In the Philippines, not only the country's youth are part of today's brain drain but also the teachers who are producing these brains. Teaching shortage is occurring because more and more of the teachers go abroad and work as housemaids.

Teacher Education is the second most popular college program in the Philippines. More than 400,000 students who hope to enter college are generally aspiring to become teachers. Despite this, the education system still suffers from a severe shortage of teachers. The country lacked about 38,535 teachers in 2005.

A degree in Teacher Education is offered in nearly all colleges in the Philippines. Enrolees for Education and Teacher trainings during the years 1994-2002 went up by 46.20% amounting to 439,549 in 2001. However, as presented by the records of the Professional Regulation Commission, only a fraction of this is able to earn a degree in Teacher Education. Only a little more than 100,000 of these enrolees are able to reach the last year of this program. Out of these 100,000 enrolees who were able to finish the program, only a few of them pass the licensure exams. And only 26% of these 100,000 graduates passed the Licensure Examinations for Teachers. This only represents 25% of those who are able to finish the program. Yet, many of those who have passed the Licensure Examinations do not even teach in the country. A number of them exchange their profession for another job within the country or abroad.

These are the causes of brain drain in the education sector of the Philippines. Based on reports, the greatest teachers are now teaching abroad. Many of the current teachers in the Philippines are also starting to abandon their jobs in order to work as domestic helpers abroad. Those who are not able to leave the country become household maids in Metro Manila.

Many teachers tend to work abroad because of the lack of attractive job opportunities in the country. In 2002, a number of teachers from Cebu were hired to become teachers in schools located at Compton and San Bernardino, both of which are in Los Angeles, Southern California. 41 Philippine teachers were hired in San Bernardino; 50 in Inglewood and 58 in Compton. A number of teachers from Metro Manila who have earned their master's degrees were also hired in Texas.

This does not the end of the brain drain issue in the Philippines. What is more shocking is that many of the Philippine teachers give up their jobs in the country just to be able to work as housemaids in other countries.

Migrante International reports show that around 20% of the 160,000 Filipinos who are working in Hong Kong, Singapore and Middle East countries used to be teachers and are now domestic helpers.
Past administrations and education department officials admit to the reality that many licensed teachers work abroad as domestic helpers. In 1998, former president Fidel Ramos set up a program that promises to increase the teachers' salaries, in hopes of gaining back the teachers who have moved abroad to become domestic helpers.

Raul Roco, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's first education secretary, flew to Hong Kong and tried to convince around 300 overseas Filipino workers to become teachers again in the Philippines. The government efforts were put into waste as only a little amount of them returned. The worsening employment scenario, insufficient salaries and other economic conditions are encouraging around 2,800 Filipinos, including teachers who plan to be domestic helpers, to work abroad daily.