Overseas Filipino worker (OFW) advocacy group Migrante International has said that it will be difficult for OFWs to follow President Bongbong Marcos’ call for more local investments, as Filipinos abroad also face challenges.
Marcos said that local investments would help the Philippines recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Christmas this year brings no joy to us, largely because of the policies of the Bongbong Marcos government,” Migrante International said in a statement.
Rhodney Passion, a representative of Migrante Europe, stated that the Department of Foreign Affairs has increased service fees for OFWs.
“Marcos Jr. showered OFWs with praise when he took his three-day visit to the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, but this is not enough… while he is praising us, he is also torturing us with a plethora of mandatory fees,” Passion said.
The OFW group is also renewing its call for the abolition of the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) and has criticized the expensive training for seafarers.
“The Marcos government continues to treat migrant Filipinos as milking cows,” Migrante said.
“It’s not true that OFWs are happy that we get to send a higher value of money because of exchange rates. We are getting sadder because our family will keep requesting for more remittances because of higher commodity prices back home,” Mark Aquino, a Filipino based in the Middle East, said in a briefing in a report on PhilStar.
