I think you are missing the point totally.
The photo the newspaper used was just a stock photo and whatever you say it is representative of Manila (slums and new tower blocks) and the Philippines in general. It's not a case of the workers being scared, it's just that most if not all of them would not want to uproot their familys and move to the otherside of the world, especially as if they did it is likely their wages would be re-adjusted and/or they would have their contracts terminated as soon as posssible.
To be honest the company is not expecting anyone to move, it is just playing games during the consultation period it's obliged to have when making large number of jobs redundant and trying to reduce the amount of money it's going to have to pay out.