For the final activity of the EURA-NET project in the Philippines, the Scalabrini Migration Center conducted a forum, “The Philippines-Europe Migration Corridor,” on 26 January 2017, 1:00 – 5:00 PM, at the Discovery Suites, Pasig City. Some 40 participants from national government agencies, academic and research institutions, and international organizations and NGOs attended the event.

An overview of the project’s objectives, methodology and knowledge products provided an introduction to the project’s goals and accomplishment during its three-year run. Highlights from EURA-NET Philippines were shared during a two-part presentation – Research Associate Karen Anne Liao discussed findings from interviews with European migrants in the Philippines (“Beyond Stereotypes: European Migrants in the Philippines”), while Dr. Maruja M. B. Asis, Director of Research and Publications presented the research findings on Filipino returnees from Europe.

SMC Director Graziano Battistella facilitated the insightful exchange that followed the presentations. Resource speakers further enriched the discussion and open forum. Mr. Rodrigo Garcia of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas presented on current engagements with the Filipino diaspora in Europe, and relevant policy issues and statistics concerning Filipinos in Europe. Dr. Anjeline De Dios, a former student from Europe and a recent returnee to the Philippines, elaborated on aspects of student migration and knowledge transfers, setting the tone for the ensuing dialogue. Policy and research issues, such as the need for promoting the occupational mobility of Filipinos in Europe; understanding the links of student migration, brain drain and brain gain; the need to update the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 and improving the database of the foreign population in the Philippines were among the topics that invited a lot of discussion. In his closing remarks, Mr. Ricardo Casco of the International Organization for Migration (also a member of the National Advisory Board of EURA-NET Philippines) said that the project revealed interesting aspects of the Filipino migration and settlement experience in Europe and the country’s new experience as a destination country of diverse migrants from Europe.