Professional OFW oiling Philippine economic machinery

Last year the Philippine Chamber of Industrial Estate and Economic Zone and its president, Audi Adiviso, invited former Neda director-general Cayetano Paderanga to give an economic briefing at the Mandarin Oriental. In that briefing, Paderanga noted that Malaysia made a $14-billion profit from fossil-fuel oil production. He said that in 2007, the Philippines also struck oil—from the remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amounting to $14 billion.

This year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects $16.45 billion in remittances, a 10-percent growth in money sent by Filipinos working overseas, despite economic slowdown in the United States and in Europe. This forecast is on track. In April 2008 remittances from Filipinos working overseas already rose by $1.4 billion, an acceleration of 9-percent annual growth. The BSP also announced that financial investments of OFW households doubled in the first quarter of the year from 21.9 percent in 2007 to 48 percent.

It is a fact that OFW remittances have been fueling the country’s economic growth and heavily financing the government’s domestic borrowing, making the Philippines the world’s third-largest recipient of workers’ remittances. Their contribution is equivalent to over 11 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP).

In more ways than one, the talent and hard work of OFWs literally oil our economic machine.

Pinoy professionals in Singapore

I just came back from a holiday in Singapore. Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road has always been known as Little Manila there; domestic helpers go there to remit money home or buy the week’s supply of phone cards. You can hear a lot of people speaking in Filipino, Cebuano or Ilocano. You can eat lutong bahay at the food court, and get served by a kababayan. Filipino money changers approach you and talk to you in Filipino. On a Sunday, Lucky Plaza is a point of convergence for Filipinos and has a fiesta feel to it.

But not all Filipinos are comfortable with going to Lucky Plaza. Whether they admit it or not, the growing community of Filipino professionals would rather be seen elsewhere. They prefer to chill out at the Paragon cafés, discuss books at Borders in Wheelock or go shopping at Takashimaya. This new breed of Filipino expatriates in Singapore work with global corporations. Aside from being paid in Singaporean currency, many are housed in serviced apartments or sizable homes in Bukit Timah. They themselves contract the services of their fellow Filipinos for child care and support with house work.

In Singapore, as it is in other major cities across the world, the traditional image of the OFW has been changing over the past years. There are now several faces to the OFW—the corporate executive more and more being an alternative poster girl/boy to the nanny and seafarer.

Divergent dreams

Filipino expats you meet in Singapore dream with a long-term view—with their families with them, the ambition is often to become a permanent resident in a year or two, and maybe even a Singaporean citizen further down the line. On the other hand, a skilled Filipino worker dreams with immediate needs in mind as they sleep alone far from family—having enough money to rush back to the Philippines and pick up family life from where they left off.

For example, I met a Filipina, formerly a marketing officer for a Manila shopping mall, now working as storekeeper of Cold Storage supermarket in Newton. She told me and my wife she felt awfully lonely living alone. The 30-to 40-minute train ride home to the government housing flat she rents is often a quiet time to think about how much she has already saved and how much more she needs to stick around for. Upon learning that our daughter is an HR manager for a multinational company, she sought references for work in the Philippines to rejoin her family. But with Philippine-based companies struggling to be competitive because of the high cost of doing business, job consolidation and retrenchment are in effect. Coming back home doesn’t look like a rosy alternative for our OFWs.

It’s a different story with Mickey (not his real name), who completed his collegiate studies at the National University of Singapore in early 2000. We met him at the Novena Church of the Redemptorist (like our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran), where majority of the parishioners are Filipinos. Mickey is now an officer of a Singaporean bank. Admittedly, he is Filipino by heart. But he timidly broke the news that he could not resist the offer of the Singaporean government for a permanent residency, then citizenship. His parents can visit him longer, and he can now avail himself of the government’s Central Provident Fund. He is also no longer tied to a single employer, like those with work permits or employment passes. He can jump into the robust job market if he wants to.

Implication for business management

The global operation of business enterprises in the Philippines has caused a number of manufacturing plants to be relocated in Southeast Asia, particularly to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Singapore, as a financial center, has given manufacturing companies tax breaks and the outsourcing of production. Thus, a manufactured good intended for the Philippines is being produced in Thailand and is booked in Singapore, but the goods are directly shipped to the Philippines. This type of outsourcing has closed some manufacturing plants in the Philippines. But Philippine finance and human resources are effectively expatriated to Singapore to handle this global transaction.

The versatile talent of Filipinos in human relations (smooth interpersonal relations and pakikisama) has become a key asset when given a regional or international assignment. Business schools should continue to develop the technical skills of students in business, but must complement these skills with strong human and cultural foundation for global business setting.

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“Mirror Image” is a rotating column featuring writers from the DLSU Professional Schools Inc.

Dr. Emiliano T. Hudtohan teaches at De La Salle University Graduate School of Business; is a visiting professor of the De La Salle University MBA at Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia; is a lecturer at the Graduate School of Social Work of Philippine Women’s University, Manila; and adviser of Philippines OFW Legacy Corp. His e-mail address: dr.eth2008@gmail.com

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Mirror Image: Professional OFW oiling Philippine economic machinery

Last year the Philippine Chamber of Industrial Estate and Economic Zone and its president, Audi Adiviso, invited former Neda director-general Cayetano Paderanga to give an economic briefing at the Mandarin Oriental. In that briefing, Paderanga noted that Malaysia made a $14-billion profit from fossil-fuel oil production. He said that in 2007, the Philippines also struck oil—from the remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amounting to $14 billion.

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