‘Overseas Filipinos help in more ways than one’

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MANILA, Philippines—Aside from an estimated $28 billion in remittances from overseas Filipinos in 2014, another $44 million in cash and materials were sent to the Philippines by Filipinos based abroad following Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” (international name: Haiyan) according to Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Chair Imelda Nicolas.

In a statement, Nicolas said: “While we appreciate the remittances of our kababayan abroad that contribute to the country’s (gross domestic product) while helping support their families, their will to share their talents and passions within the homeland is their greatest gift.”

Nicolas said that “more than financial remittances, global Filipinos continue to show their psychic link to the motherland through the so-called social remittances.”

She recalled President Aquino in his first message to the nation in 2010, citing the 10.5 million Philippine nationals based abroad when he referred to the “oft-neglected yet real contribution of Filipinos in the diaspora to the life and welfare of societies in which they live.”

“This contribution is not only to the host countries where they live and work but also to their motherland,” Nicolas said.

She said that next week, a number of overseas Filipino community leaders will come home for the Third Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora on Feb. 25 to 27 at the Manila Hotel.

The gathering, she said, aims to “produce a clear vision and strategic action plan for Filipino diaspora communities for 2015 and beyond, and how the government, civil society organizations, the academe and the private sector can maximize their partnerships with overseas Filipinos towards common objectives and vice versa.”

Nicolas has invited President Aquino to “welcome the delegates and acknowledge their role in the country’s development.”

“Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez has graciously accepted to join us on the last day and officially close the summit,” she said.

Nicolas said that “the enduring feature of the Global Summit has always been the sharing of stories among overseas Filipinos themselves, about their experiences, their successes and their dreams for the future.”

The CFO, she said, came up with the Diaspora to Development program to “lay out 10 areas of engagement where the Philippine diaspora can become development partners of various stakeholders.”

“These are the Business Advisory Circle, Alay Dunong sa Bayan, Diaspora Philanthropy, Diaspora Investment, Balik-Turo, Tourism Initiatives, Global Legal Assistance and Advocacy, Medical Mission Coordination, Return and Reintegration and Arts, Culture and Educational Exchanges,” she said.