UN Expert Group Meeting on Measuring International Migration December 4 – 7, 2006, UN New York

1. UN Expert Group Meeting on Measuring International Migration December 4 –7, 2006, UN New York MEASURING INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE PHILIPPINES (With Focus on Emigration Statistics) • by Lina V. Castro

2. OUTLINE • Background • Existing Data Generation Systems • Initiatives/Coordination Efforts in the PSS • Recommendations and Future Directions

3. I. BackgroundThe Philippine Statistical System a decentralized system that is composed of: • a policy making and coordinating body, NSCB • a general purpose statistics producing agency, NSO • a statistical research and training center; and • all government agencies engaged in the generation of statistical information

4. Framework of the PSS and How It is Coordinated

5. National Statistical Coordination Board • serves as the highest policy making and coordinating body on statistical matters in the Philippines • Functions • formulates policies • allocates responsibilities • coordinates and prescribes standards in the generation of statistics • designates statistical activities that will be undertaken by the government • Develops and maintains statistical frameworks (e.g. PSNA) 

6. Existing Data Generation Systems in the PSS on Emigration • Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) • Department of Tourism (DOT) • Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) • National Statistics Office (NSO)

7. 1. Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Major Functions • Provide advice and assistance to the President and the Congress of the Philippines in the formulation of policies concerning or affecting Filipinos overseas; • Develop and implement programs to promote • the interests and well-being of Filipinos overseas;

8. CFO Clientele • Filipino Emigrants and permanent residents abroad • Filipino Nationals who leave the country as spouses or other partners of foreign nationals • Descendants of Filipinos overseas • Filipino youths abroad • Exchange visitor program participants

9. Statistics • Stock estimate on Overseas Filipinos • Statistics on Filipino Emigrants a. Immigrants and Permanent Residents b. Filipino spouses and fiancées of foreign nationals

10. In million ESTIMATED NUMBER OF FILIPINOS OVERSEAS Sources: CFO, DFA, POEA and other sources

11. Categories of Overseas Filipinos (CFO) • Permanent – immigrants or legal permanent residents abroad whose stay do not depend on work contracts • Temporary – persons whose stay overseas is employment related, and who are expected to return at the end of their work contracts • Irregular – those not properly documented or without valid residence or work permits, or who are overstaying in a foreign country

12. Year Permanent Residents Temporary Residents Irregular Migrants Total 1995 6.41 1996 1.92 2.71 1.86 6.49 1997 2.15 2.94 1.88 6.97 1998 2.33 2.96 1.91 7.20 1999 2.48 2.98 1.83 7.29 2000 2.55 2.99 1.84 7.38 2001 2.74 3.05 1.62 7.41 3.16 2002 2.82 1.60 7.58 ESTIMATED NUMBER OF FILIPINOS OVERSEAS Sources: CFO, DFA, POEA and other sources

13. OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS 3.17M PERMANENT RESIDENTS 2.81M IRREGULAR 1.60M ESTIMATED NUMBER OF OVERSEAS FILIPINOS (As of December 2002) Sources : CFO POEA PECs TOTAL NUMBER OF OVERSEAS FILIPINOS: 7.58 M

14. Registered Filipino Emigrants Source : CFO N = 1,238,934

15. Distribution of Registered Emigrants by Major Countries of Destination (1981-2003) Other Countries: 24,115 (1.9 %) TOTAL: 1,238,934 CANADA 169,443 (13.7 %) U.K. 6,229 (0.5 %) GERMANY 9,427 (0.8 %) U.S.A. 869,973 (70.2 %) JAPAN 68,419 (5.5 %) AUSTRALIA 86,223 (7.0 %)

16. SOURCES OF DATA • Emigrant registration from CFO • Statistics on departing overseas Filipino Workers from POEA • Reports from Philippine Embassies and Consulates i. From the number of passports issued ii. Reports on inter-marriages iii. Assistance-to-Nationals cases iv. Head Count

17. SOURCES OF DATA • Statistics on tourist arrivals from DOT • Reports from Filipino associations and organizations overseas • Reports from foreign Embassies and Consulates • Census of foreign governments on their immigrant population

18. LIMITATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS • Double counting • No comprehensive and accurate data on returning Filipinos • No comprehensive data on 2nd and 3rd generation overseas Filipinos • No available comprehensive data yet on those who acquired foreign citizenships

19. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT • Use of embarkation and disembarkation card of Bureau of Immigration to enhance collection of data on departing and returning Filipinos • Use of census on families of overseas Filipinos • Enhance the collection of data of Philippine Embassies and Consulates

20. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT • Adopt a specific and common procedure and mechanism in gathering statistics on overseas Filipinos (particularly on the number of irregular migrants) • Adopt common definition of terms and international statistical standards • Analysis and interpretation of statistical data and flow • Conduct an international conference on stock estimation of migrants

21. Department of Tourism: CONCEPTS OUTBOUND PHILIPPINE RESIDENTS: “ … departures of Filipinos who are permanent residents of the Philippines as well as aliens and naturalized citizens of the Philippines with permanent residence in the country.” Source: DOT Statistical Report

22. Travel and Tourism Statistical System (TTSS) by DOT • Objectives • To generate statistics on the profile and travel characteristics of outbound Philippine residents, former Filipinos and overseas Filipinos

23. TTSS Scope and Coverage Included in Visitor CountNot Included in Visitor Count Tourist Transit /change plane Excursionist Aliens with pre-arranged Cruise passengers employment in Phil. Overseas Filipinos Immigrants Overseas Filipino workers Returning Residents

24. TTSS Scope and Coverage Included in OutboundNot Included in Outbound Philippine Resident CountPhilippine Resident Count Overseas Filipino Visitors/tourist to the Philippines Workers Overseas Filipinos Foreign Residents/Expatriates Filipino Residents

25. TTSS Sourcesof Data Arrival/ Departure Card The Arrival/Departure Cards Processing Center (ADCPC) located in NAIA is responsible for the gathering, collection, encoding, data validation and downloading of initial files in NAIA, Cebu, Laoag, Davao, Subic and Clark. The downloaded data are further processed by the DOT’s TTSS.

26. TTSS Outputs • Statistics on visitor arrivals by • country of residence • demographic profile • travel characteristics • mode of travel • port of entry • nationality • Statistics on the actual volume of Overseas Filipino permanent residents abroad • Statistics on former Filipino citizens by country of residence • Statistics on Outbound Philippine residents

27. TTSS Outputs • Statistics on Outbound Philippine Residents • by port of disembarkation • demographic profile • travel characteristics • by nationality • mode of travel • port of entry

28. 3. Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Shared OFW Database

29. Mandate Sec 20 of Republic Act No. 8042 • Establishment of a Shared Government Information System for Migration DFA, Commission of Filipinos Overseas, DOLE, POEA, OWWA, DOT, DOJ, Bu of Immigration, NBI, NSO

30. Concepts & Definitions • Migrant Worker or OFW - a person who is to be engaged, or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he/she is not a legal resident • Documented OFW - a migrant worker with valid visa or work permit whose employment contract has been processed by POEA

31. Concepts & Definitions • Undocumented OFW - a migrant worker with insufficient employment documents, whose employment contract has not been processed by POEA • Name-Hire - an OFW who was able to secure an overseas employment without the assistance or participation of any recruitment agency

32. Concepts & Definitions • Worker on-Leave - an OFW who is on vacation and is returning to the same employer (Balik Manggagawa) • Seafarer - Any person who is employed or engaged in any capacity on board a seagoing ship navigating the foreign seas other than a government ship used for military or non-commercial purposese.g. fishermen, cruise ship personnel and those serving on foreign maritime mobile offshore and drilling units.

33. National Statistics Office What is the NSO Survey on Overseas Filipinos (SOF)? • It is undertaken every year as rider to the October round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) • A nationwide survey that gathers information on Filipino citizens who left for abroad during the last five years 2

34. Objectives of the SOF National Statistics Office • Obtain national estimates on the number of overseas Filipinos • Provide estimates on the amount of cash received by the families 3

35. Landbased Seabased National Statistics Office Who are the Overseas Workers? • Filipinos who are presently and temporarily working overseas during the 5-year reference period. • They may or may not have an existing work contract abroad. 4

36. OFWs in April to September 2004 reach 1.18 million... 2004 1.18M 2003 0.98 M National Statistics Office 20.2% 6

37. OFWs in April to September 2004 reach 1.18 million... 1.18M 2004 2003 0.98M National Statistics Office 17.7% OCW =1.10M OCW =0.93M 7

38. Asia 76.4 % Australia 1.9 % Europe 10.7 % N & S America 9.2 % Africa Other Countries 1.3 % 0.5 % Japan 115 Thousand Saudi Arabia 258 Thousand National Statistics Office Majority of OFWs were in Asia... 11

39. PhP 8.9 B 2004 2003 National Statistics Office Remittances from April to September 2004 amounted to 79.3 billion pesos… PhP 79.3 Billion PhP 70.4 Billion 13

40. 71.9 % 22.7 % 2.9 % 1.8 % 0.7 % Banks Door to Door Agency Friends/ Co-Workers Others National Statistics Office Seven out of ten OFWs used banks in sending their cash remittances… 14

41. Europe Total = PhP 8.4B Ave = PhP 81,000 N&S America Total = PhP 7.2B Ave = PhP 80,800 Asia Total = PhP 37.4B Ave = PhP 52,000 National Statistics Office More than 66 percent of the cash remittances came from OFWs in Asia… 15

42. Current Initiatives in the PSS • IAC on Shared Government Information System for Migration (IACSGISM) • Objectives/Plan: (1) Make available among all concerned information contained in existing databases; (2) Linking of databases for free-flow of data exchanges and sharing Lead: Department of Foreign Affairs assisted by the CFO Issues: Lack of funds in implementing an integrated system Convened last in 2002, but hold small group meetings with CFO

43. Initiatives in the PSS • Central Bank’s IAC on Overseas Employment and Tourism Statistics • Aimed at rationalizing data collection and harmonize measurement methodologies concerning Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) incomes and international travel variables • Initial outputs: • Assessment of current practices and methodologies • Average salaries of OFWs • Common methodology in estimating economic contribution of OFWs

44. Most Current Initiatives • NSCB Task Force on Overseas Filipino Statistics’ Terms of Reference • Review and evaluate the data generation activities of all concerned agencies for monitoring the stock and flow of overseas Filipinos • Review concepts and definitions • Formulate recommendations on appropriate concepts and definitions and the estimation and utilization of data on the stock and flow of overseas Filipinos

45. Outputs • Assessment of existing data generation systems including issues and concerns of the various agencies • Proposed Operational Framework which situate the Overseas Filipino Workers(OFWs) among the Overseas Filipinos (OF), and OFs classified into: • Permanent • Temporary Proposed Standard Concepts and Definitions

46. Framework • Permanent Overseas Filipinos • Temporary Overseas Filipinos: • Documented OFWs • Visitors • Undocumented Filipinos • Others (Students and dependents of OFWs, etc.)

47. Concept of Overseas Filipinos • Are Filipino nationals abroad categorized as: • Migrant Workers • Permanent residents or immigrants • Former Filipino Citizens • Holders of non-immigrant visas like tourists/visitors, students, medical patients, those on official mission and others • Descendants of Filipino nationals overseas

48. Permanent Overseas Filipinos • Shall mean Filipinos who are permanent residents abroad, including Filipino immigrants who are already citizens or are still Filipino citizens awaiting naturalization, recognition or admission

49. Temporary Overseas Filipinos • Shall mean Filipinos whose stay overseas is employment related and are expected to return at the end of their work contracts (including their dependents), holders of non-immigrant visas like tourists/visitors, students, medical patients, those on official mission and others

50. Future Directions • Optimal utilization of the A/D card to enhance collection of data on departing/returning Filipinos • Revision of the A/D card to reflect information on length of stay and purpose of travel • Adoption of common definitions • Harmonization of reporting systems of DFA and CFO • Revisiting the design of the NSO Survey of Overseas Filipinos • Reactivating the IACSGISM