OUR FUTURE BESIDE THE EXODUS: MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO 1 Institute for Migration and Development Issues August 2004 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 Bagasao, and Atty. Manuel Goyena of the Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos(ERCOF). This research is dedicated to the late Gina Alunan-Melgar, a forerunner in the migrant civil society advocacy in the Philippines.