The administration should heed the underlying message rather than dwell on the economic impact of an overseas Filipino workers (OFW) boycott through a one-week remittance holiday.

Aside from momentarily weakening the peso, economists say the impact of the zero remittance campaign would be limited.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile correctly pointed out that many OFWs, who have families to take care of in the country, cannot afford a long-term withholding of money transfers.

The call, which by all indications was spontaneous, is more a cry for recognition of a community that has long been treated as the Philippines’ unsung economic lifeline.

While the protest was sparked by the condemnation of former President Rodrigo Duterte to a forced exile through his surrender to the International Criminal Court, the deeper message is the yearning for the same recognition OFWs were accorded in the past.

The rumble beneath the surface echoes throughout the diaspora since the majority of Filipinos toiling abroad share the same sentiment.

Palace officials said the financial fallout would have a fleeting effect but they’re missing the point.

Duterte frequently spoke of “shaking the tree” to compel the government to initiate reforms.

OFWs aren’t naïve, they know that a week without remittances won’t topple the system, and to some degree they and their families would suffer.

A pause in the relentless inflow of $30 billion-plus annually, by some estimates, isn’t meant to paralyze but to provoke action. The message is to stop taking us for granted.

Economists say a total boycott for one week would withhold about $715 million from the economy.

Full participation in the boycott is, however, unlikely since many OFWs will prioritize family needs over political protest, and informal remittance channels would remain.

Participation by not more than 20 percent would result in a loss of from $71.5 million to $143 million a week.

Enrile was being practical. He’s right, many OFWs can’t sustain a prolonged boycott. Their families back home, tethered to those remittances for rent, rice and school fees, aren’t bargaining chips to be gambled away lightly.

Survival trumps symbolism for most but it would be reckless to misread the intent.

OFWs are sending a message to force a government that’s grown too comfortable with their sacrifice to sit up and take notice.

The administration should resist the urge to hide behind the rhetoric about international law and the need for its equal application since it is well known that the discontent is about the rush to discard Duterte close to the elections and the parallel effort to impeach his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

OFWs should not be treated as mere sources of US dollars that prop up the economy, which is akin to seeing them as ATMs with passports.

Most are in a foreign land not by choice but by necessity, their labor often treated with indifference by those in power.

A remittance holiday, however brief, isn’t about the money withheld but the message that needs to be delivered to a government perceived to have little empathy.

It should be a reminder to those who shrug off the OFWs’ message that what they feel is multiplied by the numbers of family members who rely on them to be breadwinners.

The risk lies in ignoring the alarm and letting the wildfire of protests grow.