TADIAN, Mountain Province – Having overseas work as a result of hard work and patience coupled with luck or destiny should be treasured to be able to provide better living conditions for one’s family.
For Venus Olnosen Lagamon, 35, a native of barangay Bantey, working abroad never came to her mind despite the difficulties of life that she encountered from a tender age to date. She is the eldest of six children of spouses Agusto and Raymunda Olnosen, both laborers from the said barangay.
“Working overseas never came to my mind. It was not also an option for me to consider just to provide my family with better living condition so that my children will not experience the hardships that I hurdled while growing up,” Venus stressed.
Currently, Venus is working as a farm worker in a team plantation in Kumamoto, Japan owned by the Maruyama Farm Co., Ltd.. She celebrated her first year of employment in the said company last month and considers her current job as a blessing because she will be able to contribute in helping improve the living condition of her family, especially that her 8-year old daughter is still growing up. Venus is married to Ronald Lagamon, a laborer from Calumpit, Bulacan.
At a very young age, the 35-year old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) already experienced the hardships of life being the eldest where she had to help her parents in the household chores and take care of her younger sisters and brothers.
“I have to be patient in doing my assigned duties and responsibilities in the workplace. I also have to work hard to show to my employer and my workmates that I deserve to be a part of the company for the duration of my stay in Japan,” she added.
Venus already experienced to be away from her parents and family members when she was in high school as she was lucky to be chosen as one of the scholars of Mayor Constito Masweng to work in their residence and help in the household chores among others while studying at the Masla National High School. She enjoyed the said benefit until she graduated from high school. The OFW had to leave the municipality to pursue a higher level of education in Baguio City or La Trinidad.
Initially, she was supposed to enroll in a 6-year dentistry course in one of the prestigious higher education institutions in Baguio but her parents could not afford the expensive tuition and other school fees aside from other miscellaneous expenses that will be incurred during her studies. Venus eventually decided to take up a 2-year vocational course on dental hygiene at the Cordillera Career Development College (CCDC) based in La Trinidad town but she was only able to complete her first year in the said course.
“My family could not afford to support my chosen vocational course that is why I had to stop going to school. I decided to look for a job to earn enough money to support my studies because my family could no longer support me,” she claimed.
She eventually went to Calumpit, Bulacan to work as a household helper for more than three years and as a chicharron re-packer as the province has been known to be one of the producers of quality chicharron. Venus was able to meet her husband while working in Calumpit, Bulacan as he was the nephew of her employer.
The Lagamon couple decided to go back to Venus’s hometown where she was actively involved in the online selling of various beauty products and other basic needs of the people while her husband worked as a laborer over the past eight years to be able to provide the basic needs of her growing family.
“I was doing well with my online business while my husband was contended in helping provide the needs of our family by serving as a laborer for whatever available jobs in our community,” she said.
After the May 9, 2022 synchronized national and local elections, she was informed by her high school classmate, Michelle Bagnos Talabis, the newly assigned Nihongo language training center coordinator, that there is an upcoming Nihongo language training that will be conducted for free in the municipality through the Join Us for Progress (JUP): Jobs, Jobs, Jobs program of the Dominguez family in partnership with the Manila-based Philippine Human Resource Global Information Center (PHGIC) and the Bulacan-based Sage Asian Language Center. Michelle convinced her to actively take part in the said language training for future use in case there will be a chance for them to be selected as overseas workers in the foreign land.
“It took me some time to decide on whether or not to join the free language training. I eventually decided to take part because it was free and it is a rare opportunity that such training will be conducted right in our doorsteps,” Venus said.
She acceded to Michelle’s request for her to be among the selected trainees. At the start, Venus admitted that having to learn the basics of a foreign language was really difficult on their part. There was even a time that she and some of the trainees agreed to quit because they could not grasp the lessons being taught to them primarily because the language was different. However, what is good with her other classmates was that they motivated those who seem to give up to continue because being able to learn a new language might become a game changer in their lives in the future, especially if they will be lucky enough to be selected to have gainful employment in japan.
“We actually decided to push through with the language training because we have a lot to gain and nothing to lose since it was for free and was conducted right in our municipality. We just had to be patient and work hard to be able to learn the Nihongo language being taught to us,” she said.
After completing the 4-month language training, Venus and some of her classmates were lined up for an interview at the PHGIC office in manila where there were two separate employers that conducted the said interview to the prospective applicants for farm worker in their respective companies, She just honestly answered the questions that were asked by the interviewers but she did not expect too much considering that in some of the companies, the age limit of those that were hired was 28 years old and that she was 34 at the time when the interview was conducted. When they were called back to the room where the earlier interview was undertaken, it was the group of Francisca Nayasang that were the ones that were called out for the ones that were selected and that she just prayed hard that she will be part of those who will be selected by their employer when their turn will come.
“My number was the last to be called out by the interviewers. When I heard that it was my number that was called out, I was really overjoyed and had mixed emotions at that time. I had to work hard to prepare myself and my family once I will be deployed for work in Japan,” Venus stressed.
She was lucky because she was able to pass the examination that was given by the language trainers that is why she stayed in Tadian while reviewing her learnings of the Nihongo language and did not have to go to the Sage Asian Language Center to the review while those who did not pass the exam had to go to Bulacan for their master class. She took the chance to prepare her family for the expected long-distance relationship to ensure that they will be ready for the said situation. However, she did not yet inform her parents about her upcoming overseas work and decided to tell them about it when she was about to be deployed. Luckily, her parents and her husband were supportive of her decision to do overseas work as a farm worker in Japan.
Upon arrival in the foreign land, Venus and her companion Aimee Grail Awing, a fellow farm worker hired by the company from the Tadian batch of language trainees, had difficulty in adjusting to the language barrier but some fellow OFWs who were earlier hired by the company were the ones that guided them through until they were able to adjust to the working conditions and the language barrier. Their employer was also compassionate and understanding about their satiation that is why it was easy for them to adjust to the situation working as farm workers in the tea plantation of the company.
Venus narrated that their specific work is the first stage of the processing of the tea where they have to boil water and soak the harvested tea leaves and then have them dried prior to packing the same. When they have no work inside, they help in the planting of tea, weeding, fertilizing and even harvesting.
She claimed that they are staying in a company housing where the maintenance fee is being deducted from their salaries. It is also difficult to go to see their province mates working in other companies in Kumamoto because of the distance that have to be travelled before reaching their workplaces, thus, they simply spend their day off taking a rest from their work schedules during the week.
Further, Venus was also able to adjust to the home sickness and other issues concerning long distance relationships and that she is confident that her family in the municipality was also able to do so for the sake of providing her family with a brighter future so that her children will not suffer the same hardships that she had encountered at a tender age up to adulthood.
Venus expressed her family’s gratitude to the Dominguez family for having thought of the JUP; Jobs, Jobs, Jobs program that provided rare opportunities for her and her fellow OFWs to land in gainful employment in Japan which they will surely take advantage to be able to contribute in providing better living condition for their families in the future.
Under the said program, qualified and selected individuals will be given a 3-year special training visa that could be extended up to five years at the choice of the beneficiary and even up to ten years depending on their performance in their work.
For her, what is important is that she is enjoying her work considering that it is not that heavy compared to farm work in the Philippines because of the presence of some machineries that assist them in accomplishing their assigned jobs for a certain period of time. She was able to sacrifice too much just to be able to have a gainful employment in the foreign land and that she will do her best to show to her employer that the company did not make a mistake in selecting her as one of their farm workers and that she will remain an asset to the company until she is capable of doing her assigned work.
Venus hopes that the lessons she shared in her story will inspire and motivate others to excel in their respective workplaces to help in improving the living condition of their families whether locally or overseas because what matters is that people are able to persevere in achieving their dreams and aspirations in life.
Lagamon expressed her gratitude to the concerned stakeholders who patiently worked hard and consolidated their resources to ensure their having a gainful employment in the foreign land without anything in return because what matters is that they are able to prove that the program is real and for the benefit of qualified applicants and trainees.
Michelle described Venus to be a diligent trainee during her stint in the Nihongo language training course that is why she wished her the best of luck and will continue to pray for her success in her existing job as a farm worker considering that what she is working for is for the benefit of her own family. By Dexter A. See
