Jeremaiah Opiniano

University of Santo Tomas | UST · Department of Communication and Media Studies

Migration is a regular part of the economic and social life of the Philippines. This paper provides an overview of the Philippine migration system-its historical background and the legal and regulatory environment that has evolved in response to changing global economic conditions, to facilitate Filipino workers' access to overseas employment oppor...

Memes have successfully disseminated various information on social media, albeit in a humorous tone. Journalism and journalists, however, remain uncertain in using memes as part of news work. Previous studies have revealed that variables related to journalism such as news values, participatory culture, public opinion, disinformation and credibility...

This paper analyzes differences in attitudes and strategies for investing and entrepreneurship among families receiving remittances from their overseas emigrants at two rural communities in the Philippines. It examines how these households in the origin country determine how to invest remittances, and the extent to which these decisions are influen...

Work stress is a double-edged sword to creativity. Some analysts call stress a creativity killer while others describe it as a creativity driver. Journalists face a myriad of daily work stresses that forces them to establish a coping mechanism that could evolve over time. The Covid-19 pandemic is a new problem in itself and has also brought new cha...

The insights of journalism students matter in journalism education and pedagogy but their views have not been heard much in the scholarly literature. Scholars, educators, and professional journalists have flooded the discourse on how journalism is best taught and learned. Yet the study of journalism pedagogy relegates journalism students to mere su...

The paper employed mixed methods to determine how pandemic-hit returnee overseas Filipino workers handle their reintegration beside the provision of economic and social protection services by their motherland.

Filipinos slowly get themselves accustomed to doing mixed methods research. Their mixed methods-related efforts-from further research skills training to actual scholarly publication-seem to reflect self-run initiatives by these Filipino researchers. Across the archipelago, some institutions are promoting mixed methods. Multidisciplinary Filipinos f...

It has been said that overseas migrants (and by extension, their families in home countries) got visibly affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Income earning got visibly disrupted, as the welfare and well-being of overseas-based loved ones became vulnerable. These being said, breadwinning and caring efforts by overseas migrants operated...

Countries and their labor markets engage in measures to move forward from the debilitating impacts of the running COVID-19 pandemic. Migrant-origin country Philippines has felt the impact of the return migrations of her migrant workers, who may now want to return to their overseas jobs or go to new destination countries. Yet migrant-destination cou...

This monograph explores some of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Filipino overseas migrants, and the responses and measures adopted by the Philippines in 2020. It reviews the main implications and challenges that were raised by the pandemic between 25 March 2020 and 24 March 2021, from issues concerning repatriations and returns, to decreasi...

This piece for the Melbourne Asia Review (The University of Melbourne's Asia Institute) speaks of how the remittances of overseas Filipinos help their rural birthplaces. The article also asserts that the financial capabilities of remittance owners, and the investment and topographic conditions of rural hometowns, influence the local use of overseas...

This exploratory mixed methods study sought to determine the financial capabilities of remittance-receiving households from two rural municipalities in the Philippines: San Nicolas in Ilocos Norte province and Moncada in Tarlac province. The broader concept of financial capabilities not only looks at people’s financial literacy but also their finan...

This interdisciplinary methods paper talks about how families receiving overseas remittances discuss, decide and act about finance (what is called family financial socialization). Money matters yield delicate family dynamics, and families and their members hesitate to talk about money to others. Usual verbal interview methods may not be enough to s...

Overseas remittances improve the economic conditions of international migrants’ families left behind. These monies also influence family relationships and financial behaviors of family members living in the home countries and overseas remitters. Literature in migration research has yet to analyze migrants' family financial dynamics from the lens of...

Internships in journalism frequently gauge the technical skills of students. The employability of journalism students in the news media industry rests on applying industry-aligned news work skills. However there have been few studies or assessments of the seamless integration of journalism students' technical or hard skills and their soft skills, t...

This thesis investigates the household, institutional and locational factors influencing the productive use of overseas remittances in two rural municipalities in the Philippines: San Nicolas (Ilocos Norte province) and Moncada (Tarlac province). Set a year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this mixed methods research provides a baseline of how diffe...

This book chapter (published in The Routledge Handbook of Asian Diaspora and Development) speaks of the financial capabilities of households with overseas family members. Findings from five municipalities in the Philippines reveal the need to improve the financial knowledge of overseas migrant families, so that their remittances may be used product...

How journalists reflect on their work considering the factors that affect their newswork remains to be less analysed. This grounded theory research aimed to examine how 25 Filipino journalists employ reflective practice in their work. The research is anchored on Donald Schön’s reflective practice theory – of learning through and from experiencing,...

Creativity in journalism has always been a challenging concept. Journalism has not often been seen as creative due to its structured conventions. In response, a few journalism scholars claim there is creativity in journalism. However, no studies reveal a creative process in journalistic writing. This grounded theory research from the Philippines re...

Rural communities of origin play an important role in harnessing the development potential of overseas remittances. This role is to enable and ensure an economically competitive locality for all entrepreneurs and investors (including town mates working and residing abroad). This qualitative case study research illustrates the local economic competi...

Talents, workers in search of greener pastures, and people forced to flee their homes are among those who make up today’s large-scale global migrations. Journalism –from news items to Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative stories– has long been reporting about migrants from their countries of origin and from their communities of temporary and permanent...

It was initially projected that some 300,000-to-400,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will face job losses, lesser work days, pay cuts, lesser incomes and repatriations this year--leading to lesser amounts of remittances. These are all a result of the ongoing pandemic, of fluctuations of global oil prices, and of expected national and global rec...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the international migration-and-development story of the Philippines, amongst the leading migrant-origin countries. Design/methodology/approach: Migration and socio-economic development data are used to depict the migration-and-development conditions of the Philippines. Findings: The Philippines has...

Billion-dollar remittances from an estimated 10.3 million Filipinos in over-200 countries and territories will be a major economic lifeline for the Philippines, given today’s global pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. However, the new coronavirus and the resultant area quarantines and lockdowns are already as globally dispersed as the overseas...

This paper presents the integrated mixed methods results and findings of four community-based studies on the local development potential of overseas remittances. We developed a Remittance Investment Climate (ReIC) analytical framework that outlines what the rural origins of overseas migrants need to see for their remittances to make productive cont...

Billion-dollar remittances from an estimated 10.3 million Filipinos in over-200 countries and territories will be a major economic lifeline for the Philippines, given today’s global pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. However, the new coronavirus and the resultant area quarantines and lockdowns are already as globally dispersed as the overseas...

RICART is a mixed methods tool designed to assess the investment readiness of the rural origin communities of overseas migrants, as well as the financial capabilities of migrants and their families to invest in their rural birthplaces. RICART had been implemented in eight Philippine municipalities over a nine-year stretch.

The 50-year-old Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is now in its third year implementing the mechanics of regional integration. How does this region-wide development affect journalism in individual countries and in the region? This qualitative research sought to find out the meaning and implications of regional integration to journalism...

Over the years, social media have catered for faster and perhaps more efficient delivery of news. Twitter, one of the most popular micro-blogging sites, is now being used by journalists in spreading and gathering news. And since Twitter takes note of what topics are trending, journalists now have an idea on what their audience would like to know an...

This phenomenological study sought to describe the essence of the roles and purposes of graduate journalism education through the eyes of 16 Asian students from three graduate journalism schools in Japan and the Philippines. This article is anchored in the theory of reflective practice. Responses of students produced a Bridge of Traits of Graduate...

This case study research looks at how four returning overseas Filipino workers in an urban community in the Philippines negotiate their economic roles while reintegrating into their households. The Family Financial Socialisation Conceptual Model was used to analyse the cases, data for which were drawn from key informant interviews using doodling an...

This material contains findings of a pilot research tool --called the Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns (RICART)-- that sought to determine if rural hometowns of overseas migrants from the Philippines will invest in their birthplaces or not. The RICART project was courtesy of a research prize from the Global Development Netw...

This book contains findings of the second conduct of the Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns (RICART) tool. Ricart sought to determine if overseas Filipinos will invest their remittances in their rural birthplace, in this case Pandi, Bulacan in the Philippines. This second conduct of Ricart was supported by an anonymous Cathol...

This study is about gender-sensitive remittances and asset-building overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their remittance-recipient households in the Philippines. The research attempted to determine the links surrounding remittances, development and gender by looking at data from family income surveys and from a micro-level research project.

The past ten years have seen a global wave of discourses on the development potential of remittances, especially to supplement development efforts in the countries of origin of migrants. These discourses were made possible by overseas migrants, thanks to their remittances, and their small, quiet, yet meaningful efforts at maximizing their non-monet...

1. Overseas migration-Philippines. 2. Rural development-Philippines. 3. Remittances for development -Philippines-Case Studies

With awards funds from the Global Development Network (GDN), Alvin Ang and Jeremaiah Opiniano were able to develop a mixed methods research tool, known as the Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns (RICART). The methodology integrated qualitative findings and quantitative results and focused on the rural birthplaces of overseas i...

This piece attempts to determine how can a major migrant-sending country maximize the development potentials of international migration, and in what areas this development potentials should be directed at.

Developing country governments and international donors are taking notice of diasporas' potential contributions to economic development. Attention has primarily focused on the impressive totals of economic remittances, whose global estimates now outpace official development assistance: estimated at $70 billion per year in 2004, $125 billion in 2005...

Other than remittances, diaspora philanthropy has emerged as a practice that may contribute to local development. This paper presents an overview of diaspora philanthropy by Filipino migrants: It identifies the dynamics between migrant donors and recipients in the Philippine end; outlines the actors involved in diaspora philanthropy; and it provide...

Conducted with the support of the 1 The author is affiliated with IMDI, a newly-formed nonprofit that will attempt to discover and analyze the links surrounding international migration and development through research, advocacy and journalism. The author appreciates the inputs to this paper by IMDI trustees Dennis Estopace and Atty. Ildefonso Bagas...