Migration as a ‘Development’ or as a ‘Migration-and Development’ Policy? The Case of the Philippines

By 2014, the Philippines will be celebrating the 40th year of the institutionalization of a “labor export” policy when then President Ferdinand Marcos enacted the 1974 Philippine Labor Code. Then, labor migration was regarded as a stop-gap measure for the country’s economic problems (while there were opportunities available for labor at that time). Nearly four decades since that Philippine policy, the world has embraced “migration and development” as a broader socio-economic, transnational approach to dealing with overseas migration.

The Philippines, for its part, has seen its economy slowly but steadily growing —that international credit ratings agencies have looked at the Philippines as among the emerging economies, and by 2050, among the 20 biggest economies. This brings to the fore the role of the overseas migration phenomenon itself. Has national development policy integrated the overseas migration phenomenon and identified how origin countries like the Philippines manage not just the outflows of people but the developmental impacts?

This paper intends to assess the Philippines’ policies as it relates to not just overseas migration but to overseas migration as a factor of Philippine socio-economic development. The question here is this: is the policy a "development" or a "migration-and-development" policy?