red's alimuom.atbp

in 1999, basing on government data, about 1,791 Filipinos leave the country daily to work abroad. In 2000, deployment of workers overseas reached 2,036 and further increasing to 2,557 in 2004. Last year, the figure already surpassed the 3,000 mark.

i think the labor export is here to stay, what with our very own glorious President doing the salestalk. and in the face of the lay-offs both locally and abroad, guess what this glorious government is doing: more labor export. just check out their Jobpalooza '09 blitz on May Day.

but why export labor? the answer is simple: its all about bleeding our workforce of hard-earned dollars in the form of remittances.

the dollars being sent by migrant workers have kept the Philippine economy afloat for quite some time already it is no longer a source of enchantment. it is already pretty normal.

still the question remains: is the Philippines more out of poverty now than before? if we base it to this glorious governments stats, even by their 'doctored' standards, the number of Filipinos below the poverty line rose to 27.6 million in 2006 (from 23.6 M in 2005).

(more to come)