Manila Ban on OFW Deployment Has No Bite

Manila’s recent decision to block Filipinos from working in 41 countries it considers unsafe looks like a brave move for a country addicted to the regular remittances of its worldwide web of workers. But a closer look at the blacklist shows that most of the dangerous countries rarely receive overseas Filipino workers.

Of the 41 countries listed in a Philippines Overseas Employment Administration resolution unveiled last week, more than half only received two or fewer Filipino workers last year, according to government statistics.

Tuvalu, Antigua and Swaziland all made it to the banned list, which included dangerous countries as well as those which Filipino authorities believe lack proper legal protections for foreign workers. Each of those countries only hosted one new government-registered Filipino worker last year.

The Philippines, one of the world’s biggest exporters of labor, has been on the forefront of a global movement to demand more rights and protections for globe-trotting unskilled workers. Companies and households around the world have come to depend on its maids, hotel workers, nannies, construction workers and seamen. Meanwhile, the Philippines depends on the billions of dollars its overseas foreign workers send home each year.

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