DAVAO CITY – It is the goal of the administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to make overseas employment not a necessity, incoming National Economic and Development Authority head Ernesto Pernia said.
Pernia, in a press conference here at the sidelines of the Business Summit here Monday, said it is the mission of the Duterte administration to keep families intact by improving the country’s economy.
“We want to make overseas employment optional and not a necessity,” Pernia said.
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Millions of Filipinos work in numerous countries across the globe just to support their families.
The trick to address the continuing exodus of skilled workers and intellectuals is to generate more stable jobs in the country, Pernia said.
“Create more jobs here in the local economy and then the motivation of our countrymen to go abroad will be diminished,” he said.
Pernia said the present trend of the growing numbers of overseas Filipino workers have social ramifications and has an effect on the future and the direction of the country.
“Many children are displaced and they lack attention and then they get into drugs,” Pernia said.
The OFW group Migrante International said it has documented at least 15 million Filipinos working abroad. JE