Over 60% of Filipinos in S'pore are now professionals, says the PH ambassador

More than 60 percent of Filipinos working in Singapore are now professionals, the Philippine ambassador said this month.

Ambassador Medardo Macaraig gave the figure in interviews with the Daily Tribune on 7 and 11 October.

He counted more than 220,000 Filipinos in Singapore, the number the Department of Migrant Workers uses, and called it the highest of his posting.

Remittances sent home from Singapore rank second after the United States, he said, citing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas records.

Who they are

They nurse patients, run hotel front desks, write code, audit books and run building sites.

Macaraig named healthcare, hospitality, information technology, engineering, finance and logistics as the main fields, with some kababayan still in domestic work.

The spread matches what our community guide found about where Filipinos in Singapore live and work.

It also sits behind the pay change coming next year, when the Employment Pass salary floor rises to S$6,000 on 1 January 2027 and hits new professional hires first.

Macaraig called last month's alleged S$155,600 theft near Tang Plaza an isolated case, and said the accused were tourists rather than residents.

More passport slots

The embassy has opened more passport appointment slots after moving into a larger building, Macaraig said.

"There are now more passport appointment slots available than before because we have expanded the number of service locations," he said.

That eases the booking crunch familiar to anyone who has renewed a Philippine passport in Singapore.

The new embassy building, finished under the Marcos government, won an SG Mark design award and made Monocle's list of eight best foreign embassies in April 2026.

Plans for home

The embassy and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration are steering workers toward business before they stop working abroad.

An agri-business forum was due the week after he spoke, following earlier sessions on franchising, money skills and spotting scams, Macaraig said.

"We are trying to get them into entrepreneurship so that when they get back to the Philippines, they can start their own business," he said.

Kababayan who want to build that fund from Singapore can start with Pag-IBIG MP2, the tax-free savings plan many OFWs pay into from here.