Final week, I spoke on the convention entitled “The Previous, Current, and Way forward for Philippine Labor Migration: 50 Years and Past” organized by the Philippine Migration Analysis Community. Fifty years in the past in 1974, the Philippines enacted the Labor Code, paving the way in which for the nation’s participation in worldwide labor migration. Since then, nationwide companies such because the Philippine Abroad Employment Authority had been established to facilitate the orderly deployment of abroad Filipino staff (OFWs). Immediately, a number of companies governing numerous points of labor migration are actually positioned beneath one roof—the Division of Migrant Staff (DMW), which has been working for 2 years now.
The migrant labor insurance policies of the previous 50 years have been consequential not just for the lives of particular person migrants themselves however the complete material of our nation—and even our world. OFWs proceed to work onerous to enhance their lives and that of their households. Within the course of, additionally they reshape each the societies by which they work, dwell, and thrive, in addition to the motherland—as an illustration, via abroad remittances and absentee voting.
Throughout the convention, a number of students remarked on the Philippines nonetheless being a mannequin of migration governance amongst labor-sending international locations. Constructive options cited embody the several types of help given to OFWs from earlier than they go away till they return, in addition to the proactive use of diplomatic instruments corresponding to bilateral labor agreements. Nonetheless, quite a few criticisms had been additionally raised—as an illustration, in the way in which nurse migration is managed whereas failing to handle home shortages and native working situations.
Critical questions had been additionally requested—for instance, on whether or not labor migration as a nationwide coverage should proceed, and the way migration abroad can ultimately develop into a matter of alternative quite than a matter of necessity for many Filipinos. I feel from a sociological perspective, Filipinos are a worldwide folks that can proceed to maneuver in varied methods and go away behind a worldwide footprint it doesn’t matter what. From an financial standpoint, so long as there may be shortage of employment alternatives at dwelling, Filipinos will at all times aspire to search for higher jobs overseas.
The Filipino migration journey will not be monolithic. From fellow students I heard about feminine home staff affected by employer abuse, but in addition about girls migrants who pursued their dream careers and even invested in small companies. Now that I personally am an OFW in Singapore, I additionally witness first-hand the variety of migrant experiences—within the hospitals, monetary district, or Fortunate Plaza.
Throughout the convention, I supplied a public well being perspective, which is usually uncared for within the migration discourse. Ten years in the past, I helped the Division of Well being set up the Philippine Migrant Well being Community, now a dynamic neighborhood of stakeholders from the well being, migration, labor, overseas affairs, and different sectors collectively selling the well being rights of Filipino migrants.
Throughout the pandemic, the federal government assisted greater than two million Filipinos to return dwelling—maybe the most important repatriation effort ever. We should not neglect the teachings from COVID-19, which taught us how to reply to migrant wants in instances of well being disaster.
Moreover, well being insurance policies catering to migrant staff should even be revisited, such because the regulation of clinics conducting pre-employment medical exams and Philippine Well being Insurance coverage Corp. insurance policies governing OFW contributions and the advantages that they and their households are entitled to.
As we glance to the longer term, Philippine labor migration have to be envisioned in gentle of three C’s of the twenty first century’s rising “polycrises”—local weather change which may drive new types of migration and vulnerabilities; COVID-like pandemics that may weaken well being system responses to the wants of migrants; and battle that may come up from more and more destabilizing geopolitics which can endanger not solely abroad jobs however migrant lives.
There was a lot multidisciplinary experience and mental vitality within the room. One problem raised is how to make sure that such wealthy scholarship and deep discourse are translated into insurance policies and packages that profit our Filipino migrants.
My advice is for the DMW to ascertain a technical advisory group composed of migration students from totally different disciplines—well being, economics, the social sciences, amongst others. Comparable fashions exist already, such because the Nationwide Panel of Technical Specialists of the Local weather Change Fee and the Nationwide Academy of Science and Expertise of the Division of Science and Expertise. Establishing such a physique will be certain that the subsequent 50 years of labor migration within the Philippines are knowledgeable by rigorous evaluation, vigorous debate, and one of the best out there science.
Renzo R. Guinto, M.D., Dr.P.H., is affiliate professor on the SingHealth Duke-NUS World Well being Institute based mostly on the Nationwide College of Singapore.
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