RP reliant on OFW remittances, not pursuing reforms

By Patricia de Leon The government has become reliant on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for economic boost instead of instituting reforms -- a situation which has created a "moral hazard" for the families left behind, an academician said at the weekend. Dr. Ernesto Pernia, a professor at the UP College of Economics, on Friday urged the government to rethink its policy of encouraging the export of labor, saying this may not be as sustainable as real economic policies like population control. "Going abroad has a very dear price for both those leaving and those left behind but the remittance bonanza has kept the government from pursuing real policy reforms," Pernia said in a briefing. There are more than 8.7 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 10 percent of the total population of the Philippines. Each year, the Philippines sends out more than a million of its nationals to work abroad. They are typically employed as doctors, accountants, housekeepers, nurses, engineers and domestic helpers. The Filipino diaspora is the third largest in terms of population. The Chinese is the largestt 35 million followed by the Indian diaspora at 22 million. OFW remittances from January to April reached $3.7 billion, a growth of 10.8 percent from the same period last year. In his paper "Diaspora, Remittances and Poverty Alleviation in RP", which is based on both the National Statistics Office Survey of Overseas Filipinos and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, Pernia said that from 1995-2004, 80 percent of Filipino households depended on OFW remittances for survival. He said that the increase of OFWs deployed in the last two years almost guaranteed an increase in percentage of households dependent on remittances from abroad. The study also revealed that higher GRDP growth from remittances did not benefit low-income families as much as it did high income families. "Remittances are good for the poor, but are even better for the less poor and better-off," Pernia said. The study showed that more than half of OFWs come from the three most developed regions of the country—Central Luzon, National Capital Region and Southern Luzon. Very few come from poor regions like the Bicol Region or the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, aggravating inter-regional disparity in development, Pernia said. Pernia also said more OFWs from developed regions qualify for work abroad because they had access to better education and training. - GMANews.TV