Philippines

Produced within the framework of the Migration Profile Development Project for the Philippines, the Country Migration Report: The Philippines (CMR) provides a comprehensive evidence-based account of the country’s migration experience in a single, concise document to serve as a tool for policy-making.

The CMR was initiated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in response to the Philippine Government’s interest to take stock of the country’s international migration experience and to harmonize migration data management system within a shared framework. This immediately emerged after the 2011 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) conference on Migration Profiles co-chaired by the Philippines with Switzerland in Manila.

The CMR was prepared in cooperation with the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC) with support from the IOM Development Fund and implemented with its key partners: the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

In addition to summarizing readily available migration data sets and statistics, the CMR aims to: identify and analyze the challenges and critical areas surrounding migration data management; help narrow existing gaps by bringing to light stakeholder observations of the Philippines’ current migration experience; and emphasize the connection between migration and development and its significance in the country’s migration governance framework.

The CMR is divided into five main parts. Part A, Becoming a country of migration, discusses the social and economic context and the historical development of migration in the Philippines. Part B, Migration trends and characteristics, highlights developments in overseas employment, emigration from and immigration to the Philippines. Part C, Impact of migration, discusses the impacts of migration on migrants, households and the country (remittances, education, culture and others). Part D, Governance of migration, discusses laws and regulations on migration, the government administrative structure, and national policies and programme in various stages and aspects of migration. Lastly, Part E, Main findings, challenges and recommendations, summarizes the main findings, challenges and recommendations found in the CMR. The annexes of the CMR are as follows: international glossary; Philippine glossary; laws, presidential decrees, executive orders related to migration; initiative on remittances; and migration data issues and recommendations.