BAGUIO CITY – Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), owing to their higher education and proficiency in English, are considered by foreign employers seeking domestic help as “prized catch,” yet seldom are beds of roses awaiting OFWs in their job destinations outside of the Philippines.
It’s a significant sacrifice for many Filipinos to work abroad. They go less the knowledge of the future, and lesser still without knowing if danger lurks ahead that they may encounter later in a foreign country in their quest for better living.
They adjust to new culture, contending with the feelings of isolation, sometimes depression as well as financial gridlock.
Like the resilient “kawayan,” or bamboo that can bend farther at the command of the winds but does not break, OFW endures with reserves of strength and more to extend in the cause of sacrifice.
But beyond this analogy lies a convoluted entanglement of cultural, economic and social forces at work that molds the OFW occurrence.
During the Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., years and continuing into the Cory Aquino administration, the emergence of OFWs fell into place and began to shape the country’s economic landscape, cultural dynamics and social implications that drove Filipinos to seek employment abroad.
Today, as of the latest count, there are over 1.83 million OFWs, having increased by 3 per cent from the previous count of 1.77 million. Majority of them or 1.10 million are women, most belonging to the 30 to 34 years’ age bracket.
Alex Salicyat, A Cordilleran who worked ten years as OFW and saved enough of his salary abroad to start a viable farming homestead in Benguet explained why Filipinos work abroad, despite difficulties.
These difficulties Salicyat first mentioned, “detachment from family,” which he meant being away from family for extended periods.
While abroad, OFWs could be subjected to exploitations in host countries, like low wages, abuse, long hours of work outside of the agreed work shift and poor working conditions.
OFWs may also experience discrimination and culture shock in the context of racial prejudice, social isolation and language barrier.
And OFWs can be easy prey to legal risks and uncertainties, like contract violations, deportation and visa issues.
And when finally coming home, Salicyat explained OFWs might have fewer or lack of working opportunities in the country.
Despite such obstacles, most, if not, all OFWs overcome these through resiliency, resourcefulness, patience and other coping strategies so as to realize their ambitions.
Financial constraints and lack of employment remain the top reasons why Filipinos sacrifice to part with members of their families in search for jobs. If not for these reasons, these OFWs said they would prefer to stay in the country if these issues were addressed.
Another OFW, Darwin Banigas, a highlander, asserted economic motivation remains the most compelling reason why Filipinos work abroad, and bluntly explaining, “May Filipinos in our country face predicaments like low wages, poor economic conditions and high unemployment.”
While assurance of a better economic future is a fundamental tug for these Filipinos, it is just one face of the multi-faceted reasons propelling many Filipinos to venture overseas.
Banigas said, “Being an OFW is hard. It takes courage and hard work. Being separated from your family makes the venture of an OFW a challenging prospect to overcome. Once you are in a different country and every time night falls and you are by your lonesome, your thoughts automatically swing back to your home in the Philippines and your family.”
Banigas tried to make light of the homesickness he suffered when he was out of the country, and his long explanation about it, when he ended by saying, “Many can withstand the ravages of time, but in and through all these, they retain a kind of homesickness for the scenes of their childhood.”
“Ngem anya ngarud. Kasapulan umadayo. Saan nga talaga mapukaw diay responsibilidad mo ti pamilyam ta uray adayo a lugar ti trabaho, mapan ta,” Banigas said in Ilokano.
Filipina women are disproportionately more likely to suffer from terrible working conditions, often subjected to excessive work, little pay, rape or worse, being slain employers according to the International Labor Office.
These abuses and crimes have been recorded by the International Labor Office as showing gender-based discrimination intersecting with discrimination based on other forms of “otherness,” – such as non-national status, race, ethnicity, religion and economic status – thereby placing women migrants in situations of many instances of discrimination, exploitation and abuse.
Salicyat and Banigas are friends who both worked in the Middle East. When the pandemic started, they rushed for home, only to find out their trips were cancelled. At the airport, they felt “trapped.”
Isolated and feeling suffocated, the two only wanted to go home. At the airport, an employee of Arab nationality held a polished and varnished baton.
Using the baton, the employee pestered Salicyat by pushing hard the baton into his ribs and insinuating that they are escaping from their employers – which was farthest from the truth.
Now Salicyat, a practitioner of martial arts when he was still around Baguio City, got tired of the airport employee’s shenanigans and his hackles raised, wanted to punch the employee’s mouth and keep it shut, by saying, “I have a mind to give this guy one reverse punch and his stars will wink off.”
But Banigas warned him, saying, “You do that and we will never see our families again. Never mind him. Let’s concentrate on how to board a plane despite our previous cancellation.”
The two also revealed that during their stay there, they have listened to Filipina workers having been subjected to “kafala” system.
In this onerous system, employers often locked domestic helpers, seized their phones, passports and visas and only returned these when the migrants contracts expired.
Already, the Human Rights Watch has finished a comprehensive study on the kafala system and how it manages to exclude domestic workers from labor law protection. The study was titled, “I Already Bought You.” It delved into the world of exploitation of female migrant domestic workers, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The study interviewed 99 Filipina domestic workers in the UAE who have experienced physical abuse at the hands of their employers.
One 30-year old Filipina worker whose name was held secret by the Human Rights Watch detailed how she was abused by her employer. “They slap me in the face and kick me. They have a stick for you. If I make a small mistake, they would hit parts of my body, back legs, back and head.”
“Sir would slap or punch me in the face. If they came back from the mall and I am not finished, they would beat me. They would say, if you had done your work, then we won’t hit you,” the OFW added.
Of the more than 23,714 documented cases of contract violations involving maltreatment of OFWs, approximately 5,000 of these occurred in Middle East countries, the Philippine Labor Office said.
To many Filipinos, OFWs serve as the backbone of their families back home. Seven per cent of Filipino households have an OFW helping support the family, according to a survey recently conducted by Social Weather Station (SWS).
Also, 75 percent of households frequently receive money from their OFW family members, SWS explained and in which Salicyat and Banigas concurred.
Said Banigas: “When I was OFW then, all my relatives in Benguet would often call me and jokingly say, Kitaem a ta saan mo malipatan dakami nu agawid ka.” The same always happened also to Salicwat.
Salicwat narrated that his nieces, nephews and cousins would jokingly tell him, “Mapnek kamin a nu uray chocolate lang ti parabor mo kadakami.”
The tradition of always bringing home a gift to families, loved ones and friends when coming home is one among the cherished practices of Filipinos that even a small slice of chocolate given is a big deal.
OFWs are considered modern day heroes in the Philippines. The money sent back by OFWs to the Philippines amounts to US$31 billion yearly, or about 10 percent of the Philippines Gross Domestic Product.
The steady stream of cash from Filipino workers abroad has aided poor families out of poverty in backwater provinces and even in the cities.
However, under the gleaming title “Bagong bayani), lies an unlighted and forlorn reality: OFWs suffer from various injustices that can even result in death.
A study, titled “Life Challenges and Goals of Overseas Filipino Workers,” and conducted by Baguio City researchers Larry Nicholas Atos, Eliza M. Cruz, Sarah Hong, Steve Kim and Malkiel Josh Soliven of Berkely School at Claro M. Recto St., Navy Base, found out that “For many Filipinos, having a stable source of income in the Philippines is wishful thinking.”
They, who are not so lucky, migrate to another country to earn money, the Baguio student researchers said.
When feeling homesick or having a difficult time, OFWs coped by talking to their loved ones through video calls when they had the time, and tend to work harder to avoid getting discriminated, the researchers explained.
