percent).

Others have become more “independent” (29 percent), more concerned about their families (23 percent), more punctual (22 percent), and more open about their thoughts and feelings (17 percent).

At least 71 percent of the respondents said they had imbibed some of these changes from their OFW family members.

According to Synovate, OFWs “imbibe (traits) they find agreeable with and are advantageous back home. In most cases, these are the ones that are transmitted to beneficiaries.”

Carole Ann Sarthou, Synovate managing director, said “With over 10 million Filipinos abroad and counting, we foresee socio-economic cultural transfers to continue unabated in the coming years.”

“While the impact to Philippine culture may be masked by other means of socio-cultural transfer, such as media, it is there and will change our lives in both obvious and subtle ways,” Sarthou added.

The Western Union commissioned the survey to “explore how much of (OFW host countries’) values and characteristics are adopted, retained, rejected or transferred to their homeland,” said Ma. Patricia Ringen, Western Union senior vice president for the Pacific and Indochina.

According to Ringen, “It is our contribution towards broadening appreciation of our hardworking OFWs and how they cope with the myriad of overseas cultures as they uphold the unwavering Pinoy spirit.”

Drina Yue, Western Union-Asia Pacific head, observed “In the last 20 years, we have seen an extraordinary rise in (Filipino) migration to all four corners of the earth.”

“Thanks to the mobility of labor across borders, the Filipino smile, spirit of hard work and resilience can be found in households, work sites and board rooms around the world,” said Yue.

Western Union has been operating in the country since 1990. It has put up a network of more than 7,000 outlets nationwide.

Its mother company, the New York-based Western Union Company, has been transferring money around the world for over 135 years. It currently operates in 200 countries worldwide.

Last year, the American firm completed about 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worth at least $71 billion. –Jerry E. Esplanada, Philippine Daily Inquirer