Seeing the faces behind the OFW numbers

There are two ways of looking at things: the “near” and the “far” views. Taking only half the view results in perceptual imbalance which, depending on the object being considered, can be disastrous.

Such is the case of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The far view looks at aggregate numbers—over 7 million hands contributing more than US $6 billion in annual remittances.

The near view is extremely unfocused and chaotic—a sprinkling of success stories, workers running afoul of the host countries’ laws or falling prey to unscrupulous employment practices, of families torn apart by prolonged separation, of civilian workers caught in the crossfire of military conflicts abroad.

The tension in the Middle East, which hosts about 1.4 million OFWs, calls our attention to the urgency of keeping this perceptual integrity as far as the Philippine government is concerned. Unfortunately, by necessity or choice, the government is apparently still fixated on the far view. Thus, even as Malacañang created a top-level Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT), at least 900 OFWs are still deployed daily to the Middle East.

Economic agencies, like the NEDA, are supposed to take the far view. The Department of Labor and Employment is supposed to take the close view. As one agency looks at the numbers, the other should look at the faces. Government policy should reflect inputs from both views in a process of creative tension.

However, the Arroyo government, like her predecessors, seems to have lined up all her helmsmen to contemplate only the far horizon. As NEDA graphs remittances’ share in the GNP, Labor officials are dispatched to wrench open new overseas labor markets. Faced with the prospect of losing the Middle East market, DOLE Sec. Patricia Sto. Tomas flew to Taiwan to do just that. She paid but a faint lip service to seeking rights for the female domestics who, as in many other countries, are not protected by Taiwan’s labor code.

Former Labor Attache to Japan Reynaldo Parungao echoed this detached sentiment, “We cannot bang Japan’s door to open it wider for our entertainers, and demand for their rights at the same time.” Entertainers in Japan are not considered workers, and as such are not covered by labor laws.

Ironically, our government religiously keeps tab of the numbers of outbound workers. Once these workers reach their destination, nobody keeps track. It is said that of the 280,000 Filipinos working in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia, the most vulnerable area in case of US attack on Iraq, only 5 percent have records in the consulate. It is not far-fetched to suppose that the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo holds a similarly negligible fraction of such data.

Sitting on the far end, government sees only the “heroes” and not the “victims” nor the “outlaws.” Seeing only the graphs and not the faces, the government is bracing itself more for the drop in remittances than for the logistics of casualty avoidance as the outbreak of war looms in Iraq. *

Back to top