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Updated Friday, August 28, 2009 11:12 am TWN, By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times



	Motorcyclists rush past a public market in Santa Barbara, Philippines. The market was built with remittances from the city's many residents who work abroad. (Los Angeles Times) Enlarge Photo

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Philippines' price of an economic exodus

But with millions of the poor living atop garbage dumps and under bridges in Manila, they know their nation's capital is not the solution.

And so they go abroad: One in 10 of Santa Barbara's 80,000 residents work in places such as Italy, Taiwan, Singapore and the U.S.

But recent months have hit hard. Since last fall, when the global financial crisis struck, many overseas workers have been forced to secure second and even third jobs to keep the remittance flow constant.

About 200,000 overseas Filipinos have lost their jobs since then, economists say. Many have returned to the Philippines, where, accustomed to the better salaries and working conditions abroad, they often do not want to take any available jobs.

Others are hounded by job placement businesses to repay hefty travel and work setup fees the agencies have laid out in advance of workers leaving the Philippines. “They're stalked by loan sharks who threaten their lives if they do not pay,” said Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante International, a watchdog group.

The remittance system has also altered the lives of the stay-at-home families of overseas workers.

A recent International Monetary Fund study found that many extended families of overseas Philippine workers are refusing to pursue jobs at home that they consider too low-paying, preferring to rely on their monthly remittance cut.

There are social problems as well.

As parents leave home, children get left with relatives or friends who may not provide adequate supervision, which can lead to substance abuse and gang membership, says Tony Sarmiento, a Santa Barbara city official in charge of monitoring the overseas worker program.

“The worst part of this human export policy is that (the government doesn't) make the hard choices back home,” said Benjamin Diokno, a professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics.

Some analysts say the Philippines must find ways to raise salaries to keep trained professionals from leaving the country. Statistics show U.S. salaries for some professions are more than 10 times higher than in the Philippines.

Teachers and nurses can make US$25,000 to US$45,000 in the U.S. doing work that pays about US$3,600 a year in the Philippines, according to professional associations.

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