“Overseas Filipino Workers: The Modern-Day Heroes of the Philippines”

…Referring to these [Filipino migrant] workers, former President Corazon Aquino coined the phrase ‘Bagong-Bayani’ in 1988…

…“four in every ten” OFWs work low-status or ‘elementary’ jobs … A majority of OFWs work in Asia, specifically Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore, and Qatar…

…women are disproportionately more likely to suffer from terrible working conditions, as they are often subjected to abuse, excessive work, little pay, rape, or worse, being killed by their foreign employers…

In 2020, there were 23,714 documented cases of contract violations involving the maltreatment of OFWs … and approximately 5,000 of these cases were reported from Middle Eastern countries…

The deployment ban was not well received by migrant advocacy groups, who claimed it would not provide a permanent solution to the issues surrounding labor migration…

… the Philippine government must enact concrete policies aimed at protecting the welfare of Filipino workers. Advocacy groups, such as Migrante International are urging for reforms, including the abolition of the kafala system, which has resulted in complete employer control over domestic workers and OFWs…