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Aside from Antonio V. Ranque (Sorry I misspelled his
name as Jarque), Ruben Claudio also sent an earnest reaction.
I just returned a week ago from a
visit to the Philippines after almost 2 years in between my last and
I couldn’t agree with you more on the plight of our OFW, are they
heroes or hostages to fortune? To me, some of them who are capable
are victims of graft, corruption, dishonesty and greed that had
plagued the annals of Philippine government bureaucracy for decades.
Francisco, who is one among
millions of Filipinos who are displaced and living in the shanties
outside Mapayapa Village in QC, has to drive a P200-a-night tricycle
as a second job to being a trusted family driver to a millionaire in
nearby Capitol Hills that gives him P10,000 a month wages. After
paying his shanty landlord P1,400, he has enough saved to see his
family in Pangasinan once a month while incidentally spending
another P600 for the round trip bus fare via Victory liner and
another P80 to reach his barrio by jeepney.
Rosie, for 6 years now, works as
a 3rd maid to a physician household in San Carlos City and earns
P4000 a month but is available on-call 24 hours daily anytime her
services are needed. She sends her savings to support her mother
that cares for her fatherless child.
Francisco and Rosie would
mortgage their farm and farming animals if only to have a shot of
becoming an OFW.
I saw the OFWs replacing the
“kings” of the provincial towns of the 50’s and 60’s which
were the US Navy recruits. The latter group were once the “new
money in town” owning the palatial homes with their fairest of
spouses but now it is the OFW who owns my town. There is Martin from
Dubai, Rachel formerly Raquel from London and Greg returning from a
power plant installation in Pacificos, Mexico.
For these OFW who remitted to the
country over $50 billion last year from all sources, they are the
heroes of the republic today. To their families that benefited from
the winds of change enabling the operations of the SM, Trinoma,
Ayala Centers, 168 and the bustling malls of Tutuban while enduring
the loneliness and emptiness of their absence, they are the
consequential hostages of fortunes.
I consider myself an OFW without
the palatial home in my Pangasinan, with irregular remittances to my
folks in Pangasinan, not a hero or hostage to fortune. I chose to
live in Los Angeles with my small family where I found the warmer
and drier climate all year round conducive to my respiratory health.
The winds of change will soon be blowing my way as I expect to be a
grandpa soon before Christmas.
Recently, a senator observed that
there is lack of “responsive strategy” to deal with the rapidly
growing overseas employment of Filipinos. In President GMA’s
recent Sona, “she did not mention migrant Filipino workers in her
speech, except in passing when she said that the country’s
business process outsourcing industry is seen to generate $12
billion in annual revenues by 2010, the same amount remitted by our
overseas Filipinos today. If we cannot stop labor migration,
government might as well manage the trend, and make sure that
outbound Filipinos are directed to the best possible labor markets
overseas, where they will enjoy the strongest protection and the
greatest possible reward for their skills.
(moje@mydestiny.net;
www.learningandinnovation.com; www.paradigmsandparadoxes.ronjie.com)
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