OFW's
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo likes to say that the OFWs are modern heroes. Great. In what way are they national heroes? This way:
The fact that the Philippines exports 2,500 workers per day means that 2,500 potentially unemployed, idle hands are put out of the country working in a foreign country and are sending back hundreds of dollar a month each back to the Philippines. This money is used by families for shopping in local stores, paying taxes, and generally supporting the economy. These OFWs generate about 10% of the national gdp.
But that is all superficial....
The workers who go abroad are intelligent hard working individuals who are doing what it takes to support their family. We should all respect that, but heroes they are not. This large pool of OFW's are the best and brightest that the Philippines has. If they were sitting idle in the Philippines, clammoring for local jobs then the government would actually have to do something or risk open revolution. You can't keep a worker idle without food for his family. That kind of situation leads to a call to arms. But it won't happen in the Philippines because those who would clamor for a rise to arms are leaving the Philippines and getting stuck in the OFW trap.
They are a hero for the status quo in the Philippines, and maybe a hero for their family. But in reality, they are just minions for the malefactors in government. They are supporters of the corrupt administrations.
Here is some data:
The GDP in 2003 in the Philippines was $79.7 billion and overseas remittances amount to close to $8 billion, which is about 10% of that GDP figure. Using economic multiplying factors, the true contribution is much higher. It is not hard to realize that without the remittances, the economy would collaspe overnight.
Ok, that looks like bad news, what other path could the Philippines take? Regime change. Change the regime and deal with the economic realities. Over the coming days and weeks, I will present several parts of a plan.
Comrades, I urge you to become invovled with the Guevarista Liberation Front and try to effect a real change.
The fact that the Philippines exports 2,500 workers per day means that 2,500 potentially unemployed, idle hands are put out of the country working in a foreign country and are sending back hundreds of dollar a month each back to the Philippines. This money is used by families for shopping in local stores, paying taxes, and generally supporting the economy. These OFWs generate about 10% of the national gdp.
But that is all superficial....
The workers who go abroad are intelligent hard working individuals who are doing what it takes to support their family. We should all respect that, but heroes they are not. This large pool of OFW's are the best and brightest that the Philippines has. If they were sitting idle in the Philippines, clammoring for local jobs then the government would actually have to do something or risk open revolution. You can't keep a worker idle without food for his family. That kind of situation leads to a call to arms. But it won't happen in the Philippines because those who would clamor for a rise to arms are leaving the Philippines and getting stuck in the OFW trap.
They are a hero for the status quo in the Philippines, and maybe a hero for their family. But in reality, they are just minions for the malefactors in government. They are supporters of the corrupt administrations.
Here is some data:
The GDP in 2003 in the Philippines was $79.7 billion and overseas remittances amount to close to $8 billion, which is about 10% of that GDP figure. Using economic multiplying factors, the true contribution is much higher. It is not hard to realize that without the remittances, the economy would collaspe overnight.
Ok, that looks like bad news, what other path could the Philippines take? Regime change. Change the regime and deal with the economic realities. Over the coming days and weeks, I will present several parts of a plan.
Comrades, I urge you to become invovled with the Guevarista Liberation Front and try to effect a real change.
