A government-to-government scheme that has sent roughly 2,500 Filipino nurses to Germany was held up by the Department of Migrant Workers as proof that labor migration can work fairly for both countries, during a business briefing in Makati City on June 16, 2026.
The figure was disclosed by Undersecretary Felicitas Q. Bay, who attended the German-Philippines Business Roundtable Briefing in place of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac. Those deployments were carried out under the Triple Win Agreement, a bilateral healthcare arrangement that channels Filipino nurses into German hospitals and care facilities.
Bay pressed for new methods of building up the Filipino workforce and for stronger migration channels that are safe, orderly and ethical—pathways she said should open quality jobs for Filipino healthcare workers while answering staffing shortages abroad.
In the message Bay delivered on his behalf, Cacdac framed the partnership as evidence of what cooperation can produce. “Existing cooperation mechanisms between the Philippines and Germany, particularly in the healthcare sector, have shown that labor mobility can yield positive outcomes for both sending and receiving countries when guided by principles of fairness, transparency, skills recognition, and worker protection,” the Secretary said.
The German Embassy in Manila and the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the event, which drew trade officials, investors and business leaders. A German business delegation headed by Florian Hahn, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office, also took part.
Joining Bay from the DMW Policy and International Cooperation Cluster were Assistant Secretary Levinson C. Alcantara and Director Jerome P. Yanson. The department used the gathering to restate its intent to widen ethical labor mobility ties with Germany on terms it described as mutually beneficial.
