The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Friday expressed optimism that demand for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would pick up this year, surpassing last year’s deployment of 1.2 million.
Meanwhile, the country has already deployed more than one-half of the maximum annual allocation of nurses overseas during the first five months of the year.
In the same interview, Ople said the Philippines has been granted the Tier 1 ranking in the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, signifying an improvement in addressing the problem of human exploitation.
“We are not just on track, but we definitely will surpass the deployment figures of last year,” DMW Secretary Susan Ople told CNN Philippines.
“We see an increase in the number of our OFWs, both new hires and rehires, and also we are looking at a rebound in the number of seafarers being hired abroad.”
Ople said from January to April alone, some 800,000 land-based and sea-based OFWs were landed jobs abroad, mostly in the areas of healthcare, construction, and hotel and restaurant management in countries like Saudi Arabia and Croatia.
Other nations like the UAE, and Canada have a big demand for medical professionals, she added.
Ople also said more countries such as Hungary and Oman have indicated their willingness to enter into bilateral labor agreements with the Philippines.
Ople earlier said they expect the volume of deployed OFWs to hit pre-pandemic levels in 2023, with the total number seen to reach the two-million mark.
While there is a demand for Filipino workers, especially for nurses, Ople said she wants to have a dialogue with relevant agencies to come up with solutions on how to encourage these professionals to work in the Philippines.
“It will take a whole of government, whole of society approach,” Ople said. “To stay here would be the most attractive choice because their families are here… We need to create opportunities for them to stay and look at quality of life issues.”
Ople said as of last May, around 4,000 nurses went overseas, representing more than 50 percent of the yearly allocation of 7,000.
The secretary noted that demand for Filipino nurses was high in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and Austria’s capital city of Vienna.
“It’s the choice of our experienced nurses which part of the world they want to go to,” she said.
Ople disclosed that she aims to have a dialogue with relevant agencies and other key players to come up with solutions that will encourage nurses to stay and work in the Philippines.
“It will take a whole of government, whole of society approach. To stay here would be the most attractive choice because their families are here… We need to create opportunities for them to stay and look at quality of life issues,” Ople explained.
She said the DMW was working on a scholarship program to assist nursing students from poor families.
This will be funded by partner countries and the private sector to be carried out by the Commission on Higher Education, she said. The DMW will help sourcing funds for the scholarship, she added.
Ople said the program will cover junior and senior nursing students.
She said the Canadian government has been tapped, and is just waiting for the Philippines side on the specific provisions of the program.
Other countries that have expressed willingness to support the program fund were the United States, Japan, and Singapore.
Ople said she expects to have the agreement for the program signed before the end of June.
“It’s a source of comfort for those who want to reach out to us,” the DMW chief said.
“The first world countries, they feel confident in dealing with us kasi alam nila (because they know) we will not tolerate any shenanigans that would lead to the exploitation of our migrant workers,” she said.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Philippines maintained its spot as one of the countries that earned the Tier 1 ranking in the annual report issued by the U.S. State Department.
The State Department noted that being in the highest rank does not mean that there is no human trafficking problem in a country.
It indicates that authorities made efforts to address the issue that meet the minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, it noted.
“We should all be extremely happy and celebrate this remarkable feat because eight years in succession,” Ople said.
She also emphasized that the Philippines and Singapore are the only ASEAN countries that landed in the Tier 1 ranking.
“That shows a strong commitment and consistent performance on the part of the Philippine government, civil society and all our partners,” Ople also said.
One of the human trafficking tactics noted in the report was the hiring of English-proficient East African and Asian workers who are being promised employment supposedly in Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos.
“Upon arrival, victims are transported to large compounds, known as ‘scam factories,’ located in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and the Philippines, where their passports are confiscated and they are subjected to physical and sexual violence,” the report read.
“Traffickers force victims to defraud strangers in online cryptocurrency and romance scams and illegal gambling operations,” it also read.
In the Philippines, the matter was first raised by Senator Risa Hontiveros.
Several Senate hearings were also conducted regarding the issue.