For lack of local jobs, Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo asks Filipinos to leave for employment abroad

Without enough jobs available locally, Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo continues to call on her people to pursue jobs abroad. About 500,000 employment positions, mainly in construction are available in the Middle East, Australia, and Canada.

This is the recommendation of the country’s president (the “top economist and chief executive officer”) for the employment-seekers present in a job summit at the Malacanang Palace.

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director General Augusto Syjuco advises Filipinos to take alternative courses in butchery, tile-laying, roofing, carpentry and other menial jobs just to survive in a growing economic crisis.

Something is wrong with their recommendations. The policy of sending Filipinos outside has drifted away from the task of government to provide livelihood for its people. For the government to adopt a policy of encouraging talents to leave the country is objectionable.

An estimated 9 million Filipinos are currently working abroad to support families and help avert the financial collapse of the country. Government critics complain that more Filipinos will be separated from their families and placed in risky conditions as a consequence of being forced to leave the country.

There is sadness in seeing a president advise its people to take menial work abroad as a way to build a nation back home—much more sadness in seeing officials propose second courses in preparation for jobs availabe outside. (Photo Credit: Mark Hillary) =0=

RELATED BLOG: “Who says we are spared from the effects of recession?” Posted by mesiamd at 2/27/2009

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Will RP’s milking cows bring dairy on “Zero Remittance Day”?

October 29, 2008 has been chosen by an alliance of 112 organizations worldwide to protest the “forced migration and systemic exploitation of cheap labor.” Dubbed as the “Zero Remittance Day,” the sobering event is timely when a sovereign country like the Philippines has resorted to send its most precious human asset abroad—-the young men and women who are forced to seek menial jobs abroad and bring the needed dollars to shore up the economy. For being a major source of government funds, overseas foreign workers (OFW’s) are regarded as RP’s milking cows.

According to the International Migrants Alliance (IMA,) the protest action coincides with holding of the Global Forum on Migrant Development (GFMD,) which will be in Manila, Philippines. The IMA lambasts GFMD for being an elitist organization which fails to tackle the fundamental problems and issues concerning the growing number of migrants who suffer exploitation, abuses on the job, cheap labor compensation and family displacement. (Photo Credit: blinkdesigns.org) =0=