Due to global crisis many Filipinos will be illegal migrants to other countries, says DFA

Miami
October 15, 2008
Story: Due to global crisis many Filipinos will be illegal migrants to other countries, says DFA

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that due to the global financial crisis that the world is currently experiencing right now, the department assumed that many Filipinos would become irregular migrants to other countries.

DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos cited three types of effects that the country will might experience due to global crisis and these are, “reduction on remittances; loss of job of the migrants and irregular migration.”

But he immediately cleared that the three types that he mentioned has no effect yet at the present time.

Irregular migrants as the DFA defines it are the people who are working in other countries with no proper documents like working visas, carrying fake passport or victims of human trafficking.

Conejos said that the DFA will focus more now on how to eradicate the human trafficking that victimized most Filipinos in going to other countries to work.

He also added that the three most in demand work abroad are the construction, health sectors and domestic helpers. Of all these three, Conejos said that the domestic helpers are the vulnerable one.

“There is no effect yet with the construction especially in Middle East, many of our countrymen still be needing at the Middle East for construction purposes, same with our nurses where their skills will still much be required. But we think, the domestic helpers are the most vulnerable one, they are the ones that have the probability to loose a job,” Conejos said during the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) forum at Mandarin Hotel, Wednesday morning.

Presently, the DFA has an estimate of eight million Filipinos working in different parts of the world. “About half of the eight million is already permanent resident in the United States and in Canada. The other half are mostly in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Middle East,” Conejos said.

The DFA still believed that remittances will not be affected by the global crisis. “Everytime there is a crisis, remittances increases, because our OFW in other countries would want to compensate the needs of their families here in the Philippines,” Conejos explained.