NEW YORK – At a dinner hosted by Ambassador to the United Nations and Mrs. Lauro Baja at the stunning Philippines ambassador’s residence on East 66th Street in New York, for PLDT CEO Manny Pangilinan on September 26th, the Philippine ambassador to Washington, Albert del Rosario, was explaining the record of the OCWs in the United States. A full 50% of remittances to the Philippines from overseas comes from the United States, although this does not represent the numbers that work here. And, contrary to the common impression that remittances represent the earnings of doctors and nurses and other highly skilled professionals, the largest amounts do in fact come from "the blue collar workers" who hold more than one job, and are eager to send as much money to their families back home in the Philippines as possible.
This past year, the Philippines, which still has trained nurses ready and prepared to fill the lack of nurses here, won a major victory for the Philippines, by increasing its quota. The ambassador noted that several countries that had quotas for nurses and physical therapists to work here did not fill their quotas, and he petitioned Congress to allow the Philippines to add some of the unused working visas to the Philippines. The result was that the quota was raised by an additional three thousand, five hundred for this year.
The embassy policy is to encourage Filipinos to send remittances home to their families, to invest in schooling for relatives or start small businesses or build homes in the Philippines for their own retirement to their home country. The embassy has also worked on improving the handling of remittances between the two countries. And this year the proud report is that the remittances have gone up 20%.
The Philippines has been pushing ahead, through its Philippine Retirement Authority, in attractions Southeast Asian neighbors to choose retirement in the Philippines, at lower costs that at home, and with the promise of good health care at moderate costs. Now the Philippines is also encouraging its older overseas workers who have made money abroad, to join the retirees who find the Philippines cheaper and with more health services available than can be found in neighboring countries. This is one area where the Philippines is highly competitive.
During the dinner, we asked Consul General Cecile Rebong if any Filipinos were involved in the hurricane which ravaged New Orleans. She told us there were 76 Filipinos evacuated and all of them were adopted by Filipino families through the assistance of the Filam Council of South Texas. Thirty are still in Texas.
