Hundreds of local and international migrants and grassroots migrant organizations will gather this month to declare its opposition to the Philippine government’s hosting of the 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).

The International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR) believes that the 2nd GFMD meeting will only discuss ways on how to manage migration in order to keep the flow migrant workers’ hard-earned remittances.

Hong Kong-based Emmanuel Villanueva of the Filipino Migrant Workers Union said the aim of the IAMR is to expose the “sugar-coated” agenda of the governments participating in the GFMD.

“Ang tunay na agenda ng GFMD ay paano iko-corner ang dollar remittances,” Villanueva told reporters during a press conference held Wednesday in Quezon City.

One proof of how important remittances are to some countries, Villanueva said, is the World Bank's statement that remittances are much higher than the combined global foreign direct investments and even the official development aid.

“Pagsama-samahin ito, mas malaki pa ang dollar remittances ng mga migrant workers sa buong daigdig. At dito interesado ang mga bansa lalo pa ngayon na may financial crisis,” he said.

Villanueva, who is also the secretary general of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL), doubted that the GFMD will pursue migrant workers rights.

“Walang migrants doon na center ng paguusapan sa GFMD. Kaya namin magsalita para sa aming sarili at yun ang gagawin namin sa IAMR,” Villanueva said.

He added that governments participating in the 2nd GFMD meeting are the very countries that arrests, detains, deports and violates the rights of migrant workers.

“Itong mga bansang ito na maguusap at sinasabing magpo-promote ng rights ng mga migrants ay nangunguna sa pag-violate ng mga karapatan ng mga migrante,” Villanueva said.

International Migrants Alliance (IAM) secretary general Connie Bragas-Regalado said thousands of overseas Filipino workers are in danger of losing their jobs due to the global financial crisis.

While the government has no local employment alternative for OFWs, it resorts to offer migrant workers with promises to train them and force them back overseas.

“Anxiety lies at home. Kung nangangamba doon na walang security, mas lalo dito sa Pilipinas dahil walang trabaho,” she said.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan chair Dr. Carol Araullo said the GFMD “promotes the illusion that migration will lead to real development.

“The GFMD’s work, its premise is that labor export is a strategy for development. Labor export as a policy for sustaining an economy much less as a strategy for development, doesn’t work,” Araullo said.

Araullo also said that the government’s move to retrain OFWs so they can be re-exported affirms that it has “nothing to offer them.”

“Anyone who says that the solution or the sound fundamental of this economy is migrant labor is really talking a lot of nonsense. What we need is a radical change in policy that would lessen and eventually eliminate the country’s dependence on labor exports,” she said.