OVER $7-B REMITTANCES FROM OFWs SEEN THIS YEAR

The foreign exchange remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers' (OFWs) this year may exceed $7 billion because of the gains in OFW deployment in some 80 overseas destinations in the first half of 2000.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its attached agency, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), said last year's dollar remittances of OFWs totalled $6.794 billion. This figure is expected to be surpassed this year not only because of the 0.12 percent gain in deployment but also because many of those deployed were primarily workers in information technology (IT), nursing, and other high-end skills.

In a report to Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma, POEA Administrator Reynaldo Regalado said OFW deployment worldwide reached a total of 459,832.

"Notably, OFW deployment rose by 27,800 in 80 key destinations except in Taiwan where deployment decreased by 34 percent from 49,025 in the first half of 1999 to 32,331 in the same period this year.

In Europe, deployment of skilled OFWs posted an overall 28.83 percent increase, he said.

Regalado said OFWs deployment rose in the following key destinations: Japan -- by 6,945 to 27,504 in 2000's first half, from 20,559 in the same period in 1999; Hong Kong -- by 4,908 to 70,370, from 65,462; Italy -- by 3,055 to 16,282, from 13,227;

United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- by 2,672 to 22,900, from 20,228; Kuwait -- by 1,666 to 10,862, from 9,196; and United Kingdom (UK) -- by 1,244 to 1,915, from 671.

Laguesma said the quality of OFWs has been reinforced through skills training and upgrading which was part of the efforts to deployed skilled OFWs and minimize the employment of unskilled workers abroad.