This article discusses the emerging impacts of COVID-19 to the Philippines through the lens of its migrant workers, domestically known as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) many of whom have since been repatriated due to the pandemic. Since the 1980’s, OFWs have been hailed as bagong bayani (modern-day heroes) for keeping the Philippines afloat through remittances, which in 2019 reached USD 30 billion (PHP 1.56 trillion), or about 8% of the Philippines’ USD 377 billion (PHP 19.52 trillion) economy. With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing a significant portion of the global economy to a halt, more than 153,000 OFWs have been forced to repatriate to date (Mercere, 2020). Based on August 2020 reports from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (2020), OFW remittances fell by a total of USD 840 million (PHP 42 billion) from March to June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
While many OFWs in the health sector are hospital frontliners in the US, UK, Europe, and the Middle East, many who returned to the Philippines find themselves unemployed and stranded outside domestic airports. Some who have been able to get domestic flights through the infamous programs Balik Probinsya and Hatid Probinsiya (return/bringing back to the provinces) have tested positive for COVID-19. Others who have not been able to repatriate but have lost their jobs are in equally desperate straits–some with lapsing visas, others forced to sell blood. The article explores the multiple layers of displacement and uncertainty experienced by OFWs who were displaced to find work outside and are now displaced in their own country as it battles the pandemic.