Beyond Remittances: Overseas Filipino Workers Support Climate Resilience in the Philippines

Tacloban, Philippines – When Super Typhoon Haiyan – locally known as Yolanda – hit the Philippines in November 2013, Nancy was working as a nurse in a hospital in Singapore. She scoured the news for updates on her hometown of Tacloban City in eastern Philippines, where her family was living.

“I have friends from Tacloban who were also based overseas,” Nancy explained. “All of us were anxious. No one could contact their families. There was no news.” 

Concerned for her family's safety, she decided to drop everything and fly back to Tacloban the very next day.

Her immediate goal was to move her family to safety in the capital, Manila, while Tacloban recovered. With the money she saved while working overseas over the last four years, Nancy was able to stay in the Philippines to look after her family without financial worry.

Nancy’s family is one of many whose lives were upturned by Haiyan. However, it was families like theirs with social ties overseas that found swifter recovery through remittances and material aid. Ten years since the typhoon struck, Tacloban residents continue to feel the lasting impact of assistance from overseas Filipino workers.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the super typhoon affected more than 16 million people, killing at least 6,300. More than 1.1 million families were left with damaged homes, with around 11 million displaced. Tacloban City was considered ‘ground zero’.

After moving her family to Manila, Nancy stayed behind to help Tacloban’s recovery through a local organization. Leaving her work as a nurse in Singapore, she eventually started managing a poultry business that helps feed families and supply businesses in the region.

Rebuilding stronger, thanks to remittances

For Filipino migrant workers who were not in the Philippines when Haiyan hit, it was the media’s extensive coverage of the aftermath that encouraged them to send assistance. Remittance service providers and banks waived remittance fees to encourage donations to affected residents. 

Rosario Bactol was living in Tacloban when Haiyan wreaked havoc on the city. While her house was in the coastal area, it was also made of concrete, which provided refuge for residents in her community who were unable to evacuate early.

Years later, her house was demolished by the City Government after declaring the area a no-build zone. Rosario relocated to St. Francis Village, a government housing project 13 kilometres away from downtown Tacloban. 

With the help of her son who was working as an engineer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, she was able to renovate her house in the relocation site alongside her children’s houses. 

“In the old house, we didn’t rebuild since we were near the coast,” Rosario said. “Here in the relocation site, the house was bare when it was turned over to us. But when we renovated it, we poured cement to make it sturdier with the help of remittances from my son.”

From migrants to recovery 

In 2023, remittances from Filipino migrant workers reached a record high of USD 40 billion, positioning the Philippines as the fourth largest recipient of remittances globally, with further growth projected. The latest National Migration Survey showed that Eastern Visayas received the most remittances that year and suggested that remittances are higher for more economically disadvantaged regions. 

Rosario and Nancy's experiences in Haiyan's aftermath show how migrant networks and remittances can help in post-disaster recovery and support climate resilience. For Rosario, it was improving her house in the relocation site to withstand future typhoons. Meanwhile, Nancy reinvested her savings, using her skills to help bolster Tacloban's economy.

Nancy and Rosario share their experiences of witnessing Haiyan’s destruction and how their ties overseas have helped them and their families recover. Photo: IOM Philippines/Andrea Empamano

In her research on the impact of migrant remittances in post-Haiyan recovery in Tacloban, Dr. Yvonne Su of York University suggests that access to remittances was more readily available for middle-class households than for lower-class households. As middle-class families were more likely to have relatives or friends working overseas, access to remittances and other assistance from abroad helped them recover faster. 

Rosario considers the assistance from Filipino migrant workers an important aspect in their recovery after Haiyan. The country is a leading source of international migrant labour, with government estimates at a global total of 10.2 million overseas Filipinos in 2023, including 2.3 million overseas Filipino migrant workers.

“Hopefully, Filipinos overseas won’t get tired of helping their fellow Filipinos,” said Nancy. “It has a huge impact. Because, coming from my own experience, it made me feel hopeful. Even though I was at my lowest, [I knew] there would still be help.” 

Migrant workers have shown that their help can be mobilized for post-disaster recovery and climate-resilient development. Their remittances contribute directly to poverty alleviation and rural economic growth. However, with climate change contributing to stronger typhoons in the Philippines, there is a need to translate this support from individual households with migrant ties towards more durable solutions through community-level development. IOM is engaging with migrant workers' communities of origin and the private sector through Apple to construct typhoon-resilient shelters in vulnerable communities with the help of remittances.

In navigating the challenges and risks posed by climate change, harnessing the invaluable help of diaspora communities and the private sector in disaster recovery and climate resilience can help build a more sustainable future for the Philippines.

For more insights, data and analysis on remittance trends and other significant shifts in global migration patterns, refer to IOM's World Migration Report 2024.

Story written by Buboy Figueroa.