PRIORITIZE OFW RIGHTS, ENCOURAGE INVESTMENT - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara is calling on government to institute programs that ensure the well-being and quality of life of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their dependents, as well as encourage them to invest at home.

"The top priorities of our OFWs are food, shelter and quality education for their children--in that order. Hence, there has to be a stronger and more aggressive promotion and protection of our OFWs' rights and interests, as well as that of their dependents," said Angara.

"We should also encourage them to invest at home by providing them enough opportunities to infuse money into the local communities where they come from. This will not only improve local trade and drive the national economy, but also distribute wealth evenly among rural areas through the businesses created with OFW investment," he urged.

Responding to the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index (HDI) Report released Monday, Angara said both government and the private sector should work towards OFWs and their families' social progress.

"The Philippines' foreign remittances remain one of the highest in the world. Protecting our OFW's rights as well as their dependents' is the best way we can reward their hard work, sacrifices and valuable contribution to the country's economy," he said.

The 2009 UNDP report ranks the Philippines at 105 out of 182 countries, making it a medium-developed country. From 1980 to 2007, the Philippines has had steady rise in the HDI ranking, consistently ahead of Vietnam and Indonesia. However, these countries have achieved a steep rise in the list, leaving the Philippines' behind.

One focal point of the report is the close link among Filipino migrant workers, their contribution to the domestic economy and the OFWs in context of human mobility and overcoming barriers. The report is an important reference point of how migrant workers drive many industrialized economies in the world, and how local economies of sending countries benefit from overseas workers.

The HDI ranks countries by level of human development, combining normalized measures of life expectancy, educational attainment, standard of living and GDP per capita for countries worldwide. It is claimed as a measure of human development that, according to the UNDP, refers to the process of increasing options for persons, giving them greater access and opportunities for education, health care, income, employment, among other factors.

Angara has been pushing for investor-friendly but domestic market-conscious bills like the Pre-Need Code, the Real Estate Investment Trust Act and the Corporate Recovery and Insolvency Act--all with the aim to improve the country's chances at foreign and domestic investment, especially for the millions of OFWs whose remittance comprise over half of the country's total national budget.

"There is no economic growth without improving Filipinos' living standards. They should be a twin-target. Especially after the recent calamities and the constant issue of overpopulation in the country, child- and human-development are synonymous to national growth and recovery," noted Angara, author of landmark legislations that have vastly improved the country's socio-economic landscape.