The Department of Labor and Employment said in a statement yesterday that the demand for overseas Filipino workers surged in 2005.

Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that total number of overseas employment contracts processed for the OFWs reached 981,337 from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2005, or 39,615 higher than the 941,722 processed in the same period in 2004.

Sto. Tomas said in the statement that gains in the global scene have been achieved as the government relentlessly campaigned against illegal recruitment and human trafficking and pushed to improve the welfare and protection of OFWs worldwide.

She said that global welfare thrusts for the OFWs have been strengthened with the reinvigoration of more than 30 Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in key cities overseas, including two new offices in Brussels, Belgium and in Jordan.

Though our figures are still preliminary, we still expect that the total global deployment and number of overseas employment contracts for 2005 to increase further as final data come in, Sto. Tomas said.

Regional exit points are located in Davao, Clark and Laoag.

She said that the overseas labor market in 2005 was highlighted by the continuing preference for both land-based OFWs and the Filipino seafarers by foreign employers.*

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