OFW remittances likely to exceed P20.1-B target

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Carlos Cao said total remittances by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) is likely to exceed the P20.1-billion target for 2011.

Citing records from the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas and reiterating an earlier statement from the BSP, Cao said the country will not only be reaching the P20.1 billion target or forecast, but might even surpass it.

Cao that said from January to September this year, total remittances was already recorded at P14.76 billion.

“We still have the months of October, November and December. God willing, it is going to be at par or exceed remittance target for this year,” Cao said, during the “Balitaan sa Aloha Hotel” forum the other day.

He said the total overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs’) remittances in 2010 was P18.8 billion, posting P13.8 billion remittance from January to September of 2010.

But despite the crisis in countries where there are Filipinos, such those in the Middle East and the Fukushima radiation catastrophe in Japan, Cao said the OFW remittance remains robust.

The land-based deployment data from January to September this year was 966,000 compared to 911,000 during the same period in 2010, he said.

“We still do not have the figures from the shipping industry due to slow reporting. But they are trying to address this problem,” Cao said.

On the other hand, Cao said the ban on 41 countries, which the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had earlier declared as non-compliant with the law on protecting foreign workers, has no adverse impact on the country’s overseas deployment of migrant workers.

“For example in 2009, he said more than 18,000 OFWs were deployed in these companies with international operations. So deployment ban do not have effect on them. They can continue working, and we can continue deploying our workers to these companies even if they are in countries certified by DFA as not compliant,” Cao said.

The ban on the 41 countries had been deferred, the DFA had announced recently.

Cao said that in 2010, the deployment of OFWs in these international companies was more than 21,000.

During the forum, POEA statistics was showed that the deployment of OFWs of new hires and rehires in 41 banned countries as follows: in 2006— 19.595; in 2007 – 14,451; in 2008 – 14,841; in 2009 – 20,204; and in 2010 – 21,946.

The statistics also showed that the biggest number of OFWs in the banned countries for 2010 was 11,605 in Libya; 1.499, Cambodia; 1,441, Sudan; 1,327 Lebanon and 1,208 in East Timor.

In 2009, the top banned countries with the most number of OFWS are: Libya, 10,383; Sudan, 1540; Cambodia, 1,526; Lebanon, 1,326 and Cayman Island, 1056.

For the past five years since 2006 until the end of 2010, Cao said there were almost a 100,000 Filipino migrant workers in the 41 countries.

Cao, meanwhile, said the POEA only relies on the DFA when it comes to deployment ban, owing to security assessment the DFA conducted.

He said 22 of the 41 banned countries have international companies and international contractors with international operations.

Because of this, Cao cited the presumption of the law that because they have international operations, they have higher standards of protection when it comes to working standards and requirements. More so they complied with POEA standard employment contract.

“And so the guarantees or protection are there. And the law says, they are exempted from the deployment ban, that is why we keep on emphasizing that the reason why the POEA governing board, of course in consultation with DFA, first came up with the list 41 countries because we felt that the adverse impact is not going to be very heavy, not going to be acute,” he said.

In reply to the query about the safety nets to ensure that OFWs cannot enter the 41 countries, he said the “offloading” in the airport is being undertaken by the Bureau of Immigration, especially those headed for the 41 countries.

But due to negative reactions in the offloading, Cao said there will be some adjustments in the procedure.

“But it will remain, the screening of Filipinos trying to fly to other countries without working visas and POEA — issued certificates. They must really be screened by authorities but procedure must be fine tuned, discretion should be more defined and circumscribed to avoid abuse so there will be less n less victims of extortion,” said Cao.

He added that those ready and willing to stay in the country for good to become entrepreneurs will be helped by the government in the form of financial assistance.

The DFA had earlier withdrawn its negative certifications on the 21 countries and will revisit them.

Cao considers this a positive move, and there should be more time to explain to this partner of bilateral partners the reason cited by the DFA.

Cao cited the certification made by DFA on Libya at that time.

“Libya at that time was still under tyrannical rule when the certificate was done by DFA. But the situation is now different. Now there is a new regime, and they’re saying, there will be democratic government. We believe there will be a change in the configuration of the legislation environment and different attitude when it comes to multilateral convention and respect to bilateral agreement with the Philippines. This is the shifting of environment for the protection guarantee,” said Cao.

For his part, Vic Fernandez, President of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI), also at the Aloha Hotel Forum, said that the OFWs’ description as modern day heroes has already been “overused.”

“If they (OFWs) are really considered as such, they should be really accorded proper courtesy and civility and dignity,” said Fernandez.

Fernandez said the OFWs are only being used by human trafficking syndicates, but syndicate members are never investigated or charged in court.

Meanwhile, also during the Aloha Hotel Forum, former Ambassador Roy Seneres said the OFWs now are being shabbily treated in the airport.

“Gasgas na raw ang term na modern day heroes but they are real heroes in the sense of the word. Money is supposed to be life blood of the economy and they transfuse life blood stream to the spending of the Philippine economy to the tune of about $15 billion a year,” said Seneres. –Sandy Araneta (The Philippine Star)