THE MASSIVE migration of workers overseas and a ballooning population are weakening the Filipino family, which has remained among the poorest in the world, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said.
In a country report delivered during the Second East Asian Ministerial Forum on Families held in Singapore from Nov. 6 to 7, Cabral said that despite a functional literacy rate of 81.9 percent for men and 86.3 percent for women, 30 percent of the population are still poor.
Cabral said that while OFWs contributed much to the country’s economic gains, the increased number of parents now working abroad has resulted in prolonged separation of families. Worse, it has also led to a radical change in the family structure: the emergence of single-parents and female-headed households, and households headed by older children of OFWs. Cabral said that like other Asian cultures, mothers are perceived as the first teachers of Filipino children and play a crucial role in their formation and transition to adulthood.“The tragedy is that while these women work for families abroad, millions of Filipino children grow up without their mothers,” Cabral lamented.
“With children comprising 43 percent of its 85 million people, the country’s young population needs not just financial but also psychological support and guidance from their parents.”
“The Philippines upholds the dignity of the family because we believe that investing in the Filipino family is investing in our country’s future.”