HONG KONG – What emotions are preventing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from achieving financial success? What needs to change? For Analyn Regulacion, a domestic helper in Hong Kong for more than 5 years, it was guilt. "My relatives would blackmail me emotionally, especially my siblings, to give them financial support. If I don't give them money, they would make me feel guilty. I would cry by myself because I couldn't help them," a teary-eyed Regulacion recalled.
read moreFor many Filipinos, the lure of working overseas is plain and simple: money. A higher take home pay enables them to provide their family with a better life. Earning in terms of a stronger currency allows the overseas Filipino to buy more pesos. In 2015, the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) was estimated at 2.4 million. Remittances reached $22 billion as of end-November 2015.
read moreMany overseas Filipino workers face problems with loans. A program for OFWs in Hong Kong is helping change that. HONG KONG – In a crowded street in central Hong Kong, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) line up in front of pawnshops and loan agencies. The crowd starts to thicken even before the offices open. For domestic helper Maria Wilma Padura, the scene is all too familiar. The 43-year-old has been an OFW in the city for 18 years, working multiple jobs to raise her family back in the Philippines.
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