The provincial government has an ongoing talks with Asian Migrant Centre for a possible partnership in implementing the Migrants' Savings for Alternative Investments (MSAI) program in Bohol that shall facilitate sustainable reintegration of Filipinos abroad when they return home. Talks on the program started late last year and a follow-up meeting was held on January 22 in Pasig City, Manila, where officers of Asian Migrant Centre and provincial government officials delved on a common framework for partnership. A task force meeting on MSAI organized by the Migrant Forum in Asia was also held on Tuesday and Wednesday last week where partners from several countries in Asia attended.

On November 18, last year, MSAI Program Coordinator Sari Cañete-Jotojot had a meeting on this matter with Association of Boholanos in Hongkong. A follow-up meeting with Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO) Head Romulo Tagaan and the late Lawyer Juanito Cambangay was held on December 3, last year at the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO). Jotojot said the meeting focused on Migrants' Savings for Alternative Investments (MSAI) program of the Asian Migrant Center .

The program identifies the economic potential of migrant labor, “and works to transform it into actual power to be harnessed for just and people-centered development”, Jotojot said. Basically, MSAI aims to help migrants economically when they return and reintegrate back home; to develop the capacity of migrants and their families to build, mobilize, and make wise use of their money; and to assist migrants and their families to make alternative source of income and investments in social enterprises in home countries. Aside from finding additional source of income, the migrants can also contribute to community and national development through the program, “by mobilizing and organizing their huge economic potential and creating productive enterprises in their home countries.

MSAI also pushes that investments shall be economically viable and profitable and shall benefit the migrants and members of their families and the community. It also promotes the idea that investments shall be environment-friendly and shall work to change the roles of migrants and women towards more venues of equality and contribute in basic social change, just development and naion-building. “The MSAI program employs several operational strategies to channel migrants and their economic powers towards reintegration and economic development,” Jotojot said. Among these strategies is the creation of area-specific MSAI program wherein migrant organizations in Hongkong are linked to local government units, non-government organizations, banks and other financial institutions in specific regions and provinces back home. Another strategy is the establishment of a savings and credit union based in Hongkong, and investment in social enterprises back home in partnership with local NGOs, cooperatives and LGUs. (AV-PGMA)