For the past five years, the Philippines has dodged the recession plaguing the developed world mainly because of the billions of dollars sent home by some 10 million Filipinos living or working abroad. But the picture is no longer that rosy. Last week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that in March, remittances from overseas Filipinos grew at their slowest pace in nearly four years.
I had originally intended to compose a synopsis of a speech I delivered last Feb. 26 at the Second Annual Arangkada Forum of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce, hoping thereby to make my life easier. However, the Management Association of the Philippines featured virtually the entire speech in the March 4 issue of the Inquirer, and while I felt honored, I also realized that my lazy ploy had been thwarted.
This is in reaction to Daet Bishop Gilbert Garcera’s remark about overpopulation benefiting the country in which he gave three reasons to support the statement (“Overpopulation good for Pinoys, says bishop,” Inquirer, 12/29/12). The first reason he gave was that as Christians, overseas Filipino workers are given the chance to take care of old people [...]
This is in reaction to Neal H. Cruz’s Jan. 4 column which made reference to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). He wrote “…In 26 years of hunting, PCGG officials probably pocketed more money in the form of salaries and allowances than what they have recovered.”
Confidence in the Philippine economy, whether from within or from outside, appears to be catching on. Various analysts are consistently coming out with positive predictions on how our economy will shine among others in the years ahead. We haven’t seen this level of confidence in our economic outlook since the 1990s, when President Fidel V. Ramos succeeded in attracting a lot of foreign investor attention for the country, leading to booming stock markets and accelerating production and incomes.
Does anyone know how much money Filipino-Americans send to their families in the Philippines? I am told it is $8 billion annually or about P340 billion. I am not sure if Filipino-Canadians are included in this amount. Either way, the amount is staggering.
It becomes clearer by each new visit, of which I have had quarterly for almost five years, that Filipinos in America continue to carry the flame in their heart for their motherland. The most intense evidence of this is their active attachment to family, resulting in approximately $8 billion of annual remittances.
OVERSEAS Filipino workers keep our economy afloat with remittances to their relatives back here at home.
This is in reaction to a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas report stating that overall OFW remittance in January this year was the lowest compared to the remittances during the same month in 2009 and 2010. Per BSP data, the money transfers grew significantly slower last January from 7.6 percent a year earlier and from 8.5 percent in the first month of 2010.
IN THE high-profile coverage of conflicts in Arab states and earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan, the fate of Filipino migrants is often left out of the story. However, it is important to consider the consequences and opportunities that crises around the world pose for the Philippines. Whether the occasion is one of celebration or [...]
