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Press Release
Comprehensive OFW Reintegration Program
Network formed to prepare 'heroes' for socio-economic reintegration
By Alfred A. Araya Jr. (CyberDyaryo)
OFW Journalism Consortium
Local non-government organizations working for the welfare
of migrant workers say that majority of these so-called "modern
economic heroes" are unable to save and prepare economically
for their return home. Often, the migrant worker returnee
is in the same economic condition as when he left, forcing
him to leave once again.
An overseas Filipino worker's (OFW) stint abroad does to
provide for the financial needs of his family offers no certainty
that when he comes home he can enjoy the fruits of his labor.
He also faces the social costs of prolonged separation from
his family and community.
It is good news therefore that stakeholders agree on the
need to build a network and establish a viable program to
address the social and economic reintegration of the country's
much-touted modern heroes.
This was resolved by the First National Conference on OFW
Reintegration held in Manila on April 12 to 13. Some 146 delegates
representing government institutions and local and international
civil society groups, agreed to draw up a Comprehensive OFW
Reintegration Program (CORP) to "address the problems
brought by migration and to maximize its potentials for development."
The members of the conference' organizing committee consisted
of four NGOs and a government entity, namely, Atikha, Inc.;
Balikabayani Foundation, Inc.; Episcopal Commission for the
Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI); Unlad-Kabayan
Migrant Services Foundation, Inc.; and the Overseas Workers
Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The conference was organized to promote understanding and
unity among stakeholders to create greater impact on the implementation
of programs and projects on reintegration, such as savings
mobilization, counseling, advocacy, and organizing.
CORP is a process
"We affirm that the CORP is a process that facilitates
the optimization of overseas migration through the creation
of awareness and development of a shared vision between OFWs
and their families in the need for psychosocial and economic
preparation for the eventual return of OFWs," the delegates
said in a statement after the two-day meet.
The delegates also recognized the need to develop strong
organizations of migrants, their families, communities and
advocates; forge partnerships, cooperation and active participation
between and among organizations of migrants and their families,
and local and national governments in the implementation of
the program. The statement further spoke about the need to
"create mechanisms that will sustain coordinated efforts
towards the implementation of the CORP."
In a press conference held by OWWA officials and NGO representatives
on the first day of the meet, the NGO leaders talked of projecting
reintegration as a "movement" among the various
stakeholders-government, NGOs, OFWs, their organizations,
their families, and communities.
But the immediate challenge, they admitted, is how to make
the concept of reintegration understandable to the ordinary
migrant workers and their families. Or better put, start with
how to translate "reintegration"-a seemingly technical
word-into layman's language.
Reintegration is often viewed as the final step in the migration
process. However, it should be seen as "a continuing
process that involves the whole cycle of migration from pre-departure,
on-site and upon return, [and] entails the social and economic
preparation of the migrants, their families and communities,
"said Mai Dizon Anonuevo, executive director of Balikabayani
Foundation, Inc.
One rationale is to give the migrant returnee a fallback
option that will help him sustain his livelihood. "A
well-defined and concrete program on livelihood which may
serve as the returning OFWs' fallback and option should be
gleamed as an important factor in their decision to come home
and settle for good in exchange for a secure future,"
said OWWA Administrator Wilhelm Soriano.
Even before leaving for abroad
Planned reintegration involves the migrant and his family
and should start when he is still overseas, not when he is
already back in the country. In fact, it should start even
before the OFW leaves for employment abroad.
The program would also involve community institutions such
as NGOs, churches and schools as well as the local and national
government, to create an environment where migrants would
be encouraged to invest their earnings.
Using their earnings as capital for livelihood and business
enterprises in their communities, migrants will not only provide
a means of livelihood for their families and for themselves
when they return, they will also stimulate the growth of the
local economy.
According to Gina Alunan Melgar of Atikha, an NGO giving
migrant children training on entrepreneurial skills, the idea
is to pilot some communities and see if these can be replicated
in other areas.
Balikbayani's Anonuevo said that although various NGOs have
such programs that service the needs of the OFW in the pre-departure,
on-site, or upon return, these groups have worked independently
of each other and have not really "networked". The
efforts, thus far have been "kalat-kalat (Scattered),"
she said.
NGOs here and abroad have provided services to migrants such
as providing counseling to minimize the social costs of migration,
and putting up mechanisms to encourage migrants to form cooperatives,
save, and use the savings as capital to invest in their communities
at home. Investments have taken the form of land acquisition
for their families and establishing business ventures.
Unsure of sustainability of earnings
However, the present reality for many returning OFWs is that
they come back to the country unsure about the sustainability
of their finances.
Anonuevo told of a municipality in Batangas where 10,000
residents work as OFWs. The municipality receives about P100
million in remittances monthly. But, she said, "Because
they have no plans, the money's not invested back to benefit
the community. Some are invested in big homes but there's
no economic development."
Ivy Bueno, an OFW in Rome, admitted at the press conference
that her fellow migrant workers want to come home but they
"can't do anything" because they don't know how
to sustain their earnings back home. She said, however, that
things have started to change now that NGOs are helping them.
Because NGOs can only do so much, the delegates stressed
that government can help fast track the reintegration program
by providing "the infrastructure and climate for investments,
enterprise development, and local employment."
They also urged government to:
1. Recognize OFWs as a "special sector" and strengthen
OFW representation in policy-formulating boards;
2. Make economic and social reintegration a centerpiece of
the country's overseas employment program sustained by legislative
and executive initiatives;
3. Ensure the involvement of the different departments and
bureaus of the national and local government in the CORP;
4. Commit human, financial and other requisite resources
for the comprehensive approach to OFW reintegration; and
5. Provide empowering mechanisms to migrants, their families
and communities, and advocates to enhance their involvement
in the affairs of governance locally and overseas.
For a country that relies heavily on dollar remittances to
save its economy, the reintegration program, as envisioned
by its stakeholders, could become one of the best and most
befitting of offerings the country can make to its acclaimed
heroes.- OFW Journalism Consortium
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Press release contributed by:
OFW Journalism Consortium
Contact address: INSTITUTE ON CHURCH AND SOCIAL ISSUES
2/F ISO Building, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila
University,
Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Philippines
63-02-4265953, 4266070 (fax), jopiniano@lycos.com, OFJournConsortium@yahoogroups.com
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