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Press Release
OFWs, families, government are unprepared
NGO calls for gov’t to address trauma of forced OFW
repatriation
By Dennis Estopace
OFW Journalism Consortium
Hours after learning his daughter would be coming home alive
from Hong Kong, 46-year-old Mario Lanzares (not his real name)
covered his face with his hands and began to weep.
Wiping his tears with his sleeveless shirt, Lanzares said,
"We only spent 60,000 pesos for placement fee. She is
more important than money." His daughter returned to
the Philippines after working only three months in Hong Kong.
"What would destroy my daughter is the thought that
she was the one who begged us to allow her to work in Hong
Kong. I think she will face that sense of failure everyday,"
Lanzares said.
Mario’s daughter, Martha (not her real name) started
working as a baby-sitter in January this year. She graduated
from a private Catholic college in San Pablo City, 83 kilometers
south of Manila, with a degree in Psychology.
Her employer, a Chinese national, observed that she was undergoing
some distress, and had her repatriated in March. Lanzares
said his daughter's employer reported to him that one morning
she saw Martha burst into tears just minutes after she heard
her laughing and singing. Lanzares said the employer expressed
concern both for her 9-year-old daughter under Martha’s
care, and for Martha herself.
He said, however, that Martha had complained to him about
her ward, who she described as "bratty and stubborn,
especially during feeding and sleeping time".
"We just have to find other ways to pay off the debts
we incurred so she could leave for Hong Kong," Lanzares
said, adding that he is worried about the cost of psychiatric
counseling for Martha, in addition to the debts.
The Lanzareses are only one of the many families of overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) who must face the difficulties of
unexpected repatriation.
Defining repatriation
The Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs
(OUMWA) of the Department of Foreign Affairs, defines ‘repatriation’
as the unplanned return of an OFW, dead or alive, from a job
site overseas, the reasons for which range from labor conflicts,
psychosocial problems, wars and restrictive immigration policies.
Wars and application of restrictive immigration policies
have caused the repatriation of OFWs by the hundreds, as seen
during the 1991 Gulf War and the recent mass deportation of
Filipinos from Malaysia.
A source at the OUMWA said that although technically, there
is a difference between ‘deportation’ and ‘repatriation’,
the Philippine government considers any unplanned return of
Filipino workers to the country as ‘repatriation’.
Usually, the host country uses ‘deportation’ to
describe the ejection of a person who has been arrested for
violating laws. In such a case, the host country pays for
the travel expenses of the deportees, the OUMWA source said.
Most of the cases of returning OFWs handled by the Philippine
government fall under ‘repatriation’.
The OUMWA said a deportee is considered persona non grata
in the host country, while a repatriate can re-enter the country
she or he was repatriated from.
No severance pay for repatriates
Last year, the OUMWA handled 369 cases of repatriates who
were returned home for a variety of causes, from release from
detention to mental distress. But the OUMWA said this does
not reflect the total number of individuals actually affected,
since the computerization of their database is still underway.
The Philippine embassies and consulates abroad report only
cases of OFWs applying for travel documents, and do not include
cases where the OFW has travel documents that are still valid.
Unlike during the Gulf War, when OFWs were able to file for
and receive compensation for the jobs, lives or limbs they
lost due to the war through the United Nations Compensation
Committee, most repatriation cases involve no severance pay,
and leave the OFW and his or her family facing a future with
debts to pay. In some cases, the family may even be saddled
with additional expenses for the care of an incapacitated
breadwinner.
"Every day OFWs face the uncertainty of having to leave
the country that ensures the salary that his or her family
back home needs to survive," said Mel Nuqui, president
of the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW).
She pointed out that, usually, the OFW has no control over
when and how he or she would be repatriated.
"An OFW may decide it's better to go back home and 'cause'
repatriation but these are very rare cases since they know
nothing awaits them here if they go back," Nuqui said.
She added there are extenuating circumstances that may lead
an OFW to decide to be "voluntarily" repatriated.
However, “he or she considers going abroad again after
seeing the lack of employment or government support to the
post-repatriation phase in the cycle of migration."
Nuqui cited cases of OFWs in Japan who had to seek help from
fellow Filipinos or NGOs to secure a plane ticket home, or
await their fate in deportation cells.
In Hong Kong, a two-week rule is applied to OFWs who suddenly
lose employment. Under this rule, an OFW must secure employment
within two weeks or face deportation or repatriation.
"Most OFWs dread the day when they have to go home,"
said Alfred Pitargue, a former OFW in Taiwan. He cited the
case of a fellow worker who was ordered to return to the Philippines
for attempting to bring out licensed software compact discs
from the company premises.
“It was dawn when he was sent back to our common bedroom
to pack his things. Policemen stayed outside the door. I woke
up and just sat on my bed watching a friend for two years
neatly fold his clothes and place them one by one in his bag.
No one among us who woke up said a word. I don't know why
I didn't help him pack. I barely saw him leave since there
were clouds in my eyes,” Pitargue said.
He added he and other Filipino workers usually chipped in
to give money to their colleagues who were being repatriated,
or send it to their families in the Philippines.
OFWs fear unemployment more than war or earthquakes
Nuqui said most OFWs would rather stay in a foreign country
than return home: "They dread more the unemployment and
uncertainty here than guns, earthquakes, or ferocious employers.”
She said repatriation hits hardest at Filipino entertainers
in Japan, those who marry Japanese nationals or have children
by Japanese men.
"They return without money, with a history of spousal
violence, and with a son or daughter the Japanese father refuses
to recognize. They would also have to face their family and
community who frown on their 'failure' but not on the circumstances
that border on their jobs as entertainers or why they had
to return," Nuqui added.
Given the plight of OFW repatriates, Nuqui said the government
should look into the whole repatriation process to include
the workers’ condition after they are brought bodily
back to the country. "No one, not the OFW, not their
families, not even government, is prepared for repatriation,
especially after the migrant worker lands on our soil,"
she said.
"Government should make sure intervention is continuous,
especially in cases of mental and psychosocial distress. Local
employment should also be generated so that the OFW can have
something to come back to after repatriation," Nuqui
said.
Efforts to encourage return of OFWs seen as a positive step--OUMWA
At a conference on migration and OFW reintegration held in
Manila last April 12 and 13, OUMWA staff member Ferdinand
Victoria said government and non-government agencies' efforts
to define a program encouraging return of OFWs to the country
is a positive step.
Victoria cited the case of some Filipinos in Israel who preferred
to stay in that war-torn country, even though the government
has indicated its readiness to bring some 50,000 OFWs home
in view of escalating tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.
"A comprehensive reintegration program provides us with
a proactive approach to OFWs who experience difficulties in
job sites. At least now we can provide them with an alternative
to staying in a foreign land without work to coming home with
possibilities of gainful employment," Victoria said.
In San Pablo, Lanzares hugged his daughter when she arrived
on their doorstep. No words were exchanged between father
and daughter. Martha immediately went to her room and Lanzares
sat in the veranda deep in thought.
"Most OFWs arrive in cold coffins while others have
grown cold from their once bright state of mind. I don't know
if I should be thankful my daughter can still hug me back,"
Lanzares wondered.– OFW Journalism Consortium
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Press release contributed by:
OFW Journalism Consortium
Contact address: INSTITUTE ON CHURCH AND SOCIAL ISSUES
2/F ISO Building, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila
University,
Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Philippines
63-02-4265953, 4266070 (fax), jopiniano@lycos.com, OFJournConsortium@yahoogroups.com
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