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Voices out of synch
HAVING lived in Japan in the last 16 years, I am amazed that
politicians back home have suddenly made a belated discovery
that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) need a voice.
The joint Senate and House delegation certainly whipped up
a frenzy among those who attended the public hearing on absentee
voting in Tokyo last February. The scramble for the microphone
among the participants lent credence to the myth woven by
these politicians that the OFW's are raring to get back the
voice they have lost or were deprived of.
As someone who is not simply a passerby seeking
an audience with handpicked representatives of the diverse
mass lumped as OFW's, I can vouch for the fact that Filipinos
in Japan have not been wanting in voice. In fact, there are
as many voices as there are Filipinos (about 150,000, according
to conservative estimates). Among the undocumented, which
constitutes a substantial bulk of the population, are construction
workers, run-away entertainers, divorced Filipinas or simply
those with babies out of wedlock, etc.
The more fortunate ones, who can flash an alien card with
valid visa when accosted by the police, are the 50% surviving
housewives of the Japanese (the other 50% having ended up
as divorcees); the much smaller percentage of those who are
patient enough to get a permanent visa before getting a divorce;
and the even smaller percentage of those who converted their
spouse visa into long-term resident visa after falling out
with their Japanese husbands. Also included here are the sprinkling
of domestic helpers and drivers of the diplomatic and blue-chip
business community, professionals and students regarded as
the "elite" and as such have a bigger voice in forums
like the last public hearing.
That these Filipinos have "voices" is demonstrated
by the fact that many of them are members of or are at least
loosely connected to an organization, secular or church-based.
Kanto alone is host to about a hundred such organizations,
in various states of activity or dormancy. In major Filipino
population centers such as Nagoya and Osaka, the same tendency
to cleave to groups can be observed. Individuals who, by virtue
of geography or the circumstances of their work, are not affiliated
with any group can easily find resonance of their needs in
these groups.
While some groups have been organized for social activities,
an overwhelming number are created to articulate real needs
to Japanese and Philippine authorities or at least project
a concerted voice to these deeply felt needs. Thus, we have
many workers' organizations who meet regularly for sports
activities but whose reason for existence is to provide mutual
support in times of distress?i.e. when one gets sick, when
apprehended by the police, when deported by the Immigration,
etc. Housewives' organizations have been created to support
one another in dealing with family problems, cultural differences,
children's problems at school, etc. What these groups have
actually accomplished in terms of their objectives is an entirely
different matter.
Through several revisions in the Japanese Immigration Law,
culminating in the crimination of the act of overstaying on
February 18, 2000, the rallying cry of many of these organizations
is the "legalization" of their stay or "amnesty."
For all the ballyhoo the absentee voting bill has generated,
the question that begs an answer is: Will the grant of vote
to OFW's translate into the representation of these voices?
If we see what's behind the hype, the answer is apparently
no. For one, the OFW vote is at best a tie-breaker. For another,
OFW's can vote only for national leaders. Going by the record,
national leaders have at best a tourist's view of OFW needs
and as such could give only lip service to these needs. Witness
the government response to the cry for help of the Hong Kong
domestic helpers in the wage-slash problem, or the SOS call
of Filipinos in Japan after February 18, 2000.
The truth is, OFW's are by and large only marginally concerned
with national issues. What they grapple with are local, even
domestic, issues of daily living in a foreign land, especially
where they live under the constant threat of apprehension,
or have to fend off their children's bullies at school.
Absentee voting is said to give flesh to the government's
extolment of OFW's as modern-day heroes. Sadly, both focus
the limelight on OFW's without addressing their real needs.
Politicians can show more sincerity, for instance, by sending
legal experts conversant in Japanese to study the Immigration
law and help the approximately 10 to 20% of Filipinos who
are illegally staying or are about to overstay but actually
have chances of staying legally.
OFW's need proactive policies that have concrete repercussions
in their lives, not empty promises. Unless the absentee vote
effectively funnel OFW's voices into policy inputs that will
address their intensely felt needs, the proposed law will
just be a hollow echo of these politicians' own voices. *
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