Three decades of sustained and large-scale migration of Filipino workers to foreign countries have transformed the Philippines into a country of migrants. According to the most recent stock estimate, there are 7.76 million Filipinos present in 192 countries and territories all over the world. These 7.76 million overseas Filipinos are distributed as follows: 2.87 million are permanent immigrants; 3.39 million are overseas workers; and 1.51 million unauthorized migrants (www.poea.gov.ph/docs/ofwStock2003.doc, accessed 11 December 2004).

The overseas Filipinos make up close to 10 percent of the 82-84 million Filipino population. Overseas Filipinos represent the personal link to the outside world for those who remain in the Philippines. A September 2004 survey by the Social Weather Stations found that half (52 percent) of Filipinos had relatives based abroad, with 22 percent having relatives in the United States (www.sws.org.ph/pr140904.htm, accessed 11 December 2004). These links connect migrants and non-migrants, which not only enable further migration flows, but also foster various kinds of transnational projects. As many migration scholars observe, these connections represent “globalization from below,” which contrast with the “globalization from above” that is represented by multinational companies, international organizations and governments.

Given these extensive links, it is not surprising that the desire to migrate has captured the Filipino imagination. A nationwide survey by Pulse Asia in 2002 revealed that 20 percent of adult Filipinos had lost confidence in the country and would like to migrate if they could (Asian Migration News, 30 June 2002). Adults are not the only ones contemplating migration. A 2003 nationwide survey of children in the ages 10-12 years found that 47 percent wanted to work abroad someday; the percentage was higher - 60 percent - among the children of overseas Filipino workers (ECMI-CBCP/AOS-Manila, SMC and OWWA, 2004). The same study found that the courses children planned to take were those that would lead to jobs that would be marketable abroad – nursing, mostly among girls; maritime courses, mostly among boys. Thus, in the years to come, more and more Filipinos are likely to join the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos before them who packed up their bags in the hopes of finding better opportunities abroad.

Research Objectives

Year after year, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos are legally deployed overseas. As of 2003, 891,908 migrant workers (682,315 land-based; 209,593 sea-based) left for overseas employment. These were the ones who made it; many others also aspired to work abroad, but were unable to realize their migration intentions. Some of them had their hopes dashed due to problems encountered early on in the migration process.

Migration intentions are just the starting point of the migration project. Prospective migrants have to go through many stages, perhaps a maze in some instances, in order to realize their migration intentions. Considering the large supply of potential migrants on the one hand, and the limited access to securing overseas jobs through legal channels on the other, some prospective migrants may fall victim to various schemes and irregular practices prior to migration. Despite the fact that the Philippines is one of the more organized source-countries of migrant workers in the Asian region, scores of migrant workers encounter many problems even before they leave the country. Cases of illegal recruitment or migrant workers getting a raw deal in the destination countries are routinely reported in the media.

The need to address pre-migration conditions is important to prevent other problems later on, particularly when migrants are already in the countries of destination and are beyond the reach of national laws. Moreover, since migrant workers are still in the Philippines, it is expected that they will be better protected by Philippine laws. In the interest of promoting safer migration, the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) embarked on a research project to examine the pre-departure migration experiences of departing migrant workers, covering the period from the time that they apply for a job abroad up to the point of departure. The research objectives were:

The data and information generated by the research are expected to provide directions for policy and advocacy. Among others, findings from the research project are expected to document violations committed against migrants at the pre-migration stage, gaps in programs and services to migrants, and good practices that promote migrants’ empowerment.

Data and Methods

The research focused on legal migrant workers, i.e., those who are going through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). By focusing on workers going through the legal channels, the research aims to uncover the loopholes and problems in the existing system, which may not be so obvious given the legal mantle that surrounds the process. This project will also build on and complement a previous research on unauthorized migration from the Philippines (see Battistella and Asis, 2003).

The main data for the research came from a survey of 990 departing migrant workers who attended the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminars (PDOS) provided by the POEA Central Office, POEA/OWWA in the Cebu and Davao regional offices, selected NGOs and a licensed industry provider (henceforth, the 2004 Pre-Migration Survey). A five-page questionnaire (Tagalog) was administered to participants at some point during the PDOS. A copy of the English version of the questionnaire is provided in Appendix 1.

The selection of respondents was not based on probability sampling, and this must be taken into account in the interpretation of the data. Also, compared with the gender distribution of new hires (which is usually 70 percent women, 30 percent men), the project ended up with a more skewed distribution (83.3 percent women, 16.7 percent men). In part, the gender distribution of the sample reflects the composition of participants in the PDOS providers which participated in the research (Table 1). The lack of cooperation by industry PDOS providers in the project lessened the likelihood of reaching more male migrants.

The survey was supplemented by other primary data collected through: key informant interviews with key personnel in the POEA, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), PDOS providers (NGOS and industry providers), and selected migrant workers (n=43); and seven focus group discussions (FGDs) with departing workers (nurses, other professionals (i.e., excluding nurses); domestic workers from Mindanao; domestic workers from other regions; entertainers (specifically, band members); non-professional male migrants; and factory workers).

The collection of primary data was undertaken between June and September 2004. Prior to that, the project conducted a literature review and reviewed various documents – memorandum circulars, POEA annual reports, media reports – relevant to the topic.

In the presentation of the data, the names and identities of the respondents are not provided to protect their privacy. Discussions during the dissemination-validation workshop undertaken last 12 November 2004 have also been incorporated in this report.