There is an estimated -15 million Overseas Filipino Workers located in over 200 countries
It is about the grim reality of the phenomenon known as the Overseas Filipino Workers, their plight and suffering of Filipino workers in their journey towards a better life.
It is about the grim reality of the phenomenon in the Philippines known as the Overseas Filipino Workers, their plight and suffering of Filipino workers in their journey towards a better life. This is my story and view of what I have seen and read over the years to my fellow country people, it also offers a critical insight and eye-opener on issues that touch upon the humanity and injustices in contemporary societies.
The world of OFW’s is harsh, lonely and most often brutal and many think that Filipinos live in a land ” Full of milk and Honey “.
In the Philippines massive unemployment, landlessness , poverty, and neo – liberal globalisation have forced many Filipinos to migrate overseas. In the host countries they travel to they encounter modern day slavery, forced servitude and forced labour still pervade, subjecting many migrant workers and their families to the upmost cruel, degrading and inhumane conditions at the governments greed for remittences.
Many accumulating reports and incidents have increased dramatically over the last couple of years, of OFW’s being maltreated.
OFWs are so Important to the Ecoconmy of the Philippines
Our OFW’s for over 30 years have maintained the philippine economy afloat, they are traded between the employers the agents, and the philippine Government, and still there pleas go answered to theses conditions they have to endure.
Australia lament on the deplorable conditions of more than 4,000 stranded Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, Filipinos here in Australia and even Australians find it very hard to understand how the Philippine Government can continue to ignore these stranded Filipinos, some have even camped outside on the streets subjected to harsh conditions, harassment since September last year. The stranded Overseas Filipino Workers in Jeddah are part of a exported labour force and they contribute to the Philippines economy, these are Filipino citizens, our brothers and sisters, it’s hard to understand how our Government maltreat the Filipino workers overseas, and still ignores the conditions of OFW’s.
Lets all speak up, about our brothers and sisters our Overseas Filipino Workers
While here in Australia we advocate for the welfare of exported cattle that are just about to be a slaughtered in Indonesia or Egypt and demand that these animals be treated with compassion and ensure that they are not maltreated, even on the time that they are slaughtered. Last couple of weeks Australian cattle exported to Egypt were suspended indefinitely due to reports of cruelty to cattle at two Egyptian abattoirs.
The Philippine government should be ashamed. And secure the welfare and conditions of or brothers and sisters the OFW’s. Is this really Philippines life?
Our flag epitomises the heroism of Filipinos who fought in wars for us to gain freedom, our nationhood making us a people set apart from other nationalities. We have become a people of our own, have a flag to stand for, our spirit, our culture and our heritage. We should give meaning to our symbol -Red, Blue, three stars and a sun.
The Philippine flag is not just a piece of coloured cloth, for it was sewn with the history of our freedom -loving people.
Lets all speak up, about our brothers and sisters our Overseas Filipino Workers.
Feel free to comment on your thoughts and ideas.
Thank you.
Michelle
Jeff Harvie says
August 19, 2013 at 7:12 amAbsolutely correct! Filipino OFW’s are the salt of the earth! Hard-working and selfless. They put the needs of others first, ie. their family members. Many of them spend 20 years or more working overseas, with just a few short holidays. Often overworked and underpaid. They’re generally the best of the best!
Andy says
August 19, 2013 at 4:07 pmTo be fare lets not setup all the OFWs re hero’s, as some are not they are economic migrates. What is absolutely true is that the Philippine Government has fostered this expression of Hero’s to keep people going out of the a country that doesn’t care for them, going abroad and sending money back. This cycle has created many many problems, from lazy family members who wont go find work as they simple sit at home waiting for cash to arrive to, the government never doing what it should it to create an economy that grows and creates jobs at home. The Government has sat and watched the wonderful position continue, it never has to invest in infrastructure or spend money creating jobs it sit and watched huge sums of currency flowing in with little going out, the balance of payments has been massively warped for decades.
The other issue I have seen is the say OFW’s never early want to tell the people left behind how bad and how hard things really are abroad. They come home and carry on this dream that the streets are paved with gold.
This cycle has created so many issues it is hard to cover them all but what is true is Filipino’s need to sort out their government to sort out its economy and spend more tie worrying about its people and not just how to grab the next amount of cash out of the OFW.