Despite that the wave of industrial development that has 【M1】______swept much of East Asia

Despite that the wave of industrial development that has 【M1】______

swept much of East Asia in recent decades, the country of 80

million remains extremely poor, mismanaged and still' was 【M2】______

predominant agrarian. But the Philippines docs play a visible 【M3】______

role in the global economy, thanks largely to a single export

commodity—its people. According to the government, I mil

lion Philippines will go abroad as contract workers this year, 【M4】______

the biggest exodus ever. "The Philippines has already sur

passed Mexico as the largest source of migrant labor in the

word," says Manolo I. Abella, a migration specialist at the

International Labour Office in Geneva. In all, about 8 mil

lion Filipinos—an astounded one tenth of the country's 【M5】______

citizens—currently work overseas to support families back home.

They remit more than ＄ 7 billion annually, according to the

government, and that's only' official transfers. A recent Asian 【M6】______

Development Bank report put the real figure in the ＄ 14

billion to ＄ 21 billion range a sum that dwarfs both foreign direct

investment and aid flowing into the country, and amounts

3 2 percent of GNP. In the past, the Philippines 【M7】______

is shamed by its inability to create enough good jobs to keep 【M8】______

its people at home. But hard economic reality—a 14 percent

unemployment rate and one of the highest poverty indexes in

the world (nearly half the population subsists on less than ＄ 2

a day)—has shifted the sentiment. Today, in a move that

countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh are likely to emulate

itself, the government takes the position that, like it or not, 【M9】______

the overseas workers constitute nation's biggest comparative

advantage in an increasingly borderless world. And so Manila

makes it easy for its citizens to immigrate, and works hard, 【M10】______

through its embassies, to see that their rights as foreign workers

are protected.

【M1】