Despite the growing number of unfortunate events happening in different parts of the world, remittances made by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have soared higher by 5.9 percent or $4.6 billion this first quarter as compared to the same period last year according to Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco, reported in a statement last May 16, that the surge in the remittances came from OFWs on land (12.1 percent) and on sea (4.3 percent), whose cash transfers mostly came from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom (UK), Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Italy.
BSP also cited the 203,748 approved job placements by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for the period of January 1- April 30 2011. The data obtained from the POEA revealed that most of the approved jobs like production, service, professional, technical, and other related works, are in demand in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
However, even with the growing job opportunities that await Filipinos abroad, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, said in a report that the recent repatriation of a large number of OFWs from countries that are under political disorder can cause “some impact” on remittances and exports.
BSP proved otherwise, saying that the remittance gained from Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria, was even 4.5 percent higher ($40.1million) in the first quarter of this year than what was acquired the same period of last year.
Realizing that natural and political disasters knows no time nor place, the local government expressed its concern to further improve disaster risk reduction in the Philippines. Last May 11, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon-Juliano Soliman, said before the Third Session of the Global Platform of Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, that the passage of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 or the Republic Act 10121 paves way to implement the reduction of disaster risk by decentralizing efforts to different sectors of the local government.
Meanwhile, Filipino migrant workers who are based in calamity-stricken countries like Japan have shown resiliency as evident in the remittance growth of 5.3 percent or $219million, the BSP report said that remittance rate from Japan is still considered slow compared to the 12.12 percent remittance recorded last year.
Despite the slow growth, reconstruction projects in Japan can be seen as an opportunity for Filipino migrant workers as the disaster-stricken country tries to recuperate from its loss according to the BSP. Likewise, rebuilding projects of damaged properties due to floods in Australia last December 2010 are also seen as favorable employment opportunities for OFWs—especially the displaced ones—who are construction workers, welders, and carpenters, the POEA said.
For Filipinos, job descriptions are mere titles which does not define them as persons. It is the amount of energy they exert in what they do that matters more. Because they know that as long as they earn money in a dignified manner, all their hard work will eventually pay off knowing that the people who motivated them to work in the first place will be proud of them and of what they have achieved.
The ability to work in any condition is an achievement in itself. A person who shows resiliency amid the overwhelming challenges that lie ahead of him is worthy of the world’s respect because it is through overcoming these challenges that one becomes bolder, wiser, more enduring, and appreciative of even the smallest thing in life that most people tend to overlook.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(Las Vegas May 19-25, 2011 Sec A pg.6)
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