A Review of the Philippine Policies on Mental Health of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Ma-Ann M. Zarsuelo 1,2 1 University of the Philippines Manila Health Policy Development Hub 2 Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines Manila ABSTRACT The Philippines has been lauded for its labor-export programs and is deemed as a global model of migraton by other countries. With the economic and employment challenges in the country, seeking work opportunites overseas becomes a promising opton. Numerous policies bring forth to the creaton of government agencies that focus on labor protecton and welfare promoton of migrant workers here and in their host countries, which include advancement of mental health. This paper aims to review and identfy the gaps of regulatory policies that intersect the phases of migraton: pre-deployment, deployment, and reintegraton. Statstcs and anecdotal data show that cases of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are increasing given the presence of adverse working conditons across the contnents. This problem is compounded by cultural stgma and fnancial inaccessibility of seeking mental health services. Post-repatriaton issues, partcularly the concerns on socio-economic reintegraton is further noted. Thus, the management of mental health among OFWs calls for a comprehensive review of our existng policies and the delineaton of the interrelated responsibilites of all relevant stakeholders for efectve multsectoral program implementaton. Synchronized endeavors of diferent agencies for efcient handling of psychosocial programs for OFWs in all stages of deployment is needed. Realistc and sustainable programs to address mental health issues are atainable through collaboratve actons, with the foresight of focusing on preventon rather than treatment. Key Words: migrant workers, mental health, labor policies InTROduCTIOn Te economic challenges in the Philippines continuously push the poor and vulnerable segments of our society to seek employment abroad. In the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) report based on 2015 data, there were 2,343,692 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) where majority were land based (78%), re-hires (74%), and females (54%). Among the 26% new hires, household service workers (HSWs) continued to be the largest occupational category (38%), followed by manufacturing labor (8%), nursing professionals (4%), and waiters (3.6%), respectively. In the span of four years, there was already a 5% increase in HSW employment among new hires. 1 To establish the state of mental health of OFWs, a search on studies with key words “mental health” and “Filipino workers” through Google Scholar and on published case reports from various Philippine based migrant organizations was done to pool data on the current evidences. To date, there are limited published literature on living conditions and welfare of HSWs but anecdotal data shows that abuse is widespread among Middle East countries, calling for serious government actions. Labor codes of these countries exclude HSWs, hence, falling Corresponding author: Ma-Ann M. Zarsuelo Insttute of Health Policy and Development Studies Natonal Insttutes of Health University of the Philippines Manila 623 Pedro Gil Street, Ermita, Manila 1000, Philippines Telefax: +632 3543832 E-mail: mmzarsuelo@up.edu.ph ACTA MEdICA PHILIPPInA VOL. 52 NO. 5 2018 480 REVIEW ARTICLE