medicines. Many were even reportedly tortured during interro gation. One of the stranded OFWs even died from a heart attack while in the deportation center. Social costs/famiHes. The most basic social stress caused by migration is on the family. The UDHR clearly states that 'the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by the society and the state" (Art. l6(3)) Yet the brute fact of migration where family mernbers leave severely challenges this and there is little that can be done to mitigate the physical separation of spouses from each other or of parents from their children. The stresses on marital and parental relationships, and the resulting instability and adverse, consequences, are then largely inescapable and an inherent part of the labor export phenomenon. Spouses face the hazards of strained relationships, loneliness and depression possibly resulting in extra-marital affairs and other infidelities. There are also accounts of dependence and irresponsible behaviour being encouraged in husbands left behind. Notwithstanding efforts to provide caretakers from the extended family or elsewhere, children and youth left behind can suffer emotional and psychological problen$, poor school performance and ill health. Other problems of youth and children that can be attributed to being in OFW families are higher school drop out rates, teenage pregnancies and substance abuse (drugs and alcohol). Caretakers themselves have even been known to maltreat and physically or verbally abuse children left behind in their care. The extended separation ofchildren from one or both parents generates strong pressures alienating them from each other. A core dilemma is that the migration happens precisely because there are no satisfactory prospects at home so reuniting the family in the Philippines is not an option, and will only be a genuine option when migration itself ceases to be the widespread institutionalized occurrence that it is. This makes the not unreasonable assumption that the family would prefer to remain united at home if the economic prospects were there. Family reunification abroad is in this sense then a basically forced second-best option. The struggle for contract and legal arrangements in destination countries that are more inclusive of admitting family members left behind while legitimate however then takes on a secondary character compared to the more basic obligation of the Philippine governrnent needing to create economic opportunities on the domestic front. )l