Friday, March 23, 2007 Opiniano: Thinking about going back home By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano
ALFRED Perez was all smiles while he and his wife Liza were displaying their apparel that is a product of savings from abroad. That savings pertains to the income Alfred earned as a steel fabricator in three countries (Saudi Arabia, Aruba and Malta).
He is one of the beneficiaries of loans for entrepreneurial activities of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), a welfare fund whose resources come directly from overseas Filipino workers. “I am dutiful in repaying my loans,” Perez said, while explaining how his apparel business for children had grown to having some 17 employees who are his neighbors in Binangonan, Rizal.
The Perezes are happy with the developments — a forthcoming concrete house, some vehicles in tow, and spin-off business such as a mineral water supply station. One would wonder however about a statement from Alfred: “If given the chance, like an employer comes in need of a steel fabricator, I want to migrate again.”
“Why is that,” I asked in Filipino, “and you and your family seem well-off now and overseas work can not be a priority anymore for you?”
“Well we have growing needs too in the family,” Alfred and Liza explain. An 11-year-old son is being prepared for the long term with an educational plan. Additional income might be needed, Alfred said, for his apparel business.
“Anyway, my work is only months-long contract,” Alfred said, “so I can take that chance.”
His case might not be indicative of the other temporary contract workers who have tried working abroad for once, and also those who have been to overseas jobs in a number of occasions. The Perezes’ case is a perfect example of Owwa’s thrust for a comprehensive social and economic reintegration of overseas workers.
Reintegration was highlighted as a major policy reform by Owwa and the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole). This was especially emphasized when the Labor department launched a National Reintegration Center last March 12 before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Brunson McKinley.
That center, to some observers, should have been there a long time ago as a means to assist returning migrants (especially temporary contract workers, and those victimized by situations such as repatriation and labor conditions that forced them to go back home). Labor officials have explained that reintegration of migrant workers is now a major agenda, as returnees will be accorded numerous economic, psychosocial and financial-related services to help smoothen their reintegration into mainstream society.
The major targets are overseas contract workers, who make up some 3.5 million according to government’s stock estimates of overseas Filipinos. They went abroad doing multiple semi-skilled and skilled jobs, primarily to provide for their families. They are among the major remitters, especially Filipinas, and they do send money home frequently, say monthly. Temporary contract workers are also among the most vulnerable to family breakups, marital discords, labor abuses, and lack of financial know-how so that they and family members back home handle the money wisely and not rely so much on the remitter.
The catch here of the assistance to returning migrant workers through the Center is that these workers should be paying Owwa members especially after September 2003 when the welfare agency revised its Omnibus Policies and outlined its services to members. Unfortunately, those workers who have paid prior to September 2003, and who are still abroad for probably five- years-plus, cannot avail of the services of the Center. Recently-departed workers will be lucky to receive such assistance from the National Reintegration Center.
But while this is so, I surmise that not even efforts from stakeholders (civil society groups included) can induce migrant workers to stay here for good. An exception here is the seafarers, whose contracts span nine months and who have to return home to meet up with families and find another work contract. Over-350,000 land-based contract workers have been rehired for overseas work as per data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the figure of rehires has outnumbered the data on newly-hired contract workers.
For one, the socio-economic conditions of the country remain challenging. So returning migrants will face these conditions, and might feel the struggles and think of migrating again. For another, the overseas experience has exposed them to multiple scenarios and benefits that they cannot find in the Philippines. Traffic, cleaner air, efficient legal systems are among these. What they cannot also find in the Philippines is a salary level that can match or at least be near their overseas salaries.
I also think that the lack of a proper mindset to handle earnings will force Filipinos to stay abroad. Families with overseas-based dependents have many litanies to tell why they still need the dollar earned from abroad — and this need never ceases. To be checked also here is the migrant family’s lifestyle, and how can the Filipino worker abroad strive to maintain such lifestyle and even think of his own needs. The higher the lifestyle is of the said migrant family, the more that there will be “needs” for family members. Thus, the worker stays put abroad.
If the family has not even saved much from remittances, the more that the worker stays elsewhere.
But what will challenge existing reintegration efforts for is the culture of international migration. This has cemented into something commonplace already for Filipinos, especially if there is a steady flow of assured active income from overseas work. Sure, some workers will return to the country but don’t be surprised if overseas work remains active in their radar screens. Do not also be surprised if some of these contract workers might want to bring children or relatives abroad.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of hard data about how many Filipinos abroad return to the country — either temporarily or permanently. Yet we have OFW self-help groups, many of which are based in the rural areas, who try to survive the daily economic grind after finally stopping from overseas work. Some of these groups’ members have children who followed their parents’ footsteps and went elsewhere too.
The efforts to assist returning migrant workers through packages of socio-economic and financial services are laudable, and these should be sustained. But since we are now living in a transnational world, plus the Philippines has not improved much economically , departing Filipinos —both first timers and multiple-time overseas migrants— will only be attracted by the migration experience.
Reintegration is an individual’s decision, to quote Ateneo de Manila University sociologist Filomeno Aguilar, Jr. If they want to go back home here, then a hopefully efficient National Reintegration Center will be a welcome development for returning migrant workers.
However, if many overseas workers likely see their lives elsewhere but here, and that is their decision, it will be interesting to examine if the Philippines will lose — or still benefit — from this situation.
For reactions or comments, please email them to the Institute for Migration and Development Issues at ofw_philanthropy@yahoo.com. (Sunnex)
