Overseas Filipino Workers Abroad and at Home
Add to Lightbox DownloadTeresita "Tita" and Demetrio Comodaz "Emmet" relax with their granddaughter Precious Lara in Cavite, Philippines on Dec. 2006. The couple takes care of their granddaughter while their daughter Rosalie Villanueva, 35, works as a nurse in the United Arab Emirates. Emmet spent most of his life working in Saudi Arabia and his earnings, and those of his daughter, have enabled the family to move out of the slums in Manila and into a large home in a neighboring town. Each year, the Philippines exports more than a million of its nationals to work abroad through its overseas employment program. Others leave to become permanent residents of their country of destination. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) typically work as doctors, accountants, IT professionals, entertainers, teachers, nurses, engineers, military servicemen, students, domestic helpers and caregivers throughout the world, but primarily work in the Middle East and Gulf countries.

