The Philippines was ruled by Spain for 333 years (1565-1898) before America acquired it after defeating Spain in the Spanish-American war in 1898.
Under the Americans, the Filipinos absorbed the American culture through education and learned the English language.
At the same time, the war-torn country was hit by famines and epidemic outbreaks (cholera, malaria, etc.)
Soon, there was a shortage of American nurses in the Philippines and local Filipino women were recruited to become Volunteer Auxiliary Contract Nurses (VACN).
These VACNs and other qualified students were sent to the United States as pensionados (government-funded scholars) to study nursing.
After returning these nurses became influential members in the Philippine society and helped set up several nursing schools from 1903 onwards.
Due to their success, many others went to be educated in nursing in the US (both government and self-funded) and a good number stayed in the US permanently.
During WWII, Filipino nurses, familiar with the American ways and comfortable with the English language, played a major role in helping wounded soldiers.
With a positive image and cost-effectiveness, Filipino nurses became a huge draw for other developed countries (Germany, Ireland, UK), which started hiring them instead of training their own nurses.
Because nursing offers good incomes in developed countries (Registered Nurses could earn more in a day than they’d make in a month in the Philippines), many young aspirants pursue it as a career with the hope of moving abroad.
Also, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are considered valuable assets in the Philippines as they send huge sums as remittances back home (in 2019, remittance worth US$ 33.5 billion was sent by OFWs).
So, the government backs them and in the last 10-15 years, persistent production of ‘nurses for the foreign market’ has been the country’s strategy to develop an export industry for economic development.
This strategy is argued to have created a shortage of local nursing staff; of all employed Filipino Registered Nurses, roughly 85% work overseas, and a shortage of 23,000 nurses was reported during the country’s struggle with COVID-19.
