Lunatic or just stressed out, Pinoys struggle with life abroad amid weak support system

IN THE 1990s, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Dalaguete, Cebu killed the baby of her employer in Brunei.

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The motive was a mystery as the employer had been kind to the OFW, said Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) 7 Officer-in-Charge Mae Codilla.

The OFW’s family was later found to have a history of mental illness.

“Some OFWs have family problems already before they leave,” Codilla said. “When they go abroad, they are subjected to more pressures. There are many things to adjust to: a different culture, language, climate, food, nature of work,” so they snap there.

Last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) proposed to enhance the psychological testing of OFWs before their departure to ensure their fitness for overseas work.

But this move was met with criticism by the international alliance of Filipino migrant groups Migrante International, which said instead of branding OFWs as “lunatics,” the government should look into the poor working conditions that are the major factors driving OFWs to near-insanity.

Culture shock

From 2007 to the first half of 2008, the Owwa 7 provided airport assistance to three OFWs who were mentally ill.

Jelyn Yap-Asensi, officer in charge at the Cebu Physicians’ Diagnostic Services Center, which performs medical and psychological exams for OFWs going to the Middle East, said it was more likely that OFWs who snapped in the Middle East suffered from “culture shock.”

“Dili na sila boang,” she said. (They were not crazy to begin with.)

Stricter

Arabs are stricter on the physical and mental state of their workers, she said. That is why the medical and psychological exams for those going to the Middle East are more stringent. This means those who passed the exams were really fit to work.

Asensi admitted, though, that some people have slower coping mechanisms than others, which can create problems in environments with many stressors.

She said some domestic helpers in the Middle East were not allowed to go out, were given less than the salary promised, or could not rest. Some also suffered sexual harassment at the hands of employers.

As for the male OFWs, the stresses of living in the Middle East cause them to get into brawls with fellow OFWs, said Joselito Atienza, Cebu manager of Batangueño Human Resources Inc., which sends workers to the Middle East, South America and Africa.

In Saudi Arabia, in particular, he said: “The outlet (for one’s emotions) is very limited. There is no cinema, no disco house.

The Church is underground.”

Parties are same-sex only. Liquor and gambling are not allowed, said Atienza, who worked there for 20 years until 2007.

He said 80 percent of OFW fights were over jealousy at the other having a better position or pay.

Bad joke

Atienza warned against making “unnecessary jokes.” He described what happened with two OFWs who had been roommates in a flat in Saudi Arabia.

“One put photos of his beautiful wife on his side of the room. The other one was happy-go-lucky. On salary day, they talked.

The guy with the beautiful wife said he had remitted 90 percent of his salary. The other guy said, ‘Your wife’s other man is very lucky.’”

That night, as the joker slept, his roommate stabbed him to death.

Atienza said it is not helpful to tell OFWs of problems at home, or even to suggest that there could be problems at home, because being far away, they are unable to do anything about them, so this will just give them added stress.

Sea-based workers also experience culture shock, said Fr. Ulyses Desales, port chaplain of Apostleship of the Sea (AOS)-Cebu, as they have to live and work with people of different nationalities on a ship.

AOS, a worldwide apostolate, provides spiritual and psychological counseling and legal assistance to seamen.

But Desales said cases of mental illness among seamen were “few,” probably two or three only out of every 100 seafarers.

Attention deficit

To help OFWs, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)-Visayas Director Evelia Durato said Philippine Overseas Labor Offices headed by a labor attaché are now assisted by Owwa welfare officers.

The Owwa website lists psycho-social counseling as among its jobsite services.

But it is unclear how this has been implemented since migrant workers’ groups say distressed OFWs cannot even get government’s attention on their concerns.

In a report last month, Migrante-Middle East said 63 OFWs in distress in the Middle East had still not been helped despite many of their cases already having been endorsed to the DFA and to the Philippine posts concerned. Most of the cases involved sexual, physical and emotional abuses, poor health conditions and withheld salaries.

If distressed OFWs do get repatriated and need counseling, Codilla said Owwa 7 refers them to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 or religious groups.

“The DSWD will be the one to conduct home visits,” she said.

Debriefing

DSWD 7 Crisis Intervention Unit head Edna Regudo said the unit gives psycho-social support and stress debriefing.

It also provides shelter while the distressed OFWs process their boat tickets for their return to their home provinces in
Mindanao or other parts of the Visayas. It could also help pay for the OFW’s fare home.

“The undocumented workers are the ones that DSWD helps,” Regudo said, because those with the proper papers would be members of Owwa and have recourse to its services.

In 2007 and 2008, the DSWD 7 helped 43 OFWs, including those referred to it by Owwa 7.

The cases included those the DSWD 7 provided with medical assistance, like the Bohol OFW unable to finish her contract because she was found to have goiter, and those given transport aid after they were deported from the Middle East for illegal stay.

Regudo said those OFWs from the Middle East usually entered legally through an agency. Later, their stay became illegal when they did not finish their contracts (especially if they did not like their employers) and transferred to other employers.

Disabled

For OFWs rendered disabled by their overseas work, Owwa 7 Officer-in-Charge for the Programs and Services Division Rey Jacalan said there is a disability benefit of up to P100,000 under the Owwa’s insurance program, so long as the disability is work or contract related.

But the insurance covers only “physical disability or the non-functioning of any of the five senses,” he said.

Mental disability is not covered.

Unprepared

To help prepare OFWs for life overseas, the POEA and Owwa require them to attend the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS), which is supposed to include discussions on the host country’s customs, religion and labor laws.

But recruiter Atienza said workers he sends to the PDOS often say there was no discussion on the do’s and don’ts and the laws of the country they were going to, and that instead, what they learned was “how to get a loan from the Pag-ibig (Fund) and how to use a condom.”

A lot still has to be done to prepare Filipinos mentally and psychologically for work abroad, as well as to help them on-site to deal with the stresses of trying to fit into cultures alien to their own.