Cordillera overseas workers contributed at least $11.7 million of the $917 million remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) posted this January by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP or the Central Bank of the Philippines).

BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

Cordillera overseas workers contributed at least $11.7 million of the $917 million remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) posted this January by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP or the Central Bank of the Philippines). The $11.7 million is equivalent to P604.36 million with the present exchange rate of a dollar to P51.26 as of March 24.

Citing 2003 data, the Cordillera regional chapter of the overseas Filipinos’ group Migrante International disclosed that out of the 4.2 million documented OFWs, 54,000 come from different Cordillera provinces and the city of Baguio (246 kms. north of Manila) equivalent to 1.28 percent of the total national figure. Migrante regional spokesperson Flora Belinan said however that the figure may even be higher as the Cordillera OFW figure is from a 2003 report by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Cordillera regional office.

She added that the BSP is able to record only amounts passing through legal channels like banks, and does not reflect money hand-carried by the OFWs’ friends. “In fact, our organization believes that actual remittances are more than the said figures as there are at least 3,000 to 4,000 workers leaving the country per day,” Belinan stated.

Belinan further said that more Filipino workers are left with no choice but to go abroad because no employment opportunities are available in the country. Government records this month showed that the unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent this January from 7.4 percent in October last year.

Migrante also revealed that that there at least 1.6 million undocumented OFWs aside from the 4.2 million documented ones. Also, there are now 3.6 million Filipinos who have opted to migrate to other countries, Migrante data shows.

Migrante’s figures further reveal that 85 percent of those who have migrated to other countries are from the health sector. This flight of our health professionals has made the Philippines the second largest exporter of physicians next to India. Northern Dispatch / (Bulatlat.com)