333 Health in the fifty years of Philippine labor migration: past, present, and future

Abstract EP1.2, e-Poster Terminal 1, September 3, 2025, 13:05 - 13:55 This paper presents the evolution of the inclusion of health in Philippine labor migration policy. In 2024, the Philippines commemorated the 50th year of the Labor Code, which paved the way for the country’s participation in international labor migration. This milestone provided a moment of reflection on Philippine migrant health’s policy – its past, present, and future. The history of health in Philippine labor migration policy has four distinct yet overlapping phases. Phase One happened even before labor migration began, when health was viewed as mere absence of infection and migrants as vectors of disease. Policy actions during this period include quarantine and border screening – tools for health protection and movement control that will regain prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Phase Two, health was seen as a commodity and migrants as additional health workforce. Migrant health meant health worker migration – nursing schools have mushroomed and bilateral labor agreements crafted between nations. Phase Three overlapped with growing recognition within the global health community that health is a fundamental human right to be enjoyed by all – including migrants. This phase is marked by vigorous discourse and emerging initiatives around migrant inclusion in universal, such as PhilHealth’s programs for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and Philippine Migrant Health Network. The Philippine migrant health community is now moving to Phase Four, when health of migrants is examined through the lens of worsening “polycrisis” of 3 C’s – climate change, COVID-like pandemics, and conflict due to polarizing geopolitics. If health in Philippine labor migration policy will be sustained and even deepened, better understanding of its historical evolution is required. Moving forward, Filipino migrants’ health must continue to be viewed as a right – as well as a resource for shared prosperity and collective resilience in the face of an increasingly complex world.