Neoliberal globalization policies have exacerbated the perennial economic crisis in poor countries resulting in greater poverty, unemployment, and underemployment. A further consequence of this is the forced migration of peoples from these poor countries who, for lack of options at home, find work overseas. But this deplorable condition is being depicted as a virtue by many developing country governments who have resorted to exporting labor as de facto state policy.

Labor export is also being promoted by international insutitutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank. For instance, on November 15, 2004, the UN, in its Eighty-eighth Session, declared that: “The question is no longer whether to have migration, but rather how to manage migration effectively to enhance the positive side of the tally sheet and reduce the negative. Which forms of migration are desirable, and should be facilitated and under what circumstances? Which forms are undesirable and need to be rechannelled?”

The UN has even gone so far as to attach the promotion of labor migration to the trade liberalization agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the lead up to the WTO Ministerial meeting last December 2005 in Hongkong, the UN declared during its Ninetieth Session on October 21, 2005 that:

“It is difficult to envisage a world where there is an increasingly free flow of capital, goods and services without the concomitant increase in the movement of people. Yet, as economies and labour markets are further integrated through the process of globalization, barriers to the movement of people continue to be cited as a major impediment to potential global welfare gains that would benefit developing countries, developed countries and individual migrants and their families. Even a modest liberalization of the temporary movement of persons to provide services under Mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) – by all accounts only a small percentage of annual cross-border movements – has been projected to produce annual global welfare gains of between USD 150 billion and USD 200 billion, outstripping gains expected from further liberalization of trade in goods.” (underscoring supplied)

Likewise, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which began meeting in 2006 promotes the idea “that migration is an opportunity, not a threat, and as such, migration policies can contribute to development and to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

With such high expectations of the economic gains from migration, the governments of the Philippines and Indonesia have resorted to exporting their own people as a development strategy.

The Philippines

The Philippines started to systematically deploy Filipinos for work overseas during the time of then President Marcos in the mid-70s. This new wave of labor migration came at a time when there was a huge unemployment and underemployment crisis in the country and a social volcano was erupting. While the Marcos regime said that it is only a “stop-gap measure”, poverty as a result of chronic economic crisis continued. And so successive regimes not only continued what Marcos started but institutionalized and intensified the export of labor.

Each successive regime after Marcos has denied that the government is implementing a labor export program (LEP). Under the Cory Aquino regime, the LEP was considered to be an important component of the country’s so-called “development program”. The Ramos regime referred to it as the “international sharing of human resources” and even concocted the “Magna Carta for OFWs and their Families” or Republic Act 8042 when the nation arose and protested its negligence and inutility over the hanging of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) Flor Contemplacion in Singapore. The Estrada regime vigorously continued from where the Ramos regime left off.

And when the Arroyo regime came into power, one of her first policy announcements practically stated that Filipinos working overseas should “stay abroad”. As a showcase of the LEP’s place in the national economy, President Arroyo passed Presidential Decree No. 76 declaring the Year 2002 as the “Year of the Overseas Employment Providers”. Moreover, her government has promoted globalisation and has lobbied at the WTO for the removal of trade barriers to the export of services and capital through GATS and Mode 4.

It is not at all surprising that the House of Representatives recently passed House Bill 387, otherwise known as “An Act Liberalizing and Accelerating the Processing and Deployment of Overseas Filipino Workers.” This bill would fast track the processing and deployment of OFWs. This bill no longer hides its intention of actively promoting overseas employment “to boost the national income “. In fact, the author of said bill, Rep. Roilo S. Golez (Paranaque City), said this measure corrects the Ramos-era policy that “downplays” the export of Filipino labor abroad.

Rep. Golez further acknowledged that “Our local economy cannot adequately sustain our population growth [thus] the role of OFWs in promoting the national economy and keeping the national income afloat is indubitable”.

In Asia, the Philippines has consistently topped the list of major exporters of human labour since 1996. It is followed by Thailand (763,258), Indonesia (723,139), Sri Lanka (651,635) and Nepal (227,742).

Indonesia

Indonesia’s LEP, on the other hand, is called “Pelita” or “Repelita” (Labour Export and the National Development Programme). It was started by the Suharto dictatorship for similar purposes as his counterpart in the Philippines, namely: 1) to stall the social unrest due to unemployment and economic pressures; and 2) to generate much-needed income for Indonesia. Through a decree issued in 2002 by the Ministry for Labour and Transmigration, Indonesia’s LEP was systematized and institutionalized with the following features:

Full deregulation of Indonesian labour export industry: The Indonesian Labour Enterprise (Perusahaan Jasa Tenaga Kerja Indonesia or PJTKI) is given the full authority to look for job opportunities abroad and in deploying Indonesian workers. The Indonesian Consulate approves the job orders in receiving countries. Upon approval, the process of recruiting Indonesian migrant workers (IMWs) is done by partner recruitment agencies in Indonesia. The role of the Ministry of Labour and Transmigration is reduced to aprroving the licenses for PJTKI and “verifying job orders”.

No direct hiring: PJTKI has the sole control of deploying IMWs. Every IMW has to pass through PTJKI and its counterpart recruitment agency in Indonesia.

No standard contract: Contracts are based on the host country’s policy. The Indonesian government takes a “hands-off” policy and sets no benchmark with regards the IMW’s rights and living and working conditions. It leaves important issues such as minimum wage and other benefits to the decision of the host government and divests itself of political and social responsibility to its nationals.

Fees charged to IMWs: Because of the deregulation policy, fees charged by recruitment agencies have no fixed amount. This subjects the IMWs to further exploitation by unscrupulous agencies.

The labor export policy of developing countries amounts to a violation of migrant workers rights. Ms. Eni Lestari, Chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) summed it up in her keynote speech at the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR) in Manila onOctober 28, 2008:

“The governments that comprise the United Nations are the very first one to violate our rights. The moment they failed to give adequate and decent jobs to their own people, they already violate our rights as a people. This failure has forced us as a people to look for greener pastures abroad. The moment they depressed the wages of workers, teachers, health workers, etc. in favor of capitalist super profits, they violate our economic rights as a people. The moment these governments systematically export their own people just like commodities to be bought and sold – they definitely infringe on our right to human development. This is forced migration and modern-day slavery, and not development. And I dare say that these governments discussing about us but without us, this GFMD is the Global Forum on Modern-Day Slavery.”

Endnotes

1 United Nations Eighty-Eighth Session, “Valuing Migration: Costs, Benefits, Opportunities and Challenges” policy document, November 15, 2004. p.2
2 United Nations Ninetieth Session, October 21, 2005, “International Dialogue on Migration 2005”, pp. 3-4 . Quoted from the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All, 2004; WTO, World Trade Report 2004 (citing Winters and Walmsley, 2003, and Rodrik, 2002). These projections of global gains from freer movement of labour do not take account of gains from visitors, students and others who contribute billions of dollars annually to countries of destination.
3 GFMD Policy Conclusion, Brussels, Belgium. 2007
4 Joy S. de Guzman, “Linking Women Trafficking in Asia with Economic Globalization”, December 2005, pp.17-18.
5 Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV. May 15, 2009.
6 Ibid.
7 Loc cit. p.15

This is an extract from “A Closer Look at Forced Migration and Development Aid: The Cases of Philippines and Indonesia”, a contribution of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) for the Reality of Aid-Asia