MIGRANT watch
Cordi OFWs Contributed $
11.7 M This January
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 / Posted by Bulatlat
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