Manila: The Philippine government has revived an old campaign to make overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) entrepreneurs, following their displacement by two civil wars in Iraq and Libya, sources said.

“We are ready to assist the repatriated OFWs to consider entrepreneurship as an option. We have a menu of reintegration programmes and services available to our returning OFWs,” said Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz as several OFWs returned from Libya.

During a lecture to OFWs temporarily housed at an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) shelter in Makati City, Baldoz talked about the government’s business options specially tailored for returning OFWs.

Called ‘Balik Pinay, Balik Hanapbuhay programme’, the government will offer capitalisation for business-minded OFWs, said Baldoz, adding it is a continuation of the government’s programme that has encouraged high-earning OFWs in the past to embark on business ventures in the Philippines while they are earning good money abroad.

The Philippine government is now targeting returning OFWs, seeking to convince them to do the same thing, said Baldoz, adding that the displacement of OFWs could be an incentive for them to be business-minded.

Several international funding agencies have been pressing the Philippine government to train OFWs and their relatives in the country to channel remittances to business ventures.

Some 10 million OFWs send more than $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) to relatives in the Philippines every year, most of which is spent on houses, education, and consumer goods.

“Just a small percentage goes to business ventures and savings,” bankers said.

Taken as a whole, the annual remittances of OFWs to relatives greatly exceed foreign and local investment capitalisations, bankers added.

At the same time, Baldoz noted that the government has “a menu of [several] reintegration programmes and services available to returning OFWs”.

“We will assist OFWs through referral if they want to work again overseas, or locally,” Baldoz said, adding that they have a reason to be satisfied with high salaries they receive from overseas employment.

“It could also be a trap. OFWs realise lost opportunities only when they are displaced or are retired early,” observers said.

A total of 93 OFWs have returned from Libya since a time when 247 of them registered for voluntary repatriation at the Philippines Embassy in Tripoli. There are 13,000 OFWs based in Libya.

Meanwhile, the department of foreign affairs deployed a rapid response team to Iraq to assist returning OFWs, foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said.

The team will help bring home more than 2,000 OFWs in Iraq, said Jose. The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) has supplied the number of OFWs in Iraq. Some 300 OFWs returned home from Iraq last year.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has imposed a temporary ban on the deployment of OFWs to Iraq and Libya due to the political instability there.

But last year, POEA temporarily lifted the ban except in “no-go zones” in Iraq, after the Iraqi government sought permission to hire skilled Filipino workers and professionals for the rehabilitation of Iraqi industries and facilities.