PHILIPPINE MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT NEXUS: AN OVERVIEW

1. PHILIPPINE MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT NEXUS: AN OVERVIEW Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

2. OUTLINE • Remittances and Beyond: Taking the Wider View on Migration’s Contribution to Philippine Development • Mainstreaming Migration into Development Planning: Challenges in Carving A More Effective Role for the Government • Creating a Sub-Committee on Migration and Development (SCMD) Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

3. PART 1Remittances and Beyond: Taking the Wider View on Migration’s Contribution to Philippine Development Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

4. STOCK ESTIMATES OF OVERSEAS FILIPINOS As of December 2012 TOTAL : 10,489,623 Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

5. OVERSEAS FILIPINOS REMITTANCES • Overseas Filipinos cash remittances grew by 7.4 % in 2013 to a total of USD 23 billion constituting 9.5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) • Source: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/statistics/keystat/ofw.htm Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

6. OVERSEAS FILIPINOS REMITTANCES • Critical sources of foreign exchange and a key driver that has promoted macroeconomic stability • Overall positive impact of remittances on access to basic yet critical services such as education and health • Almost universal recognition of positive impact on poverty reduction, at the very least among recipient households. Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

7. BEYOND REMITTANCES: OTHER MIGRANT CONTRIBUTIONS • Transfer of skills and knowledge • Source of direct investment in critical industries • Philanthropic contributions: CFO directly received P2.6 billion in donations from Filipinos abroad between 1990 and 2012 • Social and political remittances: ideas, practices, identities, and social capital that migrants “remit” home In short, OFs value extends beyond the money they send home. Frequently overlooked in policy discussions on migration and development are the OFs themselves – the human capital, networks, skills and ideas they have acquired while abroad and that are potentially useful to Philippine development. Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

8. “COSTS” OF MIGRATION Making migration work for development also requires an understanding of the potentially negative impact of migration on the development strategy. • Migration’s impact effect on the labor markets for those who stay at home • Whether the departure of migrants actually eased unemployment, increased real wage and resulted in brain drain, or even brain waste • Effect of remittances on inequality • Unimaginable social costs to migrants and their families straining the very fabric of the Filipino society. Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

9. Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development • Reducing the costs of migration on Filipino migrants, their families and communities left behind • Maximizing the development potential of migration by harnessing migrant resources and implementing sound emigration policies Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

10. PRESIDENT AQUINO’S SOCIAL CONTRACT “A Commitment to Transformational Leadership” H.E. BENIGNO S. AQUINO III President of the Republic of the Philippines 16-POINT CONTRACT WITH THE FILIPINO PEOPLE Point No. 10 which is migration related: “From a government that treats its people as an export commodity and a means to earn foreign exchange, disregarding the social cost to Filipino families…….. to a government that creates jobs at home, so that working abroad will be a choice rather than a necessity, and when its citizens do choose to become OFWs, their welfare and protection will still be the government’s priority.” Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

11. PART IIMainstreaming Migration into Development Planning: Challenges in Carving A More Effective Role for the Government Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

12. Mainstreaming Migration into the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 • Inclusion of 60 migration and development related provisions in 7 out of 9 chapters of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016 • Inclusion of more policy statements during the Mid-term review of the PDP Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

13. INTERAGENCY COMMITTEES Interagency committees were created in recent years to deal with various issues concerning migration, particularly on leveraging remittance flows and protecting migrant workers. • Remittances for Development Council (ReDC) • Consultative Council on Overseas Filipino Workers (CCOFW) reconstituted in May 2013 as the Overseas Landbased Tripartite Consultative Council (OLTCC). Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

14. PART IIICreating a Sub-Committee on INTERNATIONAL Migration and Development (SCMD) Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

15. SCMD COMPOSITION • Under the Social Development Committee (SDC) of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) • Chair: NEDA • Members: • Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) • Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) • Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) • Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) • Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

16. The current MTPDP’s broad thrusts are already clearly laid out. • The Philippine government is focusing towards: • massive infrastructure development • employment generation particularly on high-quality and high-productive industries; • higher governance standards; • human development and human capital formation, particularly on improving access to health care and education; and direct poverty-relief. • The SCMD aims specifically to understand and locate migration’s role in achieving progress in these priority areas. Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

17. SCMD Duties and Functions Prepare a research program for the conduct of policy studies and recommend to the SDC policies, programs and projects related to migration and development consistent with national development objectives and priorities; Report the implementation of multi-stakeholder and/or multi-agency programs and policies on migration and development and recommend to SDC, actions required therefrom, especially after evaluating impacts of such programs and policies; and Respond to the directives and needs of the SDC cabinet in terms of formulating migration and development-related policies. Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development

18. THANK YOU! Commission on Filipinos Overseas Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development