Video Gallery: Human Costs of Economic Protectionism

Why did we end up like this? Can we trace this to the source? What do we need to do to solve this problem? Is there hope?

Watch the videos in this gallery to see how bad the unemployment situation in the Philippines is so that Filipinos are forced to go abroad as OFW’s and become victims of illegal recruiters, end up as drug mules, prostitutes, or end up with worse fates simply because they are desperate. All this thanks to the lack of jobs back home.

If only we allowed Foreign Direct Investors and MNC’s to come to the Philippines to create jobs. If only we CoRRECTed the Constitution to get rid of the economic restrictions in the 1987 Constitution.

Amend the 1987 Constitution!

No jobs in the Philippines, everyone wants out…


No jobs. Ok, few jobs. People study and finish college but there are hardly any real jobs waiting for them. If there are jobs, they pay so little.

So Filipinos are forced to go abroad. Doesn’t matter where. They just want out. Migrant work as temporary workers is what Filipinos do because there’s nothing back home. Better if they can emigrate permanently to some First World Country. Too bad those countries are mostly selective about picking only people with good credentials. Most ordinary Filipinos, thus, qualify only for contract-based overseas employment. All because jobs are few in the Philippines and whatever jobs there are pay starvation-wages.

Why? It’s quite simple. That’s because of the Law of Supply and demand. Too few jobs but too many jobseekers means that the jobseekers compete against each other and end up bidding down wages. Contrast that to countries where there are more jobs than jobseekers: It’s the companies that compete against other companies to attract jobseekers for their job-openings.

Illegal Recruiters

Massive Unemployment forces Desperate Filipinos to try their luck finding jobs abroad, sometimes through illegal recruiters.

Maid in Singapore

Massive unemployment and poverty in the Philippines force millions of women to find jobs abroad as maids.

Pinoys working abroad

Why is the Philippines so dependent on OFW-deployments? Because there are no jobs back home!

Filipino Drug Mules

Due to massive unemployment, OFW-ism is not enough to make ends meet. Others resort to becoming Drug Mules.

Making More Maids

“The Philippines is possibly the only country in the world that accepts its role as exporter of human labor without much further ado.”

Maid in Hongkong

Once again, poverty and unemployment force women from the Philippines to leave the country as maids. Like in Hong Kong.

Filipina Prostitutes

The problem of massive unemployment in the Philippines forces millions of Filipina women into prostitution.

Hostesses in Japan

Due to the lack of economic opportunities in the Philippines, many Filipinas suddenly decide: “Magja-Japan na lang ako!”

Coming home in a box

Low pay, abuse, or returning home to a broken-family are not the worst things an overseas Filipina maid can experience.