MANILA, PHILIPPINES: The Philippines has brought its migrant worker protection agenda to a global stage, joining high-level talks at the International Migration Review Forum in New York.
The Department of Migrant Workers said the country took part in discussions on safe, orderly, and regular migration through the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the forum reviewed how countries are carrying out the global migration compact. He said this work is part of the DMW’s core mandate.
For many overseas Filipino workers, this matters because global migration rules can affect recruitment, workplace protection, remittances, consular help, and return support.
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Rights, Recruitment, and Safer Job Pathways
Cacdac said the Philippine delegation joined several roundtable discussions and events that helped shape the forum’s progress declaration.
The talks covered major issues affecting migrant workers, including labor rights, worker protection, remittances, financial education, ethical recruitment, and regular pathways to migration.
Ethical recruitment is especially important for OFWs because it deals with fair hiring, proper contracts, and safer job placement. Regular migration pathways also help workers avoid illegal recruiters and risky job offers.
The discussions also included consular cooperation and better reintegration systems for returning OFWs.
PH Helps Shape Global Migration Talks
The Philippines also co-chaired one of the IMRF roundtable discussions with Nigeria.
This role showed the country’s active part in shaping global policy on safe migration. It also placed the Philippines among the countries pushing for stronger protection systems for migrant workers.
The DMW said the Philippines remains focused on working with other countries to improve migration governance.
Talks With India and Lithuania
On the sidelines of the forum, Cacdac met with officials from India and Lithuania.
The talks focused on labor migration governance and wider workforce mobility concerns. These meetings are part of the Philippines’ effort to strengthen ties with both labor-sending and labor-receiving countries.
The DMW noted that the Philippines and India are among the top labor-sending countries in the world. Their workers are employed in sectors such as healthcare, construction, domestic work, and services.
Many of these workers are deployed to the Middle East, North America, and Europe.
Abu Dhabi Dialogue Also Discussed
Cacdac said the Philippines also discussed preparations for the Abu Dhabi Dialogue with India.
The Abu Dhabi Dialogue, created in 2008, is a forum between Asian labor-sending countries and Gulf Cooperation Council states.
The Philippines currently chairs the dialogue. Cacdac said talks with India, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia covered the forum’s priorities for the next two years.
For OFWs, this means migrant protection remains part of wider talks with countries that receive many Filipino workers.
