Established on 16 June 1980 through Batas Pambansa 79, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) is an agency of the Philippine Government tasked to promote and uphold the interests of Filipino emigrants and permanent residents abroad, and to preserve and strengthen ties with Filipino communities overseas.
Based on the 2009 Stock Estimate of Filipinos Overseas, there are about 8.6 million Filipinos overseas; 4.1 million of them are permanent migrants, 3.9 temporary migrants, and more than 600,000 irregular migrants.