Written Work #1 (Finals)

Trends, Networks and Critical

Thinking in the 21st Century

NAME:Dana Ysabelle A.Pelagio DATE:12/04/2022

GRADE AND SECTION:12 GASTOURISM 2

TITLE: WINNING OVER THE OVERSEAS BREADWINNERS

The pandemic of COVID-19 is not the first health crisis that Overseas Filipinos have
faced. Nonetheless, none of the previous crises, including SARS, Ebola, and MERS-CoV,
resulted in widespread job losses, displacement, or repatriation. Human mobility
continues to be harmed by the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 issue and border
restrictions, with migrant workers and their remittance-dependent communities being
among the most vulnerable groups. As of May 6, 2020, the Southeast Asian government
had repatriated 23,000 Filipinos, many of whom were Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
who had lost their jobs owing to the pandemic. While many OFWs in the health industry
work as frontline hospital staff in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the
Middle East, many of those who return to the Philippines are unemployed and stranded
outside local airports. COVID-19 has been detected in certain people who were able to
secure domestic flights through the infamous programs Balik Probinsya and Hatid
Probinsya (return/bringing back to the provinces). Others who have been unable to return
home yet have lost their jobs are in a similar predicament–some with expiring visas,
others compelled to sell blood. However, because many of these families are single-
income households, many middle-income families that rely on OFWs wind up being
economically insecure. Remittances from abroad are typically used for necessities and
the education of children left behind in the Philippines, as well as medical bills.
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Trends, Networks and Critical
Thinking in the 21st Century

When the family's breadwinner loses his or her job, the family is more likely to fall back
into poverty. To assist these families, the government must devise appropriate and long-
term social security packages for returned OFWs as well as the millions of Filipinos who
have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. Fortunately, the Philippine government
responded to the devastating impact of the pandemic on the livelihoods of our beloved
OFWs. Throughout the months, it can be seen that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)
and the Department of Labor and Employment's Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration (OWWA) worked tirelessly to provide immediate assistance upon their
arrival, including testing, accommodation, and onward transportation to their homes
throughout the Philippines, while the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was relentless
in their efforts to repatriate hundreds of thousands of stranded Filipinos in over one
hundred countries around the world. Unfortunately, nothing can be done for those who
lost their jobs because they went home and couldn’t return to the country they worked in.
A great solution to this is to provide ayudas or financial help, to the families of those
OFWs. Some LGUs (i.e., Pasig City) are already on top of this solution. Hopefully, other
LGUs will follow suit as well.

PEST Analysis will be used to further analyze the situation of our OFWs because it is a
basic and widely used tool for analyzing Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, and
Technological developments in your business environment. When OFWs lost their jobs,
it had a significant impact on our country's political events, such as political actors doing
more work because they are the ones who will assist the OFWs. The importance of
communication and cooperation among national and local government instructions was
emphasized in the subsequent evacuation of OFWs from Manila to their home areas. In
terms of economic analysis, the Philippines' GDP shrank by 0.2 percent in the first quarter
of 2020, the most in over 20 years. According to the country's economic team, the
Philippines' full-year GDP contraction is expected to be between 2 and 3.4 percent. OFW
remittances reached a record high of $33.9 billion, accounting for approximately 10% of
the country's GDP (GDP). With the ongoing global health crisis, how can a country where
12 percent of households rely on OFWs be able to withstand the impending economic
threat? The Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning is confident that the country will recover in the
second quarter of 2020 and pursue a V-shaped resurgence. A significant amount of money was
spent as a result of the government's annual spending to assist OFWs. The cash flow of the
money was also impacted. Meanwhile, the large number of OFWs discharged has a significant
impact on our social. With the sudden increase in people returning from all over the world, OFWs
immigrants were sent home to their families, affecting the social demographic population of our
country. Finally, for Technological Analysis, the use of social media to update, government
entities use the internet and social channels to provide updates on departures as well as
transmit information to deported OFWs about where they can get help. The Office of the
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) of the Department of Foreign
 Written Work #1 (Finals)
Trends, Networks and Critical
Thinking in the 21st Century

Affairs has been using the Facebook Group OFW Help, which was founded in September
2019, to communicate with OFWs in difficulties.

References (APA Format)

 Diplomat, M. M. for T. (2020, May 18). The hurting heroes: The covid-19 crisis and
Overseas Filipino Workers. – The Diplomat. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from
https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/the-hurting-heroes-the-covid-19-crisis-and-overseas-
filipino-workers/