THE SCARS OF BALIK-BAYAN BOXES

​ Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs are known to be the modern day heroes of the
Philippines, these workers are helping to boost the economy of the country through their
contribution to the countries’ gross domestic product (GDP). Such a positive impact is because
of Labor Migration. Despite the significant contributions in uplifting the economy of the country, it
carries a valuable cost to the social aspects, such as weakening the ties between OFWs
themselves and to their family. This adds to one of the major challenges of OFWs that also
includes, illegal recruitment, irregular migration, and etc. Labor migration, indeed, helps to
decrease the rate of unemployment in the Philippines to which an increasing number of Filipinos
have chosen to find employment and better opportunities abroad due to the higher salaries and
better benefits provided by their foreign employers. Personally speaking, it has been essential
for the Philippines to allow migrants to contribute to our economy and society as a whole
through working abroad, however, too much deployment of human capital would lead to the
phenomenon, called brain drain. It is another condition that needs to be understood
comprehensively. The impact of brain drain on the economy can be considered to be negative,
particularly for developing countries, like the Philippines. Although there can be some positive
effects, such as transferring of knowledge, the remittances OFWs can provide, these are not
enough to hide the negative consequences.

​ It occurs to me that the issue of labor migration is best complemented with conflict
theory, as this theory focuses on views of social and economic institutions as tools in the
struggle among groups or classes. I think that labor migration happens when there is an
unequal opportunity, struggle to acquire resources, and other economic, social, and political
disparities. Even before, it has been evident that the Philippines has been lacking opportunities
for every one of its citizens pushing many Filipinos to work abroad in order to provide the best
quality of life that their family deserves. If there are opportunities for citizens, qualifications and
other standard requirements limiting the access to these opportunities. Philippine job
opportunities have been selective when it comes to the employees, the factor that is notable for
forcing people to migrate. Conflict Theory recognizes labor migration as one of the possible
impacts rooted from the inequalities that Filipinos have been facing throughout the years. In
addition, because of labor migration, the ties and emotional intimacy of OFWs and their children
have weakened due to the separation, unavailability to show emotional support, and other
personal issues arose because of labor migration (e.g. parents that are unable to attend during
graduation or other celebratory moments of their children). Analyzing the reasons and
challenges of Filipinos that are forced to work abroad due to the unequal access to resources
and other opportunities is recognized as conflict theory, as it determines the view of the
struggles of FIlipinos why they are seeking opportunities outside their native country.

​ The data indicates the numbers of Filipinos who work abroad, data are categorized by
their usual occupations, by sex, deployed by land and marital status from 1975 up until 2010. In
terms of usual occupations, Professionals and Technical workers are migrants in 1975 which
comprises 53.5% compared to 45.4% in 2010 that are service workers. Production workers
received the highest demand in the 1980s comprising 64.2 % of the OFWs. Managerial,
Clerical, Agricultural Workers, and other Work Reclassification have not been in demand
between these years. This will reflect the demands of workers needed abroad, that could
potentially reflect the number of human capital that Filipinos have lost during the respective
years. In addition, the Middle East has gained Philippine human resource in 2015 which
comprised 64% compared to other countries in the world that were deployed by land. Moreover,
women are more in demand than men in the data gathered between 2000 and 2015 as OFWs.
The numbers of Overseas Filipino Workers remained higher and increasing compared to the
number of Overseas Contract Workers or OCWs between 2019 to 2022 because of the
restrictions and flaws of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Furthermore, 11 millions of respondents are
current OFWs in the data provided for type of respondents, while in the same table, indicated
that 10 million Overseas Filipino Workers are married.

The data suggests that millions of Filipinos have gained better opportunities abroad
while it reflects that millions of FIlipinos have lost by the country when it comes to human
capital. Despite the setback, the Philippine economy has been boosted by these Filipinos
abroad. It provides an additional income source for the Philippines, as migrant workers
consistently send remittances, both in cash and in kind, to support the needs of their families
back home. In 2023, the Philippines was the fourth largest recipient of remittance globally, with
remittances accounting for nine percent of the country’s GDP (Balita, 2023). In the recent
data collected, the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) or Filipino workers who
worked abroad from April to September 2023 was estimated at 2.16 million, an increase of 9.8
percent from the previous year’s estimated number of 1.96 million. Overseas Contract Workers
(OCWs) or Filipino workers with existing work contracts, comprised the majority or 98.1 percent
of the total OFWs during the period (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2024). These data are the
reflection of how many Filipinos have forced themselves to work abroad due to the incapacity of
the Philippine authority to offer decent work for its citizens, underlying a major setback to the
loss of human resources over the years.
​
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are often called heroes for boosting the country's
economy through their hard-earned money, and providing their family a decent life, resulting in
an extensive labor migration. However, it has an impact on their own families, weakening
relationships due to the long separations. OFWs also face problems like illegal recruitment and
going abroad without proper documents. While labor migration lowers unemployment, as many
Filipinos seek better pay and benefits overseas, it also creates a huge risk. The Philippines rely
heavily on these workers, but sending too many skilled people abroad can potentially lead to
"brain drain," where the country loses its skilled workforce. Although labor migration could
provide economic development and sometimes new skills and knowledge, it's not enough to
hide the negative effects of brain drain, especially for developing countries like the Philippines.
The migration, despite being viewed as a positive way to a better livelihood, encompasses
major challenges that make it the reason for a social problem to occur. Migration becomes a
social problem since this reflects that the country cannot offer decent work for its citizens,
resulting in them sacrificing their time, life, and family relationship just to provide a very decent
life for their family. This also means that the country has been lacking essential opportunities for
its citizens, the reason why they seek better opportunities abroad. It is significant that Filipinos
who work overseas have been helping to boost our economy but in the empathic point of view,
many Filipinos haven’t gone home due to death sentences, being in prison, and the worst case
is that going home lifeless. At least 44 Filipinos abroad are currently facing a death row (Bordey,
2024). In addition, sending more skilled Filipinos every now and then can cause brain drain that
will deplete the human capital of the country that will have a much greater impact to the
workforce of the country and the labor it needs for certain services. In addition, Migration can
cause exploitation and human tracking since some Filipinos, in order to find a quick job
opportunity, even without the valid documents and requirements needed for being
undocumented, as long as it can gain them money they will grab that without knowing that they
might be exploited. Moreover, migrating from one country to another can pose a major conflict
between the locals and migrants where discrimination and other forms of harassment and
violence might occur. Such displacement may also pose a threat to the distribution of limited
resources among citizens of a particular country. To prevent these major challenges that
Migration can cause to Filipinos and other people, it is important that the governing body must
regulate and seek a proper approach to aid the underlying issues behind migration in which
poverty, wars and conflict, and inequalities to resources are included. It is important that the
home country is able to provide decent work and opportunities to its people, ensuring a stable
number of overseas workers, in order also to prevent brain drain from happening.

References
Balita, C. (2023, January 27). Topic: Labor migrants from the Philippines. Statista.
https://www.statista.com/topics/8943/labor-migrants-from-the-philippines/#topicOverview
Bordey, H. (2024). At least 44 Filipinos abroad are on death row —DMW. GMA News Online.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/content/926856/at-least-43-filipinos-abr
oad-on-death-row-dmw/story/
Hayes, A. (2024, March 4). Conflict Theory definition, founder, and Examples. Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/conflict-theory.asp
Philippine Statistics Authority. (2024, September 13). 2023 Overseas Filipino Workers (Final
Results). Philippine Statistics Authority.
https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-and-employment/survey-overseas-filipinos