ABSTRACT
The Philippines comprise some 7,600 separate islands off the coast of Southeast Asia, organized into an autonomous independent nation, the Republic of the Philippines. The most successful and best remembered of the indigenous revolts was the Philippine Revolution, which began in 1896. In the same year, the Spanish-American War began in Cuba and eventually made its way to the Philippines, so the Americans became allies of sorts, joining the Filipinos in fighting the Spanish. Remittances clearly enhance the economic well-being of recipient families, help dramatically with the national balance of payments, and bring large sums of foreign currency into the nation. Average annual remittances had been increasing for more than a decade and continued to increase during and after the Great Recession. Robyn Eversole and Mary Johnson hypothesize that cultural norms strongly promoting family ties account for the sustainability of remittances.
