Friday, February 23, 2007
Roperos: Ahon Pinoy party
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
FINALLY, a political action group claiming to have at heart only the interest of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has emerged.
To my mind, “Ahon Pinoy” is the first group to have taken up the cudgels for millions of our workers deployed abroad, and earning more than $10 billion dollars in 2006 alone. The formation of the group for the May 14 elections is timely since OFWs have become an indispensable tool in putting this republic’s economy on an even keel.
Ahon Pinoy’s primer, which Dante “Klink” Ang, president and CEO of Manila Times, faxed to me the other day, did not say how the party came into being or who are the persons behind it. But it laid down the group’s vision and platform.
Government is not/has not been giving OFWs enough returns of their investment in sacrifice, hard work, loneliness and sense of alienation. Now, if they can only send a representative to Congress, those who can fight for their welfare and their families, then they can already sleep easy while they labor for their country.
At the moment, not much has been done for them, even in terms of assistance.
An example is the case of my second degree grandnephew who was reported to have committed suicide while working in the Middle East a few weeks ago. Nobody checked if he really committed suicide, and nobody made sure his body would be sent home to his family at once.
I learned that his wife was told it would take three to six months for the body to reach here. The agency that sent him there did not want the body autopsied there to find out the cause of death. If autopsied here, the results may not be accepted there.
Ahon Pinoy, in its primer, said it will stand for the families of OFWs in the country. Land based and sea based workers outside the country represent about ten percent of our population, “equivalent to about 5 percent of the labor force.” It can be a formidable voting force, too
And its vision? “Ahon Pinoy shall serve the interest of OFWs through legislative work that (would uplift) their welfare.” It will ensure a brighter future for their families and dependents in the Philippines and raise the overall quality of life” so that Filipinos can enjoy more prosperity and economic freedom.
It will strive “to keep emigrants’ ties to the homeland alive” and so encourage them “to return to the Philippines and contribute to economic development,” thus reversing the brain drain.
In sum, Ahon Pinoy (could its Cebuano equivalent be “Bangon Pinoy”?) vows to advance the OFW’s welfare in two levels, the micro and macro.
Micro includes legislative work and other activities that will protect and advance OFW interests. At the macro level, the party will strive to contribute to the republic’s economic development and to help uplift the quality of life of Filipinos, particularly those who wish to work abroad, and their dependents and close kin.
Ahon Pinoy, it seems, is the only party list group that has a politically neutral stance, a people-oriented ideology, and an economic development focus. It has a nine-point congressional agenda that it will advance once it has representatives in the House after May 14.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 23, 2007 issue)
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