political systems and genuinely sensitive issues of diplomatic jurisdiction and sovereignty. But this only underscores the need for efforts to be sustained and systematic in bilateral and multilateral venues. Most importantly, there must be a conscious effort to overcome the apparent tendency of the government to self-impose limits on how aggressively Filipino migrant rights are pushed so as not to jeopardize labor export objectives. Sound, consistent and accurate monitoring of the state of migrant rights and welfare is essential to be able to design appropriate programmatic interventions and to start addressing their issues. RA 8042 provides for the establishment of a shared government information system for migration through "an inter-agency committee composed of the Department of Foreign Affairs and its attached agency, the Commission on Filipino Overseas, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, The Department ofTourism, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Immigration, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the National Statistics Office." (Sec. 20) This has yet to be realaed and, indeed, data-gathering at government agencies for this research highlighted how there is not yet even a system for data-sharing and coordination. A common data base was envisioned including but not limited to: information on OFW departures and arrivals; pending legal cases involving OFWs including those serving prison terms; statistical profiles on all overseas Filipinos; blacklisted foreigners/ undesirable aliens; basic data on legal systems, immigration policies, marriage laws and civil and criminal codes in receiving countries particularly those with the large numbers of Filipinos; list of labor and other human rights instruments where receiving countries are signatories; a tracking system ofpast and present gender disaggregated cases involving male and female migrant workers; and listing of overseas posts which can give assistance to overseas Filipinos. This is aside from setting up centers in countries with large concentrations of OFWs that shall among others monitor "daily situations, circumstances and activities affecting migrant workers and other overseas Filipinos" (Sec. 1e) There are also limits to mitigating the social costs of migration - the fact of separation is primary and the attendant costs will more or less be there as long as the state of separation exists. This is notwithstanding how extended family, friends, the community and even NGOs are able to provide support. The outer limits to how much migration for the country is 'acceptable' given unavoidable and mounting social costs is a matter of judgement, but in the case of the Phdippines appears to be nearing if not already long breached. Pushing greater labor export to maintain or increase overall remittance inflows is an inappropriate way to cope with the global crisis. The global crisis is decreasing the country's foreign exchange resources, through collapsing exports and declining foreign investments, at the same time as causing overseas jobs markets to tighten and causing adverse pressures on the welfare of migrants abroad. The government response is 42