Background

It is extremely difficult to cover the Philippine international migration processes involving an estimated 10 million overseas Filipinos living and spread in more than 190 countries, and a significant number being undocumented. As of 2012, worldwide there are an estimated 10,489,628 Filipinos who work and live abroad. The migrant stock is about 10% of the total Philippine population (currently at 100 million). There is a near-equal gender distribution of overseas Filipinos, be it overseas workers and emigrants.

Migration is increasingly becoming a livelihood strategy of many poor people from developing countries. Remittances –the money migrant workers send home - are private money and their families and communities whom migrants left behind are the direct beneficiaries. Some migrant-sending countries like the Philippines are largely dependent on remittances, and these have a direct impact on the social structure of the families, household, and community. This dependence correlates according to household strategy migration theory that a family member leaves to find jobs elsewhere as a form of family insurance by spreading risks and diversifying sources of income instead of relying on one. Migrants are expected to send money back home, and migrants are bound to fulfill this ‘family contract’ despite all the hardships they encounter in their workplace.

Based on World Bank estimates, Filipino migrants worldwide sent US$25 billion in 2013.[1] The amount is US$3 billion more than the country’s total electronic exports. Remittances can result in increased incomes, improved health and better education, while contributing to the country’s economic development. Remittances become a steady source of foreign currency in turn, increase the country’s credit-worthiness. It is for this reason that migration is linked with development, and why migrants are lauded not only as unsung heroes but also as potential investors who can help propel economic development in their home communities. In the Philippines, migrants’ remittances constitute about 8.6 percent of Philippine GDP in 2012, less than the peak of 10.4 percent of GDP in 2006, but still higher than the 7.5 percent registered in 2005, according to British Bank Standard Chartered report.

Several studies also show a strong correlation between remittances and improving the quality of life of migrants’ families. For instance, a World Bank study shows a positive correlation between remittances and poverty reduction: a 10 percent increase in the share of remittances in a country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) can lead to a 2.1 percent decline in the share of people living on less than $1.00 per person per day. A similar 10 percent increase in per capita official international remittances will lead to a 3.5 percent decline in the share of people living in poverty.

The social cost of migration

The flip side of migration is the heavy social costs due to long separation of families. according to various studies, migration often takes a tremendous toll on families, both for husbands and wives and/or parents and children, who are separated by distances and long time periods, creating a tendency towards alienation and even a sense of abandonment for those left behind, particularly for children who do not fully understand why a parent has to work outside. Others also argue that effects of long-term separation of mothers and children have been shown in some studies to have a stronger possibility of negative consequences on the children’s behavior, compared to the situations wherein it is the fathers who are the migrant workers, particularly as the mothers are the traditional primary caregivers in the family.

How families manage remittances is crucial to the success of migrants but some members of migrants’ families are no longer motivated to find work and rely largely on the money they receive regularly from abroad. This is one of the reasons that migrants are not able to save or invest to secure their own financial future. Consequently, it also impacts the return and reintegration plans of migrant workers.

A large number of Filipino migrant workers return to their country of origin after the end of their contracts without having adequately prepared for their reintegration and without any stable source of income. In many instances, migrant workers go home and find themselves in a similar situation they were in before they found jobs abroad.

Migrants’ remittances can fuel economic growth and fight poverty if properly harnessed. However, in spite of these huge remittance flows, it cannot be assumed that by working abroad, migrants are readily able to secure their financial future. Effective and productive management of remittances requires not only cutting the costs of remittance transfer but also an enabling environment both in sending and receiving countries with popular support from migrants and cooperation among stakeholders must also be in place. Whether migration and heavy reliance on remittances – both for migrants and the country - is sustainable in the long term or not remains an interesting subject of ongoing studies and public debates on why people migrate despite the social costs, how migration affects their livelihood strategies, and what effects they have on poverty.

Remittances and education

Citing the quarterly Consumer Expectations Survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (particularly the second quarter of 2013), 95.4% said money from their loved ones abroad was spent for food, 67% said it was spent for education, 54.9% for medical expenses. This shows that education remains a major expenditure for overseas migrants and their families—showing their prioritization of not just the children’s future but education as a stepping stone for development.

Since tuition fees deregulation in 1992, an annual average increase of 12% have rendered higher education out of reach for many Filipinos. Despite high population growth, enrollments in private universities have been stalled for three years. About 1.2m Filipinos leave the Philippines every year, averaging at least 3,000 per day. The key reason is to provide for their children's education, notably for the universities' tuition fees: Upang Makapagpatapos.

But once overseas, many and even more so their families back in the Philippines spend money unwisely. The family may misunderstand the plight of the OFW and keeps asking for more. A large part of the remittances go to consumption and is not invested to prepare for the future. Where is all the money going?

At the same time, the needs are tremendous. In 2009, UNICEF estimates that 9 million children under 18 or 27% of the total youth grow up with one or both parents left overseas. In universities in Cavite, Laguna or Batangas (Calabarzon), up to 40% of enrollees are supported by OFW relatives.

Collection of tuition fees is an issue for educational institutions, especially in the context of K to 12 (Kindergarten to Grade 12) Basic Education Program. During five years, universities will not have students at least for one or two years. Some institutions will face the risk of bankruptcy, despite the new voucher provided by the government and the extension of some universities into senior high schools.

Post2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that were established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, after the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. MDGs range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions.

According to United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Philippines is faced with the daunting task of overcoming and reversing the performance of some MDGs that are off-tracked or least likely to be achieved by 2015. The Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) supersedes MDGs to be the global compass for focus and resources the next 15 years. SDGs contains 17 Goals and 159 targets to be achieved in 2030 which start in 2016.

From the point of view of migrants spending on education, good health, food, a piece of land, or real estate is already a form of investments. However, they set aside a very small percentage only for savings and investments to make their money grow to eventually secure their future. In order to help migrant workers and their families, support programs are needed to ensure that their hard-earned money are put to good use be it in the form of prudent spending on basic necessities, savings or investments. How do we harness this enormous resources to sustainable development and what measures should be undertaken so that migration work for development and leaving home to find greener pastures elsewhere becomes a choice and not a desperate option?

Conference

In this connection, PhilSmile, WIMLER Foundation Philippines, Ateneo de Davao University, and MINCODE are organizing a conference on “The Role of Migrants and their Remittances in Sustainable Development”. The main objective of the conference is to understand the dynamics of migration (why people move), migrants’ remittances and how they impact the lives of OFWs and their families left behind. The conference explores the role migrants and their remittances in sustainable development. It will also identify areas of concerns and form possible collaboration to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development particularly those that promote the economic well-being of migrants and their families particularly in the context of Mindanao. The conference includes topics that are relevant to migrants and their families such as migration, remittances, savings, entrepreneurship, investments, financial inclusion, and education, all are targets of SDGs.

The conference will be held on December 6, 2014 in Davao City at the Ateneo de Davao University F213 Auditorium, Jacinto Campus. We hope to get about 100 participants largely from different places in Mindanao region. Participants from other regions are also welcome.

A roundtable discussion will be held on December 7, 2014. Expected to attend are about 35 participants representing various sectors to further discuss the results of the conference and identify strategies on how to implement the key recommendations in a collaborative manner.

[1]http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/04/11/remittances-developing-countries-deportations-migrant-workers-wb accessed September 17, 2014.