Why Filipinos go abroad to make a living - Asia Specific podcast, BBC World Service

Mothers, for example, are very, like you mentioned. Mariko, often live away from their own children to be able to care. for other children, and that socially has caused quite a bit of strain. It's often the topic of Filipino films and soap operas. in the cultural mindset, precisely because it's so common. Broken families are common as well, and this is something that the government has kind of been aware about. The Philippines sends millions of workers around the world.

More than half of them are women, and a vast majority work. as domestic helpers, in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong. For them, going abroad means more money, but it's not an easy choice. Many Filipinos leave behind their families. to take those opportunities overseas, and in some cases, there can be dangerous consequences when they get there. Will the day ever come when they can stay at home. and still make a good living. Is the government in the Philippines.

doing anything to create conditions for them to stay? I'm Mariko in Singapore and this is Asia-Pacific from the BBC World Service. Twice a week we bring you Asia Pacific stories. unpacked by those who know them best. Today I have journalist Regine Cabato in Manila, also Jaya Anil Kumar from HOME, which is a migration advocacy group.

Thank you both for joining me on Asia Pacific. Regine, Let's start with you. Can you just paint a picture for us? How many Filipinos work overseas and in what kind of occupations? So first of all, at any given time in the Philippines, there are about two million overseas Filipino workers working abroad. That is on top of the migrant population. or that's already working abroad or living abroad. On possibly potential permanent residences.

A lot of these workers tend to come from, various industries. You have Filipinos in healthcare, Filipinos in seafaring, and Filipinos, of course, in domestic work. In domestic work in particular, the Middle East is the primary market for this, the top four countries being Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. There are also Filipino workers who end up going to places.

like Singapore and Hong Kong. Now, working abroad has very widely been marketed in the Philippines ever since. Late dictator Ferdinand Marcos rule. It was an official policy of the government then, and since then it's become a cultural persona of Filipinos ever since. So stereotypes, for example, of Filipino hospitality, caregiving figures, they're very closely tied. to the type of labor that the Philippines exports. Not just domestic work, but in healthcare as well.

As of 2023, some 7% of Filipino families. actually have an overseas worker, uh, within as a direct relative. So it's very common in the Philippines. And we're even known for this concept called balikbayan boxes, where goods from abroad are sent back. to the Philippines as well as remittances. So remittances are a huge part of the Philippine economy and the Philippines.

They make up around sometimes eight to 12% of the GDP in previous years. Yeah. And I guess that's the big driving factor, isn't it? I remember speaking to I mean, I have to say I benefit from this system. You know, I have a helper to look after my young children, especially when I'm abroad and so on. And I remember speaking to a Filipino helper who actually was a qualified nurse. And I asked her, why don't you work as a nurse back home? And she said, the money I can earn here is so much more.

And as you said, remittances play a huge role. And if you can put this in context in comparison to other countries, because we also have Indonesian helpers, Burmese helpers, Indian helpers, Sri Lankan helpers working in Singapore. And I think my understanding is that there are more Indonesian helpers in Singapore. But in terms of the contribution to their home economy. through remittances, the Philippines is bigger. So can you just tell us the differences.

between different countries which are sending domestic workers but also. other labourers here in Singapore? What we see in terms of the differences really tends. to be salary based, nationality based salary differences. So sometimes, the difference in. how much a domestic worker earns can be based on her nationality. So these are driven by market forces, and there's no hard and fast rule. There are some embassies in Singapore which set minimum wages.

for their domestic workers, but it is not enforceable by law. So, for example, the Indonesian and Philippine embassies, I understand, actually set the standards. for how much their workers from their countries should be paid. And this informs then when agencies recommend a salary. to an employer, you know how much they should be paying. This, these these are some of the factors that come into consideration. I want to ask you both about, I guess, the social trauma of this,

because I think this is such a common story. You know, this is not a new story. A lot of people have talked about domestic helpers in Southeast Asia, but I come from Japan, where you can't really have a domestic helper, especially living in your home. And I felt really reluctant before hiring my first helper, which was when my eldest was about two years old and I,

I couldn't kind of get my head around the fact. that someone has left their kid back home to look after my children. Is there, do you recognise, do you notice that kind of social trauma of left behind children? Regine? Yes, and it's a very common social situation in the Philippines. Unfortunately, manpower agencies, which is to say. the middlemen agencies that link the Filipino worker with the client,

usually abroad, they're very common in the Philippines. There are around a thousand of them that are licensed, but not all of them are operating in good practice. Nor are there, nor are all agencies working in good faith either. So that definitely puts Filipino workers in an ambiguous position sometimes. where they're not officially anybody's responsibility. You don't really know whether the person accountable for them.

is their client, the employer, or the agency. And that kind of puts things very often in, in a gray area. And that complicates things for the social life. as well of the worker or of the maid in question. So mothers, for example, are very, like you mentioned Mariko, often live away. from their own children to be able to care for other children, and that socially has caused quite a bit of strain. And it's often the topic of Filipino films and soap operas.

in the cultural mindset, precisely because it's so common. Broken families are common as well, and this is something that the government has kind of been aware about. Sometimes workers are encouraged to kind of put a cap on their time abroad. Otherwise, it puts a strain on their family lives. Do you? Do you feel that trend as well? Do you speak to domestic helpers or other migrant workers in Singapore? Who? I mean, obviously they must miss their children that they've left behind.

Absolutely. So I think the strain of being apart. from their families is something that we hear over and over again. You know, sometimes they realise. that their marriages have broken down because, you know, their partners back home have left them for someone else. They have report that, you know, their relationship with their children is almost like strangers. because other people were taking care of their of their kids.

Domestic workers in Singapore are not covered by labour legislation. So it is not the case where she can give a notice under the labour law. They might have private contractual agreements, which is separate, but under the labour law. You know, they don't have that that right. Which means to say the employer retains the right. of whether the worker goes home or whether the worker transfers. And we have heard of situations where domestic workers have said, oh, my child is really sick, or my child has had a traumatic experience, she's faced abuse of some sort, whether it's sexual or physical abuse.

by someone in the community, and I really need to go home. But the employer is not allowing her to. Or an aged parent is really sick. and they are saying, you know, I really need to go home. I am sorry, I cannot complete my contract. I have to be there for my family. Um, and employers say no because, you know, they they want perhaps a replacement worker to come first. before they, they allow the worker to be repatriated.

So what I wanted to highlight really is you know, I think you touched on this, it financially, this is a it's a it's a dream, right? For workers to go abroad and to earn much more. in the countries of destination, then they could back home. but the labor restrictions and the reality sometimes, uh, you know, is, is something that many workers do not realize until they are, in Singapore and on a day to day basis, they have to confront them.

And this is not to say that every employer in Singapore is like this. You know, by and large, um, employers here are fair. They treat their workers well, but, uh, the it is, there is a power imbalance, right? that is very entrenched in our regulations and our laws. so that sometimes that makes it difficult for the workers. I was just going to say that unfortunately, not just in Singapore, but in so many other setups around the world, primarily a domestic workers comfort or access to rights on the job.

is a matter or a stroke of luck, depending on the kindness of their employer. I agree with that statement completely. a lot of times we hear domestic workers talking. about how lucky they are to find a good employer. Um, but it shouldn't be so employer dependent. Youu know, whether it's their sleeping arrangements or, uh, how much food they get, you know, and or how if they're verbally abused or at worst,

physically or sexually abused, it shouldn't be so employer dependent. You know, their day to day sort of lives in Singapore. Yeah. I want to ask you Jaya, about some of the horrific abuse cases that we've heard. and you've represented some of them. Can you just give us some of the examples? Uh, in 2016, there was a very tragic case of. a very young Burmese domestic worker who was actually abused. to death by her employers.

And,the abuse came to light only after her death, basically because after she passed away, the employers called the doctors. And that's when all of this came to light. Um, and the fact that employers retain such control. over their employment also makes workers reluctant to make any kind. of report because they're thinking to themselves, okay, I make a report. Am I going to be sent back home? No, I just want to continue working. So I'm really scared. Will I be blacklisted? So some workers, for if they are seen to have contravened any kind.

of work pass regulations, uh, they can be blacklisted by. the authorities, perhaps for making a false report. And these are threats that employers and agents also often use to say, hey, if you you know, if you do this, I'm going to blacklist you. If you, you know, the police is going to come after you and all of that. So, it is true to say that and I'm sure in society, you know, the very errant employers who inflict,

very harsh forms of physical abuse is is few and far between. But, we believe that the there are workers out there. who may have experienced some level of physical abuse. or other forms of abuse, and they're just unable to make the reports. because of the reasons I've said. Regine, Are people aware? Do they hear about this horrific abuse that Jaya was just talking about? And, you know, she earlier described working overseas as kind of a dream job.

Is that something that maybe young women in the Philippines thinking. about working in places like Singapore or Hong Kong think about. before applying for those jobs, do you think? Absolutely. In the Filipino public imagination, there have historically been huge high profile cases, not, uh, anywhere in Asia recently, from what I recall, but usually from the Middle East of the abuse of domestic workers. And there have actually been cases or precedents where.

the domestic workers have managed to kill their employers in self-defense. And that is in part one of the reasons why the Philippine government. has been very active now in terms of educating people about abuse, in terms of standardizing domestic work. In the past, domestic work was really just informal work. Nobody really cared who you worked for. Nobody really cared about the system, the conditions that you were in. But because of these high profile cases,

they have come into public awareness even more. Uh, so Filipinos tend to be, uh, very loud about these kinds of issues, but it has not stopped, I would say the demand nor the supply, uh, when it comes to Filipino domestic work. Because the primary. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, that was what I was going to ask. So why do women, if they're aware of a potential danger that they could face,

why do they still keep leaving the Philippines and work. Choosing to work abroad. It's because the primary reasons for them wanting to go abroad, which is to say poverty, really economic reasons, they have not been resolved at home unemployment rate, inflation, they're all quite bad currently in the Philippines. as they have been in previous years, and the institutionalization as well. of the kind of labor export system has kind of incentivized people.

to think that, oh, there might be better working conditions, despite the news. To be fair, uh, to the government, there have been improvements in Filipino worker conditions abroad. compared to, say, three decades ago, four decades ago. And so that kind of incentivizes people to think that, well, the grass really is greener on the other side. The whether that's true or not. It was good to learn. that the Filipino government is making an effort to make sure that.

those overseas workers rights and conditions are improved and whatnot. But are they also trying to stop them from leaving, as in improve the economic condition back home. so that they don't have to leave the Philippines to make a living. so that they can stay at home with their families? I'd say that the economic agenda of the government, especially under the current administration, Marcos Jnr.

He is the son of the former dictator. who first championed the labor export policy. I'd say that it's up for mixed review. We are currently undergoing a massive corruption scandal, if you may have heard. And that's really clouded the public's perception of their own, uh, of economics at home and their own, cost of living at home as well. So that being said, in the public eye, they don't feel any trickle down effects of any economic policies,

generally because, goods tend to be very expensive. Employment is still pretty much hard to come. by if you are a healthcare worker, for example. I'm not sure. When was the last time there was a standardised, uh, raise for nurses, for example. So it's very unlikely. that you would want to stay in the Philippines as a healthcare worker. And there are many people who would still want, as in the case of the Filipino, that you've met Mariko,

who would still rather work as a domestic worker or some other form. of unskilled work abroad, because that would still pay more. than what a skilled worker makes in the Philippines. Currently, the dream as well, to be able to work abroad. and then maybe somehow be able to move your family abroad as well. There have been new industries that have cropped up locally, like digital labour, for example, virtual assistants, call centres. But these are usually forms of skilled work and people.

Some people would prefer to work in the Philippines. or stay home in the Philippines because they have, um, an option for remote work, for example, where they can earn more. But the people who are generally attracted. to working abroad, usually as domestic helpers, are those who may not have had the higher level of education as well. So it all depends on the job market at the moment, and options that. people who may be below the poverty line feel like they can avail of.

Regine, we earlier talked about. how important remittances are to the Filipino economy. They account for about 10% of the country's GDP. Do you think your economy could just not rely on remittances, not rely on human exports, and compete against the likes of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore. and so on? Do you think that's possible? I'd say it all depends on the government's political will.

So, like I said earlier, there have been efforts to shift toward the digital industries. And so we've been seeing a trend of Filipinos choosing to stay at home. because they can work from home, work remotely for foreign employers, for example. Um, but this is an informal setup, a new form of gig work, uh, that has a lot of potential. I'm not sure that it's regulated just yet. Um, but it's something that the government could look into. So I mentioned that precisely because if the government considers looking.

into these types and supporting these types of industries, and potentially taxing them or, um, finding a way to work with workers here, um, then it could be able to disincentivize having. to export unskilled labor abroad. Um, and the other aspect as well would be if the government succeeds in terms. of just providing basic services in terms of education, health at home.

Those are very basic things, that Filipinos feel that they do not have every day and which compels them. to go abroad to provide a better life for their families. But if they feel like they can avail, um, of a decent job at home and welfare services of the government, then they won't feel the need to go abroad. I guess it's an ongoing debate that will continue to have, but we'll pause this conversation here. Regine and Jaya, thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having us on. You've been watching Asia Pacific from the BBC World Service. with me, Mariko in Singapore. If you have any questions or thoughts on what we've covered. in today's episode or any other stories from the region, please leave us a comment below and click like and subscribe. so you never miss an episode. But until next time, see you!