Revisiting the Balik Scientist Program: Exclusionary Nationalism in the Mitigation of Brain Drain from Philippine Labor Export

For 50 years, the Philippines has engaged in an active labour export policy of sending migrant workers that have contributed vast economic benefits along with the loss of scientific talent and other social costs. To reverse some of this loss, the Philippine government embarked on the Balik (Filipino word for "return") Scientist Program, which was first instituted in 1975 and recently reinforced by a new law in 2018. This renewed program invites Filipino scientists for engagements ranging from 15 days to three years with a wide range of monetary incentives and privileges ranging from research grants to tax breaks. Compared with open initiatives that seek to attract scientists globally regardless of nationality, however, the policy’s exclusionary design has been criticized for being open only to citizens or foreigners who are of Filipino descent. The country’s perennial challenge of matching scientific career opportunities in host countries remains unresolved. This paper explores this particular exclusionary practice to examine its logic, advantages, and deficiencies using official policy documents, government records, and other publicly available materials. Preliminary findings suggest that while such a policy is more of a stop-gap solution and not driven towards achieving talent concentration, the exclusionary design is compatible with labor export while allowing the country to strategically tap into nationalistic impulses and the global circulation of expertise.