Gov’t to create investment mechanisms for OFWs

MANILA, Philippines—The government is set to draft a road map for developing investment opportunities for overseas-based Filipinos and their families, as it seeks to create more income opportunities within the country to help bring migrant workers back home.

The road map shall serve as a guide for the newly implemented project, called the Overseas Filipino Remittance for Development (OF-RED), under which various activities catering to the investment needs of Filipino migrants and their families shall be implemented.

Imelda Nicolas, secretary of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), said providing more income-generating opportunities within the country would allow migrants to go back home without worrying about the financial security of their families.

“Before us is the greater and more difficult task of making migration an option and not a matter of necessity for our people,” Nicolas said in a forum held on Tuesday in Pasig City.

To draft the road map, CFO shall consult various sectors, including concerned government agencies, academe, non-government organizations, and banks and other financial institutions.

Officials from the CFO recently met with representatives of various stakeholders (financial institutions, local government units, government agencies) for focused group discussions, where proposals to enhance income opportunities of migrants and their families were raised.

Some of the proposals raised were the creation of financial products tailor-fit for overseas-based Filipinos and remittance-dependent families, and allowing them to indirectly invest in government infrastructure projects through issuance of relevant securities.

Another proposal is to transform postal offices into branches of the proposed Overseas Filipino Bank. The bank is eyed to have an investment arm, which shall provide financial consultancy and investment services for migrants and their families.

Amando Tetangco Jr., governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, sees the necessity of developing the proposed road map, calling it consistent with the overall objective of boosting growth of the economy.

“We should encourage overseas Filipinos to invest more,” said Tetangco, one of the speakers in a recent forum on the issue. Having more income opportunities within the country should help the economy become less susceptible to external shocks (such as the political turmoil in the Middle East that has been feared to lead to job losses for overseas Filipinos), Tetangco added.

Currently, the Philippine economy is significantly dependent on remittances sent by Filipinos based offshore. In 2009, at the height of the latest global economic turmoil, remittances helped the Philippines escape recession even as many countries contracted.

Last year, remittances reached an all-time high of $18.8 billion, which was equivalent to 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. The Philippines is the fourth-biggest recipient of remittances, next to China, India, and Mexico.

There are between 8 million and 10 million Filipinos based overseas.

While remittances are a big boost to the economy, the tendency for many Filipinos to seek work abroad indicates lack of job opportunities and insufficient incomes earned within the country.

Tetangco said having more investment opportunities in the Philippines for Filipino migrants would allow workers to be with their families and boost the growth of the domestic economy.