Tags: OFWs

State of abandonment, state of terror

Looking at history, one can say that state abandonment is very much the official disposition on which the labor export system is hinged. The Philippine government is fundamentally inclined to function simply as what sociologist Robyn Rodriguez calls a “labor brokerage state,” an institutional apparatus that facilitates Filipinos’ outward labor traffic.

By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis The Aquino government was beaming with pride when it announced that the country had a high – by Philippine standards – year-on-year GDP growth rate of 7.8 percent during the first quarter of 2013. Construction registered the highest growth with 32.5 percent, followed by financial intermediation with 13.9 percent, manufacturing at…

By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld Filipinos have a love-hate relationship with their countrymen in other climes. It’s a relationship defined by class boundaries, in that most Filipinos love them while some don’t, and even despise them. Those professionals and middle-class folk — including, perhaps especially, journalists still with enough brains to think…