DAVAO CITY – The projected slowdown of OFW (overseas Filipino workers) remittance this year shows the need to generate “decent” employment in the country, a labor group said.
Kilusang Mayo Uno on Thursday said the remittance slowdown, as shown by a six-year low of 0.5 per cent increase in January, shows that the government cannot rely on other countries to provide employment to Filipinos.
The situation is further aggravated by a national outcry over the impending execution of Mary Jane Veloso in Indonesia for drug possession.
According to reports, remittances are losing steam because countries where many OFWs are found – such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Canada – are facing economic slowdowns.
“The signs are clear and they are everywhere: the government should stop relying on other countries to provide jobs to Filipinos. The global economic and financial crisis continues and jobless Filipinos are taken advantage of by human trafficking syndicates,” said Elmer Labog, KMU chairperson.
Labog said that with its Labor Export Policy, the government is simply going around its task of generating decent employment and promoting economic growth in the long term.
Labog also said the government’s economic and employment policies run counter to land reform and national industrialization and have thus failed to generate decent jobs within the country.
“Instead of distributing lands to farmers, the government has allowed the concentration of lands in the hands of a few. Instead of developing national industries, the government has allowed the destruction of local industries and has made the country more dependent on foreign corporations,” Labog said.
