Filipino migrants have long been confronted with various challenging crises which put their safety and welfare at risk. At present, over 10.4 million Filipino migrants live and work in thousands of different occupational settings in over 224 countries and destinations. Additionally, more than 300,000 Filipino seafarers board and work on foreign flag vessels each year dominating the international seafaring market by over 30%. Filipino domestic workers, who are predominantly women and remain to be the top occupational category of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), work in hundreds of countries and in a variety of households—whether in high-fenced villas in the Middle East or high-rise condominiums in East Asia. Scores of technicians, engineers, construction workers, factory machine operators, and maintenance workers are deployed in military camps and conflict zones as well as strategic high-technology sites, such as petroleum refineries in the Middle East and Africa. Likewise, Filipino laborers can be found in industrial factories where they are exposed to occupational safety and health risks.

Starting from the Gulf War in 1990 through the violent political upheavals and wars which ensued thereafter in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, the capacity of the Philippine government to respond to emergency situations involving Filipino migrants who are caught in these hostile situations has been increasingly challenged. This has been worsened by terrorist threats, adverse consequences of emerging climate change disturbances, earthquakes & tsunamis (such as those that hit Sendai, Japan and Christchurch, New Zealand), epidemic outbreaks (such as SARS and bird flu virus in East Asia), piracy in the high seas (frequently occurring in Somalia), political territorial disputes (such as those involving China and Malaysia), and scores of industrial and cultural disputes. Still, drastic economic downturns and global financial crises lead to job retrenchments which precipitate industrial uprising and labour disputes.

These crises underscore the need to strengthen the ability of Foreign Service officers (FSOs) and staff and other members of the attaché corps, such as labour attachés and welfare officers, of the Government of the Philippines to respond to such critical situations. The sheer number of Filipinos overseas and the limited number of diplomatic, consular and service attache staff demand that all embassy officials are well- equipped to respond to emergencies, which must include the capacity to mobilize resources, engage multi-sector partnerships and coordinate with head offices.