MANILA, Philippines?Call them ?expats? from now on.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suggested this term in praise of Filipino migrant workers yesterday, saying it befits their vast contribution to the economy as well as their rising status in the global labor market.

?We should begin to call them expatriates rather than OFWs (overseas Filipino workers),? she said in Malacañang at the launch of the media campaign for the Global Forum on Migration and Development, a 150-nation event to be held in Manila later this month.

?One very, very well known and well-paid Filipino working overseas said that we should begin to call our overseas Filipinos expatriates because the nature of their job is increasingly more on skilled professions, and they should be called expatriates because expatriates usually get higher pay,? she said.

?We welcome their contribution, but we are working toward the day when Filipinos no longer need to go abroad for a job, for the day when overseas work is just another career choice and not the only choice they have to earn a living,? Ms Arroyo added.

But she maintained that ?our policy is not to export labor. Our policy is to protect our workers when the market conditions both abroad and in the Philippines give them an opportunity to work abroad.?

Incidentally, the President mouthed pledges of protection for the so-called modern-day Filipino heroes on about the same day the Philippine Embassy in London lodged a formal protest with British authorities over the recent airing of a BBC comedy skit that portrayed a Filipino domestic helper as a sex slave.

In her speech, the President ordered the labor and foreign affairs departments and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas to draw up a contingency plan to protect OFWs from the global financial crisis.

Details of such a plan would be ready in the coming weeks, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque later told reporters.

Ms Arroyo further spoke of a larger plan being drawn up by her administration to ?cushion the impact of a possible economic recession? on developing countries and on ordinary Filipinos.

Recalling her recent visit to New Zealand, she said its officials once cited a big difference between New Zealanders working abroad and OFWs: While the former receive financial support from their parents back home, OFWs send hard-earned money to loved ones they have left behind.

Filipino ?expats? are expected to take center stage at the international migration forum from Oct. 27 to 30.

In a press conference, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said the forum to be held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City is the first to be hosted in Asia by a ?labor-sending, developing country.?

The forum is expected to draw more than 1,000 participants from around 150 countries?including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Romulo said ministers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East would also be attending.