Increasing Power of Filipinos Abroad

an article was published in "Globalnation Inquirer.net", about the Increasing Power of Overseas Filipinos World Wide. There is such a phenomenal growth of number of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW). It was only 35,000 workers were deployed last 1975 when the overseas workers program began compare to 3.6 million overseas filipinos that was counted last December 2004. Aside from these there are 1.3 million "irregular" overseas Filipinos according to Commission of Filipinos Overseas (CFO). The “irregular” overseas Filipinos are those who are not properly documented or without valid residence or work permits or who are overstaying in a foreign country while "temporary" overseas workers are those persons who are staying in the country dependent on their contracts. With the big increase of OFWs, what started as a stop gap measure to ease local unemployment and poverty some 30 years ago, has become a major government program and a big factor in the country’s economy. Overseas workers are bringing much dollar remittances in our country. For this year, the BSP has projected a 10-percent rise in OFW remittances to a record high of $16.4 billion, despite fears that the US-led global slowdown might temper these flows. With this increasing power and benefits that our coutry receives from OFW's. Are they doing something for our families and for us? We are the so called " Bagong Bayani" and we deserves for that.