06/09/2026
ARE OFWS REALLY HEROES?
(An article by DMW-CAR OIC RD Cheryl L. Daytec-Yañgot. The opinions expressed in the piece do not necessarily reflect a DMW-CAR position.)
August is National Heroes Month, and time and again, we hear that overseas Filipino workers are our “modern-day heroes.”
The description is understandable. OFWs leave families behind, endure years of separation, work in unfamiliar societies, and sometimes face discrimination, abusive employers, illegal recruitment, unpaid wages and dangerous conditions. Their remittances educate children, pay medical bills, build homes and keep families afloat.
But perhaps we should also ask an uncomfortable question: Why must millions of Filipinos leave the country to earn what they cannot earn at home? Calling OFWs heroes can honor sacrifice. It can also obscure the conditions that make such sacrifice necessary.
There is another problem with the heroic label. Sometimes, heroism is misunderstood as entitlement. A few OFWs, when particular demands are not granted, invoke their remittances as the source of salaries of government officers. Just recently, I came across a Facebook post asking where OFW remittances were going and implying that the Department of Migrant Workers was somehow managing or spending them.
That is not how remittances work. When an OFW sends money home, the money goes principally to the family. It pays for food, tuition, rent, medicine, appliances, construction, savings or investment. When it is spent, it circulates through the economy and may generate taxes. The remittance itself, however, is not government revenue, nor does the DMW receive or administer it.
Government is financed principally through taxes and other public revenues. In 2025, the National Government collected about ₱4.45 trillion in revenues, around ₱4.08 trillion of which came from taxes.
This brings us to workers whom we rarely call heroes. The teacher, nurse, farmer, construction worker, government employee, factory worker, professional, and small entrepreneur who remain in the Philippines also sustain the country. They produce goods and services, keep institutions functioning and support the domestic economy. Those earning taxable income pay income taxes, while workers and consumers contribute through value-added taxes, excise taxes and other taxes generated by economic activity.
OFWs generally do not pay Philippine income tax on salaries earned overseas. That is as it should be. This is not an argument for taxing them. It is simply a reminder that remittance should not be confused with taxation, and neither should be the measure of patriotism.
The Filipino worker abroad and the Filipino worker at home both contribute to national development, although in different ways. One should not have to be diminished so that the other may be celebrated.
There is also something troubling about describing migration itself as heroic. Some Filipinos freely choose international careers. Many others leave because wages here are insufficient, jobs are unavailable, or opportunities abroad offer their families a life that the domestic economy cannot provide. A mother may not dream of caring for somebody else’s children while her own grow up without her. A nurse may not wish to leave a Philippine hospital. A construction worker may not desire years of separation from family.
When the choice is between inadequate income at home and separation abroad, what we are witnessing may be less a story of free choice than one of economic necessity.
Our own labor migration laws recognize this contradiction. They acknowledge the important contribution of migrant workers through foreign-exchange remittances. At the same time, the law declares that the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve national development. Government is instead directed to continuously create employment opportunities at home. That principle should guide how we speak about OFWs.
There is danger when the language of heroism normalizes sacrifice. Calling OFWs heroes becomes problematic when praise substitutes for policy. A hero is expected to sacrifice and endure. The rhetoric of heroism can therefore make hardship appear to be an inevitable part of being an OFW. It can make us regard months without salary, prolonged separation from children, excessive working hours, deskilling, heavy recruitment debts, and abusive workplaces as unfortunate but ordinary features of migration. But they are never ordinary.
We should not make sacrifices of OFWs acceptable by developing beautiful words for the people who endure them.
So, are OFWs heroes? Many certainly are because of their courage, endurance, and sacrifices for their families. But the teacher who stays, the farmer who produces our food, the nurse who remains in an understaffed hospital, the laborer who builds our roads, and the ordinary worker who earns a Philippine wage and pays taxes also contribute to the nation. Their work may be less celebrated, but it is no less necessary.
Perhaps the best tribute we can give OFWs this National Heroes Month is not simply to praise their sacrifice. It is to build a country where leaving is genuinely a choice, not an economic necessity.
OFWs deserve our gratitude. But they deserve something more enduring than the title of hero: a Philippines where heroism is not required simply to earn a decent living.
𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐎𝐅𝐖𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬?
August is National Heroes Month, and time and again, we hear that overseas Filipino workers are our “modern-day heroes.”
https://baguioheraldexpressonline.com/are-ofws-really-heroes/
