34
colonial government in 1917 encouraged private contributions and investment in education with
the passage of the Private School Law. This sparked a growth of non-sectarian institutions that
were owned by powerful individuals, families, and businessmen who were attracted by the
autonomy this Law granted private colleges and universities.
36
It allowed these founders to mix
philanthropy with profit-making at the expense of meeting the human capital needs of the
Philippine economy. The second section focuses on the political pressures that grew from this
structural problem and led to the creation of labor export institutions. As a result of the
mismatch between the private educational system and domestic employment opportunities, the
educated unemployed population grew rapidly. This group was quick to criticize the
administration and posed a major political problem for the state. To prevent this situation from
exploding, the state exploited overseas employment opportunities by adopting the 1974 Labor
Export Policy and establishing the Overseas Employment Development Board. As more people
participated in overseas employment, political pressures grew from overseas Filipinos who
encountered many problems in receiving countries. In the early 1990s, Overseas Filipinos made
demands on the Philippine government to humanize the labor export process. This led to the
development of legislation that institutionalized the Philippine government’s responsibility for
Overseas Filipino Workers. In addition to regulating the recruitment process, the Migrant
Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 made labor export institutions responsible for
protecting, representing, and providing welfare for Filipinos working abroad. The third section
examines the growing dependence of the state and society on these labor export institutions. As
these institutions grew, the state became more dependent on the benefits from exporting labor—
the relief from the political pressures exerted by the educated unemployed and the remittances
that served as a temporary relief from the lack of economic development. Many Filipinos also
36
Gulosino, "Evaluating Private Higher Education in the Philippines: The Case for Choice, Equity and Efficiency."
Convention