OFW deployment down 3% in January-October, says POEA

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration recorded a "downtrend" in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers in the first ten months of 2010. POEA Deputy Administrator Stella Banawis said Tuesday there was a 3-percent drop in the number of OFWs deployed from January to October.

"Negative 3.0 percent. The preliminary data showed that there is really a downtrend," Banawis said. "So we are actually projecting a decrease this year based on the trend although it is still preliminary."

She said that only 1.079 million OFWs were deployed from January to October this year compared with 1.112 million during the same period last year.

Banawis said that the lingering effects of the global financial crisis could be blamed for the decrease in OFW deployment.

"I think it is still the effect of the crisis. (The numbers for) Canada and Australia have not risen," she added.

She said that the mandatory insurance policy for OFWs might have also affected deployment while the local situation in other countries, like the increase of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong, also affected the deployment of OFWs in those places.


However, Banawis said the POEA noted a 10.7-percent increase in the number of accredited employers from January to September. The POEA accredited 15,049 employers during that period in 2009 and registered 16,665 this year.

There was also a 31.5-percent growth in terms of job orders, Banawis said.

"These job orders have a two-year validity so it does not mean that all will be processed this year. Normally, we approve thousands, up to 500,000," she added.