People are the Philippines' biggest export, with 10 million of the country's population of 92 million living abroad.
A lack of employment opportunities at home forces many Filipinos to seek work overseas but there is a price to pay when one or both migrant parents leave their children behind.
Grace Princesa, the new Philippine ambassador to the UAE, has expressed concern over the growing "feminisation" of migration and its social costs.
About 50 per cent of Filipino migrant workers are women, most of whom leave their family behind, she said last month.
"Studies show that children aged 12 and below need their parents, especially their mother," she said. "If the mother really needs to go out of the country to work, she should be fully documented, fully protected and the price should be right."
The US$400 (Dh1,470) minimum wage for overseas household workers, which is set by the Philippines government, should be followed, Ms Princesa said.
Her agenda includes plans to conduct financial literacy courses for Filipinos in the Emirates early next year; support attempts by her government to make the transition back to Filipino life easier for returning expatriates; improve women's employment prospects at home; and help reduce the need to leave in the first place.
Records from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that as of June 2008 there were about 325,000 Filipinos in the Emirates, but the Philippines' Commission on Overseas Filipinos said there could be an additional 204,000 who live and work here now.
Sixty per cent of them are skilled or professional workers, 25 per cent are in the service sector and 15 per cent are household workers.
After Saudi Arabia, the UAE is the most popular destination for Filipino workers. Overseas workers worldwide remitted $1.4 billion to the Philippines in September, up 8.6 per cent from a year ago.
Filipinos in the UAE sent home $471 million, or 3.7 per cent, of the $12.8bn in total remittances registered worldwide for the first nine months of the year.
They send an average of Dh700 a month, according to UAE Exchange, the country's leading handler of remittances.
rruiz@thenational.ae
A resident of the UAE since 1994, Lita San Pedro de la Cruz, 49, said the money she sent home while working in Manama and Abu Dhabi for more than two decades has helped improve her family's quality of life in the Philippines.
Mrs de la Cruz said her remittances were used to educate her four children and to renovate the house she inherited from her mother.
Three of her four children have graduated from college and have landed overseas jobs; her youngest will graduate in October 2010.
"I really don't know how I was able to manage to send them to private schools and later to college," she said. "I did not rely on my husband for their needs."
Her eldest son, Fernando, 30, is an accounting graduate who worked at UAE Exchange in 2000 before moving to Holland where he now lives with his wife and their infant daughter.
Jennifer, 29, works as a supervisor at Axiom Telecoms in Abu Dhabi and was married this year. Her other daughter, Joanne, 25, recently got a job at Al Ansari Exchange after arriving in Abu Dhabi on December 2. Both are marketing graduates.
Her youngest son, Ahmed, 20, is a marketing student in Manila.
Mrs de la Cruz left the Philippines in 1985 to work as a cashier at a bakery in Bahrain and moved to Abu Dhabi in 1994.
"After being away from my children for a long time, the only way for me to be with them was to provide them the best education so they could join me here later," she said.
Before leaving the Philippines, she and the family rented a one-bedroom apartment in Manila. When she and her husband separated, the children moved into their grandmother's home in Angat, Bulacan, about 35km north of Manila.
"I have simple dreams both as a mother and an overseas Filipino worker," she said.
"All I want is for my children to have a good education and see all of them graduate from college."
Mrs de la Cruz married when she was 18 and did not finish high school.
"I did not want them to follow in my footsteps, so I worked hard overseas to send them all to school," she said.
She started out as a sales assistant at Splash, a GCC fashion retailer with headquarters in Dubai.
"But Dh800 (US$215) was not enough to pay for the education of my children who all attended a private school," she said.
"Although we're paid for overtime work, I still had to take a salary advance from my company and the money was used to pay for school fees for the entire year."
She worked at different outlets in Sharjah and Dubai, and requested a transfer to Abu Dhabi in 2000 when her eldest son arrived in the capital to work for UAE Exchange.
Of the Dh1,000 she earned each month in 1994, Mrs de la Cruz sent Dh800 each month to her children.
As a migrant worker, she was also in a position to help her sister and cousins. "I was indeed blessed with a good job and an employer who valued my hard work," she said.
Mrs de la Cruz still works at Splash after being with in the company for 17 years and now earns Dh6,500 a month.
"My children have always been my top priority."
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
%3Cp%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%201.9km%20King%20Salman%20Boulevard%2C%20a%20Parisian%20Champs-Elysees-inspired%20avenue%2C%20is%20scheduled%20for%20completion%20in%202028%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20Royal%20Diriyah%20Opera%20House%20is%20expected%20to%20be%20completed%20in%20four%20years%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%20first%20of%2042%20hotels%2C%20the%20Bab%20Samhan%20hotel%2C%20will%20open%20in%20the%20first%20quarter%20of%202024%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20On%20completion%20in%202030%2C%20the%20Diriyah%20project%20is%20forecast%20to%20accommodate%20more%20than%20100%2C000%20people%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20%2463.2%20billion%20Diriyah%20project%20will%20contribute%20%247.2%20billion%20to%20the%20kingdom%E2%80%99s%20GDP%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20It%20will%20create%20more%20than%20178%2C000%20jobs%20and%20aims%20to%20attract%20more%20than%2050%20million%20visits%20a%20year%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20About%202%2C000%20people%20work%20for%20the%20Diriyah%20Company%2C%20with%20more%20than%2086%20per%20cent%20being%20Saudi%20citizens%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
Janet Yellen's Firsts
- In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve
- In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
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SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206-cylinder%203-litre%2C%20with%20petrol%20and%20diesel%20variants%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20286hp%20(petrol)%2C%20249hp%20(diesel)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E450Nm%20(petrol)%2C%20550Nm%20(diesel)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EStarting%20at%20%2469%2C800%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
