EDITORIAL - Bring them home

The social costs of the overseas Filipino workers’ phenomenon are well known. Many years ago the resulting brain drain contributed to the deterioration in the quality of education as experienced teachers left in droves to become OFWs, with many of them accepting jobs as maids. The health care sector has also suffered from the loss of physicians, a number of whom found work abroad as nurses.

Now the brain drain is being keenly felt in other sectors where the lost expertise cannot be easily replaced. Last week the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration lost another senior forecaster, who found a better paying job in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over the weekend it was reported that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has also been hit by a skills exodus, with eight professional aerobridge operators resigning to work at the international airports in Dubai and Doha in Qatar.

When you have only 24 aerobridge operators, eight is a serious loss. The Airline Operators Council fears that more professional aerobridge operators may leave, lured by salaries that are six times higher than their basic pay and cost of living allowance in the Philippines. Incompetent aerobridge operators can cause expensive damage to aircraft. Recently, a miscalculation in operating a NAIA tube damaged the door of a China Airlines plane. The cost, according to reports, can run up to $3 million.

OFW remittances have fueled economic growth and the workers have been hailed by a succession of presidents as the nation’s modern day heroes. Working abroad is fine for those at the lower end of the skills totem pole, for whom the government cannot generate enough decent jobs but can rapidly churn out replacements.

The loss of experienced workers and specialized skills, however, is something else and cannot go on indefinitely. While the government continues to assist those who want to become OFWs, it should at the same time draw up schemes to stop the brain drain and start bringing overseas workers home.