Estrella Dizon-Añonuevo and Augustus Añonuevo
a Executive Director
ATIKHA-BAUKBAYANI
54 Rizal Avenue. San Pablo City
b Assistant Professor, Sociology
University of the Philippines Los Baños
https://doi.org/10.57043/transnastphl.2003.4753
Abstract
The paper reports on the action research on the Social Cost of Migration and Possibilities for Reintegration conducted by Atikha-Balikabayani. The research was conducted among migrant women in Hong Kong and Italy and their families in San Pablo City, Laguna, and Mabini, Batangas.
The objectives of the action research were: 1) to assess the impact of migration on migrants, their families, and communities, and 2) to mobilize the various stakeholders to work together and craft a comprehensive OFW Reintegration Program.
The research showed that despite years of hard work, the majority of the migrant women do not have substantial savings and have no immediate plans of returning home for good. It was also noted that husbands of migrant women are unable to take on the “feminine responsibility” of managing the household. Migrant returnees had difficulty in adjusting to the estranged relations with their children and husbands and the lack of economic opportunities in the Philippines.
To enable the OFWs to rejoin their families and maximize the gains from migration, the various stakeholders must provide community-based assistance. The psychosocial and economic preparation of the OFWs for their eventual return must be addressed.