France, with a population of roughly 60 million and a developed country, receives more remittance money than the Philippines?
Probably translates into about $6 bn taken out of the American economy. Add Mexicans, Indians, Chinese, etc. and some real dollars add up and leave.
You are absolutely right - it is no way to build an economy.
...and they are treated like slaves here in the Middle East. I have worked here over two years now, and this is nothing more than indentured servitude. Their passports are confiscated, they start off in debt, and they have to pay a finders fee anywhere from US$200 to US$1000 in addition to getting their passport etc.
The most hypocritical part is that when trained pilots started leaving the PI for better jobs, Lucio Tan, evil mogul extraordinaire, tried to get a law passed prohibiting pilots from taking jobs with overseas airlines. We aren't talking contractual obligations in exchange for training (which is a lie, in the PI they have to pay to learn to fly themselves), but a law prohibiting them from seeking a job overseas.
OK, so, if you are unskilled, you can go be a slave in Jeddah or Riyadh because they need the money, but if you are skilled, you can't go because it will drive up labor costs for Lucio Tan and Philippine Airlines.
I think the ConCon and ConAss ideas, or any plan to move to a parliamentary style of government, are horrible, but they also are not well-severed by the Senate made up almost exclusively of the sons, daughters, neices, and nephews of former Senators.
They can strike in the street, overturn presidents peaceably, but they can't seem to free themselves from these self-centered hypocritical super-rich socialists that steal from the taxpayers while espousing a phony populist agenda.
The whole thing is very depressing...almost like seeing the Kennedys still in public office.