A Chance to Start Anew?: Reskilling, Reintegration, and Issues of Return in the Philippines

Compared to research on migrant deployment and experiences abroad, fewer studies investigate how governments incorporate those who return home after a period of living and working overseas. Existing literature has highlighted the lack of support for returnees, as states tend to either ignore the challenges that former migrants face or stigmatize forced returnees as criminals. For years, international organizations such as the ILO have called on source countries to support former migrants in reestablishing economic, social, and psychosocial ties within their home countries. However, initiatives within the Global South are often found to be inadequate or simply absent in all three aspects.

Still, such research should not lead scholars to assume that sending states are simply disinterested in returnees’ welfare. In the Philippine case, failing to protect former migrants can be detrimental to the political futures of incumbent officials, given the massive remittances that migrants contribute to national coffers. In this presentation, I examine how Filipino state agencies sought to address the sudden return of migrant cruise workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Contrary to the image of an incapable state, I show how local government officials were quick to pivot state funds and resources from deployment to reintegration. I discuss how a key part of the Philippines’ reintegration efforts was framing migrants’ forced return as a positive opportunity—one that former migrant workers should maximize in their favor. I discuss how state agencies used the promise of skills training to reinforce this approach, emphasizing how new entrepreneurial or pandemic-oriented skills will allow former migrants to thrive within their communities. But, this presentation will also show how such positive portrayal of cruise workers’ immobility eventually collapsed, as government officials failed to maintain its narrative of successful return.