By Center for People Empowerment in Governance (Cenpeg)  |  The more the economy is stagnant, the less its ability to create jobs, the more dependent government becomes on overseas labor deployment.

The US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN USA, an alliance of 12 Filipino organizations across the US, joins the rest of the American people and beyond in celebrating the historical significance of having the first Black president elected into the executive office of the White House. It is overwhelming and appropriate that [...]

Migrante International assails the Philippine government for sitting down on the issue of about 6,000 stranded OFWs in different countries in the Middle East. The group particularly criticized acting DFA Secretary Esteban Conejos, Jr. for literally waiting for the response of the UAE government before acting on the matter.

“The BI is practically saying toFiipino citizens,” pag di kayo pumirma dito, problema niyo na iyan, bahala na kayo mag-isa niyo” Migrante spokesperson Garry Martinez declared. “This is precisely the kind of response we expect from a self-serving government who cares little, if at all, for its citizens.”

We Filipinos needed to re-calibrate our understanding of what’s usual or normal, the instant we began to move out into the world en masse. Unfortunately, that has been difficult, because of the re-feudalization accompanying migration, particularly for women.

Senate President Manuel Villar and Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) have introduced a bill that seeks to correct the flaws in the Overseas Absentee Act of 2003 (Republic Act 9189), especially in the areas of registration, voting and disqualification of voters, and enable more Filipinos abroad to exercise their right of suffrage.
Senate [...]

The OFWs said that instead of helping them, them Filipino officials in Saudi Arabia caused them problems and hardship.

They paid fixers operating around the Philippine consulate to be able to go back home but were instead made to live under a bridge. They asked the assistance of the consulate but were taken to the Saudi police. They endured cramped cells with very little food and water in two deportation centers. And now, some of them are back to describe their harrowing experiences, of dreams turning into nightmares.

Jose Antonio Vargas, a 27-year-old reporter for the Washington Post, was part of the team that covered the April 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre.

MIGRANTE-Japan condemns the gruesome murder of Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa, a 22-year old Filipina whose body was found mutilated in an apartment located in Tokyo’s Minato district on April 4, 2008. We demand that justice be served for the victim and her family.
Only recently, another Filipina was murdered by her Japanese husband along with the couple’s [...]

The World Bank said growth in the Philippines will slow down to 5.9 this year. It expressed concern that the strong performance last year (7.9 percent GDP) has not reduced poverty. (Read the report’s executive summary, introduction and the Philippine section.)

Of the 18,269 suspicious transactions the Anti-Money Laundering Council flagged for the past six years, none were linked to earnings by OFWs.

SPECIAL REPORT | By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano | Reliance on money from Filipinos overseas hasn’t helped the country get out of the poverty rut. In fact, according to an economist, remittances may be contributing to the persistence of high inequality in the Philippines.

OFWs Struggle for Survival in Kuwait

We condemn the fact that while the epidemic corruption afflicting your government is tolerated, the unconscionable act of neglect of government agencies and the maltreatment, harassment and labor malpractices committed against overseas Filipino workers, specifically in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait , go unchecked.

Addressing the impact of the lowering peso value requires more than the mitigating measures government has so far implemented, including the hedge fund set up by the DBP, and Malacañang’s fiscal stimulus program

By Sonny Africa
IBON Features – A year ago, Pres.Gloria Arroyo was hyping the strengthening peso as a validation of her efforts to build [...]

Parasitic! This is what Migrante Middle East described the hedge funds supposedly to shield Overseas Filipino Workers from the declining value of the peso against the US dollar that Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo launched in Dubai.
Supposedly to shield overseas Filipino workers from the falling peso exchange against the US dollar due to its stronger value, [...]

Call centers and overseas Filipino workers, both lauded by the Arroyo government as economic winners, are seen to be the worst hit by an anticipated US recession and general slowdown in the world economy, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.
IBON research head Sonny Africa said that the country’s economy would be hurt by a foreseen [...]