THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said several European countries want to hire more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). These countries include Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Finland and Portugal. There is a high demand for Filipino health care workers, caregivers, household workers, housekeepers, workers in tourism-related jobs and baristas, among others.

Two thousand workers were deployed last year to the Czech Republic. This year, an additional 10,500 slots have been allotted to Filipino workers, said DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Cunan.

In Hungary, 4,000 OFWs were deployed over a period of 10 years. But last year alone, Hungary received 6,000 OFWs.

Caunan said that the foreign employers "were impressed with the performance of our workers, their mentality and attitude. That's what our bilateral partners usually tell us. They said they want more OFWs in their countries."

To facilitate this process, the DMW said that they will set up bilateral labor agreements and "sustainable" recruitment frameworks with the European countries to protect the rights and welfare of the OFWs.

Around 10 percent, or $3.8 billion, of the record-high $37 billion in remittances from OFWs last year came from those based in Europe.

"Given these engagements, we can see that the deployment to Europe will definitely increase. For 2024 alone, we are expecting an increasing trend in remittances," she added.

Meanwhile, DMW officer in charge Hans Cacdac warned that illegal recruiters and traffickers have taken advantage of the opening of the labor market in Europe to prey on Filipino jobseekers.

The DMW has strengthened its campaign against illegal recruiters. It closed six unlicensed recruitment offices in Metro Manila last year and three so far this year. These offices promised non-existent or spurious jobs, usually in Europe, in exchange for vast sums of money from prospective OFWs.

Cacdad added: "We really welcome the openness of our European counterparts in enhancing the protection of our OFWs. We welcome their cooperation to ensure a safe, ethical, transparent and fair labor mobility for our workers."

He reminded jobseekers to deal only with licensed recruitment agencies or to directly approach the department to avoid falling victim to trafficking syndicates. The DMW website also has a list of vetted job openings and licensed recruitment agencies.

Many Filipinos still look for work overseas because they are either unemployed or underemployed. And if they are employed, wages are not enough to keep body and soul together.

Sending Filipinos to work overseas began in 1974 as a temporary measure to improve the country's low foreign exchange reserves. But the deployment of OFWs to different parts of the world has become a vital pillar of our economy.

Filipinos, especially when uprooted from the dependent culture of the Philippines, do very well on foreign soil. They work hard, are cheerful and speak English. Domestic helpers from the Philippines are prized not only for their housekeeping skills but also for their knowledge of English. And why not? Some of them are public school teachers in the Philippines.

The $37 billion that the OFWs sent last year propped up the economy. It was the biggest source of revenue if you can call it that, for the country last year, followed by the business process outsourcing industry or the call centers.

The remittances sent back to the Philippines went to medical expenses for the parents, education of the children, renovation or building of a house — and the payment of huge debts incurred in the process of going overseas to work.

However, the social costs of the OFW phenomenon are tremendous. They include juvenile delinquency and drug addiction among the children left behind. Families have also broken up because of the long separation of the spouses.

The practice of Filipinos seeking work overseas can also be seen as a failure of the government to provide jobs for its people. As of December 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the unemployment rate stood at 3.1 percent.

The Philippine economy is also overly reliant on remittances from OFWs. This makes it vulnerable to fluctuations in global economic conditions or changes in migration policies. The Iran-Israel conflict will lead to belt-tightening among countries and a disruption in the supply chain.

Lastly, the country has been experiencing a brain drain in the last 50 years of the OFW phenomenon. Skilled workers and trained professionals have left the country, depriving us of valuable talent and expertise that could have helped improve our country.