Comments on: UNICEF Takes Stand on Overseas Foriegn Workers

By: Joe Expat

Joe Expat — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:23:27 +0000

I think American women would have more problem with not insulting a Filipino than an American man would but stereo types are always dangers. There are always many exceptions.

Farmers don’t like being away from home. I’m surprised she stayed that long.

Many girls lie about their age, often with the help of someone else that ends up in jail for human trafficking. Even a BI official got busted for such not too long ago. I think she just lost her job though, not charged.

I personally think any woman from any place that goes into any country bound by Islamic law is taking a huge risk. I would never put myself in such a place like that.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:03:13 +0000

I find your comment really interesting. Obviously, you are confronted with the Phil. social issues daily, whereas I just see them in the news. Here in Oz, we have a TV channel that caters for migrants, so they have 30 mins. news from different countries. I’ve picked up a lot on French and Italian! Yes you’re right, I think I may have been too harsh with my criticism on the Phil. govt. regarding the OFWs’. It is true that they (OFWs) sometimes break the rules just to go abroad. I’ve even heard of an underage girl who lied about her age just so she can work as a domestic in the middle-east. As for American women going there, I think they are probably more capable of standing up for themselves, though I’ve heard the Arabs also treat western women like “shit”. I gues they treat women like that in general anyway. The thing is, if Filipinos will not go to the middle east, millions of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians will happily take the jobs. There is no shortage in the supply of labour. I asked my brother in Saudi why Filipinos take their chances in the middle east knowing there’s a good chance their contract gets violated and they don’t get paid, and he said, “if Filipinos donot take the job, other nationalities will”, and the alternative is to go back to PI unemployed. I think back of my holiday in Tabogon, watching the fishermen cast their nets, trying their luck with the sea, or the farmer guiding his carabao across the fields in a background of emerald green mountains. I thought, with such an idyllic environment no wonder people prefer to stay there and just eke out an existence. No wonder my grandma never stayed anymore than a few days in Cebu when she used to visit us.

By: Joe Expat

Joe Expat — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:42:47 +0000

I know someone that went to Lebanon for $200 a month which was more than twice what she made in Ph before leaving. She went to be close to her BF that was in Dubi. In my mind a silly move. She is back now and now has no job. Her mother has been there for many years. She wasn’t treated too badly but felt like she was being put down by her employer. I think people put down their domestic help because they want to feel better about themselves.

I’ve seen the Ph. government help people get home but I’ve also seen people get stranded in another country.

The Philippines does try, at least some, such as Filipina are banned from working in Lebanon but then they find a way to get around that, like the Filipina I know that went there. She actually used that rule to break her contract though.

I think leaving a Filipina alone for that long would often be risky. The same for the American women I’ve known but I picked some of the worst American women. Years would be a lot of temptation. Personally, I’d rather be poor and with someone that loves me than alone and rich with cash.

Things are hard here, especially if you work for someone else. There’s just not enough money in most cases, strike out on your own Filipino. I wish I had never worked for someone else. If you have a family to care for though, its hard to turn away a job while you build a business.

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:52:42 +0000

One of my brother is an OFW. He is a qualified engineer, but he makes more going to the middle east than staying in the Phil. He doesn’t say much about it, but I can just imagine leaving his baby girl behind, only coming home every 3-4 years. I feel for every OFW. The other day, I watched about 30 female domestic helpers coming home. They were abused in the middle east, some were victims of rape, but they can get thrown into prison just on the word of their employers. These women managed to get home because their fares were paid for by a Filipino celebrity by the name of “Willie” somebody? Where was the Phil. govt? This is part of the problem in the Phil. The govt. enjoys the large remittances for the OFW’s but seems to do little to ensure workers rights are protected, or at least bat for them when things don’t work out. There was also a Filipino man who complained about not being paid and the employer violating the contract, he got thrown into prison. Luckily he managed to come home alive, to his young family, but no money and presumably in debt, because many of these people would have to borrow money to finance their recruitment. On the other hand, I have seen a husband spend so many years in the middle east, regularly sending money home believing he will go into business when he comes home, then finding the wife had gambled every centavo of his earnings. Who do you blame? Maybe she did it out of loneliness, who knows? Then there is the wife of an OFW who had an affair while husband is abroad. I guess there’s no easy answer. But I must agree with most writers that the root cause is poverty in the Phil, and it also has many causes. Throw in the attraction of materialism and high expectations (must keep up with the Joneses), then you get the heavy pressure of “must earn dollars abroad”.