‘RP wants to end dependence on OFWs’ — Arroyo
July 1, 2007I've been out for awhile due to my pc's motherboard failing on me 
Is this really finally happening?
Going to other countries will now be soon a choice and not being forced by unfortunate circumstance?
‘RP wants to end dependence on OFWs’ — Arroyo
Agence France-Presse
Posted date: June 24, 2007SINGAPORE — The Philippines is hoping to reduce its dependence on remittances from overseas workers by boosting local employment opportunities, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Sunday.
About eight million Filipinos, close to 10 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's population, now live and work in more than 100 countries.
But Arroyo expressed hope that Filipinos would no longer have to seek work overseas in large numbers if conditions improve at home.
"We're very proud of our overseas Filipinos," Arroyo said at the two-day World Economic Forum on East Asia ahead of a state visit to Singapore, which hosts tens of thousands of Filipino workers and professionals.
Arroyo said she had inherited "a history of economic lethargy" before a burst of growth under her watch.
She said 26 straight quarters of economic growth, tax reform and billions of dollars in foreign workers' remittances, which fuel consumption, meant the Philippines now has some money to invest in education and other basic services.
"Now that we have our revenues because of our painful economic reforms, we would like to transform the pain into gains in human and physical infrastructure." she said.
"And when I talk about human infrastructure, I do mean education, healthcare and training," she said.
Most Filipinos in Singapore work as maids, but a growing number are employed by hotels, retailers and other service-sector establishments in the labor-starved city state. A few are executives in multinational corporations and global banks.
In 2006, overseas workers sent back to the Philippines a record $12.8 billion, up 19.4 percent from 2005, according to Philippine central bank figures which exclude money remitted through informal channels.
Source: Inquirer
