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THE
current crisis gripping global financial markets will
hit the country’s overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) the
hardest and may cause OFW remittances to fall, a labor
expert from the University of the Philippines (UP) said
on Thursday.
Dr. Rene
Ofreneo, professor and former dean of the UP School of
Labor and Industrial Relations (Solair), said the
government’s goal of sending out 1 million OFWs a year
under the 2004-2010 Medium-Term Philippine Development
Plan (MTPDP) will not be met as investor and consumer
confidence will decline due to the financial meltdown.
“The
Philippines is very vulnerable to the crisis and the No.
1 [sector] that will be hit is the OFWs,” Ofreneo told a
forum in Quezon City.
The fact
that the crisis is widespread and will spare no market
where OFWs are usually deployed is proving to be
problematic for Filipino laborers, he said.
With the
anticipated decline in the number of OFWs to be
deployed, remittances are also seen to suffer. He noted
that one-fourth of all OFW remittances come from North
America.
“A
decline in remittances will then cause consumption
spending to slow. Restaurants will be hit, and consumer
goods,” said Ofreneo.
The UP
labor expert said even the government’s goal of creating
1 million jobs every year is now under threat, as most
of the firms in the business process outsourcing (BPOs)
sector are servicing the overseas financial sector.
To
enable the Philippines to weather the financial crisis,
Ofreneo said the government should now adopt a different
develop paradigm.
“Where
do you go? You go back to the internal economy. You now
have to rely on internal strengths. We now have to
revive our local industries and our agriculture sector,”
he said. “It’s time to go back to basics.” |
