Nurses in the Philippines can’t go abroad, but there are few opportunities at home

Lorna Sianen Pagaduan was en route to a new nursing job in Libya when she “got stuck in Hong Kong” more than two decades ago.
But that misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as 22 years later she is now president of the city’s Filipino Nurses Association, and has used her earnings to put six siblings through school.
This is why she rejects the Philippine government’s decision late last month to cap the number of newly hired nurses and other health professionals it sends abroad…