OR ARE they both? It’s been decades since the phenomenon of OFWs started.
In the seventies there was a stock market boom. People ran to the stock exchanges to buy shares of stock and managed to get double or triple their money or more. It was an attractive game even the college students mobbed the stock exchange offices to buy shares.
There was cheering when the prices of stocks went up and indeed the shares, especially of the mining sector, were bought and sold like hot pan de sal!
There was a mining boom as well and stocks were sold at one centavo or less per share. This was so for the mining sector. Students learned the basics of stock buying and selling and put their allowances in the stock market. They earned big and earned well. This went on for several years, with the market going up or down but definitely bullish and if one knew the background of the company he bought into, so much return was expected and profits were sealed.
But as everyone knows, what goes up must come down. And so it came, the market slumped and the mining industry suffered big losses. Many companies closed down and disaster came. The mining sector suffered innumerable losses, and the menfolk of the mines lost their jobs.
People thought it would be a short and temporary interlude to great days, but the months passed and the menfolk had no jobs. They were skilled in mining but mining companies were shutting down. The food on the table was slowly diminishing.
Then, the women had to take action to help their husbands, their brothers, their fathers. This was the start of the exodus of many women whose only skill at that time was good housekeeping, coupled with the determination to help the family.
Our heroines applied for domestic jobs abroad and since Filipinas are good housekeepers, they landed good paying jobs. Dollars flew back to the Philippines and the number of women working abroad multiplied.
There was no stopping now. Not only domestic work came by but the term “japayuki” was born. We had singers, dancers and “other” side jobs in tow. Not to be outdone, our menfolk started to try their luck abroad too as laborers in construction and other companies.
Within months after the labor exodus, the scourge of truth came.
Differences in culture that included language, attitudes, beliefs, traditions and experiences molded and eventually defined the Filipino laborers abroad, not only in Hong Kong and Japan but most especially in the Middle East countries. They were much appreciated but sadly, some were also looked down upon.
Within months after the first exodus, Filipinas came home, bruised and abused. Others followed, with the menfolk in coffins. More came home, physically and mentally hurt, others could not be found and never came back.
Of course there were those who made good and sent hard earned money regularly, others sent just enough to come by but the real tragedy was, many came home in coffins. Papers would have pictures of four or five dead arrivals from the country they worked in.
In the meantime, the families left behind by our country men and women who sought jobs for better earnings abroad started to crumble. The basic unit of society, the family, slowly got affected. How many families of OFWs are broken now? How many relationships failed? How many children hate their absentee parents? Not all of course, but many organizations have come up to help family members cope with the absence of their loved ones in order to prevent broken homes.
Yes, dollars came into the country and helped much with our dollar reserves. Our OFWs were tagged the new “heroes” because they helped the economy, but in exchange for what? Not only their lives, but their dignity, their future and the future of their children...and perhaps of the nation?
Even the country received a punch on the face, with the dictionary defining “Filipina” as a domestic helper. This mistake has been corrected I hope. Filipinas have various jobs from executives, entrepreneurs to everything in the hierarchy of work. But to define the Filipino woman based only on one job is a discrepancy of thought. It is in fact an ignorance of language and an extreme lack of knowledge about culture and history.
At one point in time, many people cried, “Bring home our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters!” This became a “voice in the wilderness.” Now, the abuse of many migrant workers continues while others had found secure sources of income and dignity in their work. The abused should come home, the more successful ones, go your way up the ladder with pride and dignity intact please. Now you give the verdict: Are the OFWs heroes or victims?
I love you Baguio!