Re-placing OFWs back ‘home’: Re-mapping Spatialities of Migration and Development in the Philippines

Over the years, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been heralded as the Philippines’ bagong bayani (‘new heroes) for their contribution to the national economy. Despite this celebratory narrative, much has to be said about how the OFW phenomenon has impacted communities in the Philippines. Using a spatial demographic approach, this paper re-examines the migration-development nexus involving OFWs by re-mapping the multiple ways migrants and their networks are embedded in local development narratives. First, the paper explicates the spatial dynamics of OFWs and local development outcomes of localities. Spatial clusters of local government units (LGUs) exhibiting varied levels of percentage of OFW residents and poverty incidence over time are located. These clusters serve as contextual signifiers that hint at the community articulation of migration-development dynamics where OFWs differentially interact with state institutions, kinship relations, civil society groups, and market forces. Using case studies, everyday spaces of communities are analyzed to show how transnational lives of OFWs are entrenched in actual locations and impacting local development.