Filipino Migrant Workers' Day marked with triumph, tribulation
Jason Aguilar is unaware that June 7 marks Filipino Migrants’ Day.
Less than two months after he started working as a welder in Doha, Qatar, he was deported on suspicion of being a high-profile suspect on the run. He still considers working abroad, but only as a last option.
“Pagkatapos nito, wala pa akong nakikitang trabaho. Pero maghahanap pa rin ako ng trabaho, ‘yung dito lang sana sa Pilipinas," Aguilar told GMANews.TV in an interview with a hint of hesitation.
(I haven’t found a job where I could transfer after this. But I will still keep on looking for job, hopefully just here in the Philippines.)
Right now, Aguilar works as a security aide of outgoing Bulacan Governor Joselito Mendoza, but his employment contract is set to expire on June 30 when the governor steps down.
Aguilar was deported January this year after authorities suspected him of being Jason Aguilar Ivler, who was the subject of an international manhunt for fatally shooting the son of a Malacañang official in a road-rage incident.
It was only when he landed in Manila that Aguilar came to know that he had fallen victim to a case of mistaken identity. He admitted to being “traumatized" by the experience.
On June 7, however, Aguilar admitted that if he does not find another job soon, he may just try his luck abroad once more despite the ordeal he went through.
“Ayoko nang mag-abroad dati, pero ngayon, naiisip ko, balang araw baka kailanganin ko (Back then I said I don’t want to work abroad anymore, but now, I think I may have to do it again someday)," he explains.
OFWs as partners in progress
Unknown to many, Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, apart from establishing the government’s responsibility to protect migrant workers and promote their welfare as well as their families’, includes a provision for the celebration of the Filipino Migrant Workers Day.
Then President Fidel Ramos issued an executive order declaring June 7 of every year as the date for the celebration.
This is the 15th year that the country observes the Migrant Workers Day, otherwise known to migrant workers as Araw ng Pasasalamat (Day of Thanksgiving), according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
This year’s theme is “OFWs: Tagumpay sa Hamon ng Panahon, Kaagapay sa Pagsulong" (OFWs: Triumph amid the Challenges of Time, Partners in Progress).
“The celebration serves as the avenue for the government and its social partners to express their gratitude to all OFWs," said OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon in a statement posted on the agency’s website.
The celebration, according to the statement, centers on the milestones and accomplishments of OFWs during the last decade amid major global and local crises such as the Lebanon crisis, global financial crisis, outbreak of the H1N1 virus, and calamities.
The POEA, meanwhile, marked the occasion by recognizing local government units in Metro Manila who have been involved in the campaign to minimize illegal recruitment activities in their respective areas, according to a separate statement.
“Forced migration"
Despite the festive mood that government agencies want to promote to commemorate this special day, the conditions of overseas Filipino workers have not been encouraging.
Migrants’ groups, for one, view the government’s policy towards increased labor export as “forced migration".
Aguilar, for example, was just one of about 3,000 Filipinos who leave daily for overseas employment given the lack of job opportunities here, according to estimates by migrants’ groups.
In 2009 alone, over 1.4 million Filipinos went abroad, according to records of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
This translates to over 3,800 workers leaving daily last year, in line with the continuing government policy of encouraging large-scale deployment of workers. Overseas workers have become an indispensable economic force.
Since 2003, there has been a steady increase in the amount of remittances that overseas Filipino workers send home, thereby keeping the economy cushioned from the dire impacts of the financial crisis.
From over $7.5 billion (about P348 billion) in 2003, OFW remittances ballooned to $17.3 billion (over P800 billion) in 2009.
“The incoming administration should never take labor export as a tool for development and should see forced migration as an effect of the worsening problem of unemployment in the country. There is no way to solve forced migration but to aggressively pursue local job generation through improving our local agriculture and industry," said Migrante International in a statement.
Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the Union of Filipinos in Hong Kong, has been in Hong Kong for 16 years now as a domestic service worker, owing to the lack of job opportunities in the Philippines.
Every two years she goes home to a house in Laguna which she acquired through the fruits of her overseas labor. Married but without a child, she is sending a nephew to school, apart from also helping her parents and siblings.
“Filipinos are being forced to leave the country for overseas employment. If there’s work available for us back in the Philippines, we will always choose to just stay there and be with our families," she said.
No end to tales of woe
The group Overseas Filipinos Worldwide has urged presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III to work toward self-sufficiency and the creation of local jobs so that migration would no longer be a “forced option."
In an open letter to Aquino, the group wrote, “Shall we continue to send out our people and rely on remittances without any development objectives in sight?" adding that government-managed deployment of Filipino workers abroad has resulted in dire social costs, such as the continued loss of talents to overseas work and dysfunctional families.
Stories thus abound of Filipino workers falling victims to abuses and oppressive labor schemes.
Early this year, the Philippines repatriated Filipina caregivers from Saudi Arabia who stopped working to protest their company’s alleged unfair labor practices such as contract substitution, illegal salary reduction, non-payment of benefits and overtime pay, and unsafe working environment.
To this date, however, the repatriated OFWs are struggling anew to have their company delisted from recruiting Filipino workers, as over 30 of their former co-employees who likewise refused to work are still being detained by their company.
Meanwhile, based on Migrante records, there are over 20 Filipinos languishing on death row in the Middle East alone, including the recent case of Joselito Zapanta, who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for killing his Sudanese landlord.
In China meanwhile, as of January this year, 66 Filipinos are on death row for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the People’s Republic. Of these, 53 are women.
New government, new hope
Migrants and migrants’ rights advocates, however, see new hope with the incoming administration of Aquino.
“Susubukan ko muna talagang maghanap ng trabaho dito sa Pilipinas. Kung meron, dito na lang ako (I will really try to find work here, because I’d rather stay here)," Aguilar said, as he expressed hopes that more job opportunities will be made available when Aquino assumes the presidency.
Joselito Zapanta’s sister Rosemay likewise urged the government to do its best to save her brother and have his death penalty reduced.
“Sana makauwi na ang kuya ko, tulungan siya, para makapiling na niya ang mga anak niya (I hope that with their help, my brother will be able to go home and be reunited with his children," Rosemay said.
For its part, Migrante is challenging Aquino to realize his campaign propaganda of putting an end to corruption by holding outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other government officials accountable for mismanaging OWWA’s funds, among others.
“We hope that (Aquino’s) OFW platform presented during the presidential campaign will take real form. To prove its worth, we challenge him to start extending help to OFWs in distress even before his proclamation," the group added. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Less than two months after he started working as a welder in Doha, Qatar, he was deported on suspicion of being a high-profile suspect on the run. He still considers working abroad, but only as a last option.
“Pagkatapos nito, wala pa akong nakikitang trabaho. Pero maghahanap pa rin ako ng trabaho, ‘yung dito lang sana sa Pilipinas," Aguilar told GMANews.TV in an interview with a hint of hesitation.
(I haven’t found a job where I could transfer after this. But I will still keep on looking for job, hopefully just here in the Philippines.)
Right now, Aguilar works as a security aide of outgoing Bulacan Governor Joselito Mendoza, but his employment contract is set to expire on June 30 when the governor steps down.
Aguilar was deported January this year after authorities suspected him of being Jason Aguilar Ivler, who was the subject of an international manhunt for fatally shooting the son of a Malacañang official in a road-rage incident.
It was only when he landed in Manila that Aguilar came to know that he had fallen victim to a case of mistaken identity. He admitted to being “traumatized" by the experience.
On June 7, however, Aguilar admitted that if he does not find another job soon, he may just try his luck abroad once more despite the ordeal he went through.
“Ayoko nang mag-abroad dati, pero ngayon, naiisip ko, balang araw baka kailanganin ko (Back then I said I don’t want to work abroad anymore, but now, I think I may have to do it again someday)," he explains.
OFWs as partners in progress
Unknown to many, Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, apart from establishing the government’s responsibility to protect migrant workers and promote their welfare as well as their families’, includes a provision for the celebration of the Filipino Migrant Workers Day.
Then President Fidel Ramos issued an executive order declaring June 7 of every year as the date for the celebration.
This is the 15th year that the country observes the Migrant Workers Day, otherwise known to migrant workers as Araw ng Pasasalamat (Day of Thanksgiving), according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
This year’s theme is “OFWs: Tagumpay sa Hamon ng Panahon, Kaagapay sa Pagsulong" (OFWs: Triumph amid the Challenges of Time, Partners in Progress).
“The celebration serves as the avenue for the government and its social partners to express their gratitude to all OFWs," said OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon in a statement posted on the agency’s website.
The celebration, according to the statement, centers on the milestones and accomplishments of OFWs during the last decade amid major global and local crises such as the Lebanon crisis, global financial crisis, outbreak of the H1N1 virus, and calamities.
The POEA, meanwhile, marked the occasion by recognizing local government units in Metro Manila who have been involved in the campaign to minimize illegal recruitment activities in their respective areas, according to a separate statement.
“Forced migration"
Despite the festive mood that government agencies want to promote to commemorate this special day, the conditions of overseas Filipino workers have not been encouraging.
Migrants’ groups, for one, view the government’s policy towards increased labor export as “forced migration".
Aguilar, for example, was just one of about 3,000 Filipinos who leave daily for overseas employment given the lack of job opportunities here, according to estimates by migrants’ groups.
In 2009 alone, over 1.4 million Filipinos went abroad, according to records of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
This translates to over 3,800 workers leaving daily last year, in line with the continuing government policy of encouraging large-scale deployment of workers. Overseas workers have become an indispensable economic force.
Since 2003, there has been a steady increase in the amount of remittances that overseas Filipino workers send home, thereby keeping the economy cushioned from the dire impacts of the financial crisis.
From over $7.5 billion (about P348 billion) in 2003, OFW remittances ballooned to $17.3 billion (over P800 billion) in 2009.
“The incoming administration should never take labor export as a tool for development and should see forced migration as an effect of the worsening problem of unemployment in the country. There is no way to solve forced migration but to aggressively pursue local job generation through improving our local agriculture and industry," said Migrante International in a statement.
Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the Union of Filipinos in Hong Kong, has been in Hong Kong for 16 years now as a domestic service worker, owing to the lack of job opportunities in the Philippines.
Every two years she goes home to a house in Laguna which she acquired through the fruits of her overseas labor. Married but without a child, she is sending a nephew to school, apart from also helping her parents and siblings.
“Filipinos are being forced to leave the country for overseas employment. If there’s work available for us back in the Philippines, we will always choose to just stay there and be with our families," she said.
No end to tales of woe
The group Overseas Filipinos Worldwide has urged presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III to work toward self-sufficiency and the creation of local jobs so that migration would no longer be a “forced option."
In an open letter to Aquino, the group wrote, “Shall we continue to send out our people and rely on remittances without any development objectives in sight?" adding that government-managed deployment of Filipino workers abroad has resulted in dire social costs, such as the continued loss of talents to overseas work and dysfunctional families.
Stories thus abound of Filipino workers falling victims to abuses and oppressive labor schemes.
Early this year, the Philippines repatriated Filipina caregivers from Saudi Arabia who stopped working to protest their company’s alleged unfair labor practices such as contract substitution, illegal salary reduction, non-payment of benefits and overtime pay, and unsafe working environment.
To this date, however, the repatriated OFWs are struggling anew to have their company delisted from recruiting Filipino workers, as over 30 of their former co-employees who likewise refused to work are still being detained by their company.
Meanwhile, based on Migrante records, there are over 20 Filipinos languishing on death row in the Middle East alone, including the recent case of Joselito Zapanta, who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for killing his Sudanese landlord.
In China meanwhile, as of January this year, 66 Filipinos are on death row for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the People’s Republic. Of these, 53 are women.
New government, new hope
Migrants and migrants’ rights advocates, however, see new hope with the incoming administration of Aquino.
“Susubukan ko muna talagang maghanap ng trabaho dito sa Pilipinas. Kung meron, dito na lang ako (I will really try to find work here, because I’d rather stay here)," Aguilar said, as he expressed hopes that more job opportunities will be made available when Aquino assumes the presidency.
Joselito Zapanta’s sister Rosemay likewise urged the government to do its best to save her brother and have his death penalty reduced.
“Sana makauwi na ang kuya ko, tulungan siya, para makapiling na niya ang mga anak niya (I hope that with their help, my brother will be able to go home and be reunited with his children," Rosemay said.
For its part, Migrante is challenging Aquino to realize his campaign propaganda of putting an end to corruption by holding outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other government officials accountable for mismanaging OWWA’s funds, among others.
“We hope that (Aquino’s) OFW platform presented during the presidential campaign will take real form. To prove its worth, we challenge him to start extending help to OFWs in distress even before his proclamation," the group added. - KBK, GMANews.TV
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