MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hailed the overseas Filipino workers as "true global pioneers" in her speech before the 63rd United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"Our overseas Filipino workers are true global pioneers. There isn't a ship abroad that doesn't have a Filipino crew or a nation without highly-skilled Filipino workers," she said in the speech aired live on state television late Tuesday evening.

"The movement of people from one country to another will surely increase, as globalization continues to erase borders. This should be recognized as having implications on the growth and development of both sending and receiving countries," she said.

More than eight million Filipinos, out of a population of 90 million, work abroad. Their remittances are a major source of foreign exchange and are a significant contributor to the country's gross national product.

Money sent home by Filipinos working abroad rose 24.6 percent in July from a year earlier to $1.4 billion.

The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, has attributed the increase to the continued deployment of Filipinos seeking work overseas, with 761,836 leaving the country in the first seven months, a 28.2 percent increase over the same period last year.

Earlier Tuesday, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Manila would issue an advisory to Filipino seafarers against sailing to waters off lawless Somalia following a wave of kidnappings by pirates that has left close to 100 of their compatriots in captivity. With Agence France-Presse