NGO to present study findings on Davao OFWs’ contribution to economy

DAVAO CITY, May 22 (PIA) – The Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation, Inc. will formally release tomorrow (May 23) its study findings on the contribution of Davao City’s migrant workers to the local economy.

Unlad Kabayan Executive Director Maria Angela Villalba said the research entitled “Migrants of Davao City: A Baseline Study” will be presented to the city local government officials and heads of key government agencies, the academe and other non-government organizations.

Villalba told the media during Monday’s Kapihan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao that Unlad Kabayan’s first research in Davao City was conducted starting 2009 to benchmark the condition of the city’s Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

She said the study which gathered 462 respondents from the three Congressional districts in a random survey, gave focus on the OFW’s contribution to the local economy, and their savings, spending and investment behavior.

One of the findings revealed that about 70 percent of the migrant worker respondents had savings and 29% of them invest part of their savings in the city, Villalba reported.

“We are happy to note that migrant workers in Davao City had savings and were investing in the city,” she stated.She said the savings would range from at least P10,000 to P40,000 based on the last salary.

The study said about 69% of the migrant families had also their savings mostly kept in the banks, however noting that among the respondents, it is more likely that the bulk of the savings is kept by the migrants, not by the families.

Of those who had investments, the most common ventures engaged in were farm purchase which scored at 44.1%, and other business such as retail, mainly sari-sari stores, micro and small enterprises, rating at 36.5%.The respondents claimed to have invested a total of P7.7 million in farms, agri-business and micro enterprises, and P1.5 million in lending activities, the study showed.

However, the research noted that majority or 53.1% of the migrant respondents had no experience in business, though it further cited that 32.25% claimed that their businesses were successful while 45.8% reported that returns were just enough.

About 20.4% of the respondents admitted failure or poor returns due to inability to collect debts, lack of trustworthy managers/staff, lack of capital and lack of experience, the study found out.

Further, the study disclosed that 82% of the migrants are willing to invest with a maximum of P5 million and a minimum of P10,000 investments.

Among the recommendations that came out concerning savings and investments were to improve migration policies and programs, and to provide business opportunities for OFWs to encourage migrants to invest in the city.

“This is why we will be presenting the study to the LGU and other government agencies to hopefully get their response and action based on the findings and recommendations,” Villalba said.

Meanwhile, Villalba disclosed that the 32,196 Davao City migrant workers registered by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) are sending P3.86 billion in remittances to their families annually.From a conservative estimate of P10,000 monthly remittance from each of the OFW, P321.9 million flew into Davao City every month, she said.

Unlad Kabayan is an NGO catering to migrant workers and their families, in an aim to enable the OFWs to “actively contribute to the local economy through the mobilization of their resources for enterprise development.”The group has also “pioneered the approach of harnessing migrants’ savings to support social enterprises in some of the poorest regions in the country.” (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)