OFWs power strongest surge in 11 years

[Limahong]

OFWs power strongest surge in 11 years
BETING LAYGO DOLOR MANILA[/size]

The Philippine political scene may still be messy,
but the economic picture is much brighter. As 2006
ended and 2007 began, most of the country’s
economic indicators were decidedly upbeat.



At the heart of the strengthening economy are the
millions of overseas Filipino workers and Filipinos
permanently living abroad.

Their remittances are projected to grow by another
16 per cent this year, just like last year.

The US$12 billion in OFW remittances boosted the
country’s dollar reserves which as of end-2006
stood at US$23 billion.

Such data indicates that there is some basis to the
claims of the administration of President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo that the rest of the world is not
getting a clear picture of the Philippine situation,
including Filipinos based abroad.

Among the bright indicators:

• The Philippine peso is at a six-year high vis-à-vis
the US dollar;

• The Philippine Stock Exchange index is at a nine-
year high; and

• Inflation is at a two-year low.

For foreign investors, the gauge as to the strength or
weakness of any economy is usually its stock
market.

For the year just past,  P57.2 billion was raised
through stock offerings in the PSE. This was the
biggest level since 1994, when the Philippines was
in the middle of its five-year growth spurt during the
Ramos era that brought the country to “tiger cub”
status in the region.

The PSE had all but collapsed in the late 1990s
when it was learned that a crony of then President
Joseph Estrada had manipulated the prices of a
speculative stock. Estrada reportedly received hefty
commissions from the act.

Last year, investors finally returned in a big way.
Net foreign buying in the bourse in 2006
skyrocketed by 191 per cent, to P68.53 billion from
the previous year’s P23.53 billion.

“The market’s superb performance in 2006 is proof
that economic reforms being implemented by the
government, specially its efforts to manage the
budget deficit, tame inflation and stabilize interest
rates, have once again paid off,” PSE president
Francis Lim said recently.

The return of business confidence is expected to
pay dividends this year, but no one is betting on
exactly how much.

National Economic and Development Authority
(Neda) director general Romulo Neri said he
expects gross national product – the sum total of all
goods and services produced by the country
inclusive of dollar remittances from OFWs – to hit 6
per cent this year.

But Neda policy planning director Dennis Arroyo
said this was probably “a conservative estimate.”

Among the industries enjoying strong earnings are
the manpower export sector (slightly more than one
million workers were deployed last year, and a
similar level is expected this year), construction
(which unexpectedly experienced double digit
growth), call centers (steadily expanding outside
Metro Manila thereby boosting some regions) and
medical tourism (which is being counted on to
double the 2.5 million inbound tourists of last year).

[Limahong]

Arroyo honors millionaire OFWs

MANILA

A former Hong Kong domestic helper now runs a
family resort, a dry goods business and a banana
plantation in Mt Province.

A doctor who worked in Jeddah to save money to
start a family has ended up being a rancher,
employing 23 full-time farmhands.

They were among five OFWs honored by President
Arroyo as successful entrepreneurs.

Agnes Marrero, who worked in Hong Kong as a
domesitc helper, is a mother of four. From her toils,
she was able to put up a successful family resort
business.

She also operates a dry goods store and a growing
banana  plantation.

The other awardees were Consuelo Valencia of
London, Michael Abubakar of Sulu, and Norma
Macalindong of Batangas.

Valencia, on the other hand, was a former domestic
drudge in London who rose to become a
successful businesswoman by setting up
remittance, freight and travel services, in addition to
venturing into the sales of phone cards and real
estate and recruitment and publishing house
business.

She had been featured in British newspapers
narrating "How a cleaner became a millionaire in
10 years."

Abubakar, a civil engineer who worked in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 27 years, came home
to build homes for the homeless in conflict-stricken
Sulu. While most people would agree that
addressing the issue of homelessness in Sulu is
absurd, Abubakar thought otherwise.

Macalindong worked in Rome, Italy as a parttime
domestic helper cleaning several houses in a day.
She finally ventured into selling Filipino food and
products in Rome, which proved to be successful.

[dennis(hk97)]

...oldie..but worth sharing especially to fellow OFW..

Kabayanihan ng OFWs, 'di lang sa dollars nasusukat!
 
by: Billy Balbastro (08 Feb 06)

As we mark the fourth day of mourning for the Ultra tragedy – what a useless way of dying, we cannot help but try to talk about something else.
That was what my sisters and I did when we enjoyed a rare chance of going out together. With us that time at Sentro in Greenbelt 3 was my brother-in-law, orthopedic surgeon Ruben Arafiles who’s currently based in Guam, who’s here to operate on a patient.

My sister Perla is in town from Tabaco’s St. Louise de Marillac School (Albay) for her silver jubilee as Daughters of Charity sister in Tagaytay on Feb. 15.

Our youngest, Dra. Naia (Nancy) Arafiles and worked with husband Ruben in the US and Yemen for years and is now with Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

Our conversation turned to Filipinos abroad, especially the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The girls agreed to what others say, "If Pinoys all over the world stop working, the world will stop."
Oh yes, they point out that if Pinoy doctors and nurses in the US, the engineers in Europe and Saudi Arabia, the caregivers in England, the factory workers and domestics in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the entertainers in Japan and the teachers in the US and Canada would stop working, the world would really stop.

Filipinos are really everywhere in the world and have their roles to play. They do important jobs.

***

"So I have to complain about how this government has a shallow outlook on the OFWs," Dra. Nancy insists. "Even Malacañang and the Cabinet, our senators and leaders look at Pinoy workers all over the world as the No. 1 source of dollars, to help our economy. They are considered as heroes this way.

"Ang babaw naman. Dapat sulatin mo ito. Except for dollars, nothing is said about OFWs, about their own kind of real heroism. Wala pa akong nababasang ganyan."

So we try to keep our promise by writing about this – about the Filipinos spirit being shown by Pinoys all over the world, their way of "heroism as Filipinos wherever they are in the world."

Beyond the billions of dollars they send home, which help the economy, they are also our heroes abroad, bringing with them the Filipino spirit, the Filipino culture, the Filipino 'Oblutiacs' (obligations, beliefs, longings, usage, tradition, idiosyncracies, aspirations, customs and sentiments) wherever they are. Even Christmas Day and New Year are celebrated the Pinoy way.

So Filipino communities have their own days, celebrations and festivals all over the world – whether in the US, Canada, Japan, even in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. The Filipino spirit brings the Filipino culture all over the world. Even our June 12 Independence Day is marked all over the world.

The big churches in the East Coast in the US would have already closed; they used to have masses in their small side altars for lack of churchgoers, Nancy says. But then with increasing number of religious Filipinos in their parishes, these churches have been active once more. Interest in them is revived by Pinoys.

My nun-sister Perla who spent five years in Japan tells us to the Osaka Catholic church having their 2 pm mass in English solely for Filipinos – religion being a part of our culture, which we carry anywhere we go.

Dra. Nancy recalls the years she was in Yemen, celebrating Filipino holidays in the Pinoy community over there, especially for the children of Pinoy workers there who were away from home. These Pinoys did these things on their own, with no help at all from our Tourism officers there. They didn’t even have the slide and materials for viewing to our kababayans, alas!

"I don’t know if these Tourism officials now have," she bewails.

This distinctive Filipino spirit – which brings our culture, including our festivals and customs, our cuisine and scene of fun to the world where Filipinos are – we must appreciate and crow about.

Yes, this is the kind of heroism, beyond the dollars they send home that we must admire and recognize. Yet each time President Arroyo or even Secretary Ignacio Bunye would call our OFWs our new heroes, "ang ating bagong bayani," it seems they cannot see this kind of heroism beyond the dollar sign.

This is giving our OFWs less than what is due them. Real heroes of country, home and hearth they really are.

Let us put them on a pedestal which they more than deserve.

***
 

[Jasmine]

Thanks Limahong and HK97 for sharing these stories.

[dennis(hk97)]

Sa mga PHKers...just want to share this OFW-related news item.

Philippine overseas workers send 1.3 billion dollars home in March

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 06:00 PM
MANILA (AFP) - The vast army of Philippine overseas workers sent 1.3 billion dollars home in March, a rise of some 26.4 percent over the same period last year, the central bank said Tuesday.
It was the 11th consecutive month that remittances surpassed the billion-dollar mark.
The bank said remittances for the first quarter of the year totalled 3.5 billion dollars up 24 percent on the same period last year.
Last year's transfers through the banking system reached a record 12.8 billion dollars, up 19.4 percent from 2005.
"The strong remittances in the first quarter were mainly the result of innovative remittance schemes offered by financial institutions and the enhanced links with their foreign counterparts," central bank governor Amando Tetangco said in a statement.
The central bank projects this year's dollar remittances sent through formal channels such as banks could reach 14 billion dollars.
Some eight million Filipinos, about 10 percent of the population, now live and work in over 100 countries.

Source: Philippine Star, May 15, 2007

****************************************************************************************************************************
Master Limahong daming dolyares 'yon ha!
Kwentahin kaya natin... Kung may 8 million daw na pinoy/pinay na nasa labas ng pinas, lumalabas na mga usd 162.5 yong average na ini-remit nong Mar 07 ng bawat isa don sa 8M.  Hmmnn.. mataas lang pala ng konti yong padala ko ha.. 

Sa ngayon pala, isa sa bawat sampung pinoy/pinay ay nasa labas ng pinas.. D nyo napansin, ang pag-abroad ngayon ay parang galing ka na lang ng probinsya na pupunta ng Maynila.  Noong 80's (elementary high school pa lang ako non), kapag sa abroad ka work, sikat na sikat ka at balitang-balita sa buong barangay.  Ngayon, parang ordinaryo na lang sa atin kapag sinabi mong sa ibang bansa ka nagta-trabaho.

*****************************************************************************************************************************
Share ko din 'tong opinion ng isang reader na nag post ng comment sa PS news above (Anonymous)

Alam nyo nuung araw hindi uso ang OFWs kaya ang Pilipinas halos pangalawa lang tayo sa Japan sa kaunlaran. Yung matatalino at mababait noon ay sila ang mga nagpapatakbo ng gobyerno natin. Noong nagsimula na itong OFWs milyon milyon ang umalis sa ating bansa kasama dyan ang maraming matatalino at mababait nating kababayan. Nang mag OFWs itong mga ito wala na halos natira sa Pilipinas, ang natira itong ngayon nagpapatakbo ng ating bansa sa administrasyon o oposisyon man. kaya ito tayo ngayon - pangalawa na lang yata tayo sa Afghanistan.

******************************************************************************************************************************
Heto pa.. ayaw din magpakilala...Anonymous#2:

I admire these Pinoys working abroad to have their famillies experience and enjoy better life. We should also thank these 100 countires hosting and feeding, and paying 10% of the whole Phil. population. On the other hand, kahabag habag din sila kasi di na sila makapamuhay ng maayos at mapanatag sa sariling bayan. Nasanay na rin sila sa ibang lifestyle. Yan ang masaya at malungkot na katotohanan ng nagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa.

******************************************************************************************************************************

Sir Tonychel, Boss MikerG, Master Limahong, Maam Jasmine, Swakzee, Alecsbud, BoyTisoy, Hongkee, MM, LolyPuffy, atbp (d ko na po iisa-isahin)
>>> inaantok na ko....................

ANO NGA BA ANG BUHAY OFW? .............pls share po.