If you look at the numbers pertaining to OFW remittances, chances are you will conclude that the foreign currency earnings coming from our migrant workers are fairly increasing despite the global economic downturn.

How come? Perhaps the answer lies in the swelling hordes of Filipinos being deployed overseas non-stop in search of the proverbial greener pasture. It is said that on a daily basis more than 2,000 Pinoys are leaving the country to work abroad.

In other words, the sheer number of migrant workers which is roughly equivalent to ten percent of our total population is the main driving force that props up our remittances. We must realize that the pay scale of our OFWs is generally going down but their huge number make up for the difference and subsequently keep our remittances on course.

No wonder it now seems the greatest aspiration of most Filipinos is to pack up, and armed with nothing but guts and prayers, head for anyplace in the world unsure of what fate awaits them but hopeful just the same that through honest toil, they will be able provide some material comfort for their families.

Viewed in this light, it is quite clear that job creation is top priority in our homeland and this has prompted our economic experts and authorities, particularly the NEDA, to sound the call for the country’s next elected president to focus on employment.

It is a sad commentary, however, that most presidential aspirants are merely mouthing nothing more than populist motherhood statements aimed at winning votes instead of coming out with a clear-cut roadmap or platform of government that will make us competitive in a world that is increasingly becoming far more turbulent and uncertain.

As the election campaign gets noisier, more strident and muddled, other issues are sidetracked and drowned out in the national circus called politics. More so with issues concerning the welfare and protection of our OFWs simply because they are nowhere near the ground zero of the political carnival.

It is good that, on the whole, media keeps harping on issues of national significance. For instance, just recently I heard over the car radio that desperate Filipino women are targeted by international drug traffickers as mules in moving drugs across borders.

Of course, we all know news reports about Filipinas being hired as drug mules or couriers have already lost their novelty. We are even aware that drug syndicates have found new ways of smuggling drugs – like the modus operandi of making willing human “mules” ingest plastic capsules containing illegal narcotics or stuffing and sewing drugs inside the “abdominal cavity” even at the risk of dying once the plastic container holding toxic substances is ruptured.

What is rather alarming about the latest news is the sharply rising number of Filipina travelers lured into drug smuggling. In China alone, it is reported that a total of 195 Filipinos are either in jail or still under investigation for anti-drug charges.

Out of this number, 66 are facing death penalty, 30 others serving life imprisonment, 44 sentenced to a fixed term of 50-year imprisonment while the rest have pending court cases.

To illustrate the exponential increase in the number of Filipinos involved in drug-related cases, here are a few comparative figures: For 2007 and 2008, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported that 22 were sentenced to death, 12 were meted out life sentences, while 11 received prison sentences of 15-16 years.

And these figures have been culled from drug-related offenses committed by Filipinos in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Now contrast this with 66 Filipinos today facing death penalty in China alone and, clearly, what we have is a human tragedy borne out of desperation involving mostly helpless Filipinas.
Could our presidential wannabes share their thoughts on this issue?
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Email: businessagenda_report@yahoo.com.ph