No future at home? Inside the endless Filipino exodus

AdvertisementThe PhilippinesThis Week in AsiaEconomicsNo future at home? Inside the endless Filipino exodusThe Philippines exported 2.74 million workers last year.

For many, leaving is still the most reliable path to a better life4-MIN READ4-MINRaissa RoblesPublished: 8:00am, 29 Jun 2026Victor Lee is not the kind of man to leave behind his family without a reason, but the 34-year-old Filipino has done the sums and decided where life must take him next: Lithuania.His wife does not want him to go. She will be left to care for their child, with a video call standing in for a husband, while Lee hauls cargo through the seaports of the Baltic.

His paperwork is nearly done. He has finished his training as a heavy transport operator. He is going.

“It’s getting harder and harder to earn as a driver in Manila,” said Lee, who currently works as a driver for Grab.Not only is the ride-hailing market saturated but the seemingly endless political brawl between President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s camp and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpios has produced protests that gridlock the streets and drain his daily take.He has promised his wife a deal: he will return as soon as there is enough money to build a house and start a business.

She is, reluctantly, coming round.Overseas Filipino workers relax at the Philippine Consulate’s newly opened OFW Centre at United Centre in Hong Kong on May 27. Photo: Dickson LeeLee’s decision to leave now, pay the personal cost and collect the reward later is one of the most well-rehearsed trade-offs in the Philippines.

It has been made by millions of his compatriots across five decades – and the numbers suggest it is being made more than ever.AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.

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