I once drove a high ranking Philippine diplomat from our local airport to a
mountain resort. He was to attend an international conference. It was a good
two hours drive and we had time to talk about condition in the Philippines.
This was the time when we had concerns about abuses to defenceless Filipino
nannies and also on their ways of misbehaving where at times provoked the
tranquility of families in our community. There were 80,000 foreign nannies in
Canada then and eighty percent of that came from the Philippines. This issue
had been bitterly deliberated often in our community meetings.
I opened up the question why our Philippine government kept on exporting women
abroad when they knew that they were likely be abused, maltreated and enslaved.
His answer was a sad refrain of our country's economy. This was during the
administration of Cory Aquino.
He explained that we were still under the after-effect of a despotic regime and
was crawling out hard to see again the light of democracy. The revolution was
not yet entirely over. It maybe was peaceful at the surface, but the process of
healing and restoring democratic values needed sacrifices from many. He called
the nannies abroad as heroes of the nation. That without them, our economy
would collapse. He farther stated that the rebirth of our freedom was in the
hands of patriots abroad. He also added that this was just temporary; that
things would go well in due time. They knew what was going on.
This reminded me of my trip back from Manila a year before. We were already
inside the Egypt Airline plane at the tarmac in MIA, when we were hauled back
to the transient area for four hours. Our plane had mechanical problem. Among
the passengers were a dozen young and attractive ladies from different places
in the Visayas. They were "courtesy" ladies recruited for Tokyo guised as
entertainers. It was in their stories that I knew the why and what was for
them.
It was not of liking that they left their families. It was more of hard choice.
Our country called them also as heroes. It was common knowledge of what would
become to these people; yet they were permitted to leave for the sake of the
economy. Yes, we needed the money, but this was stooping so low for this
implied that our government itself was conniving as a pimp.
These ladies were reluctant but determined to leave. It was purely poverty that
induced them. They were aware about the consequences ahead, but they didn.t
care at all. They too were the sacrifice members of their families. They
already forfeited their future and even their lives. What was imperative was to
pull out their families from the pain of neediness. It was a desperate move.
They would do anything whatever was the outcome.
Frailness in character however was obvious during our flight. There was deep
sadness in them. Some were in prayers. They knew that they were going into
something unpleasant. A few were nervously in tears as we went along the tunnel
of Narita Airport. They were together in a group when a Japanese gentleman met
them at the terminal. My heart sank in pity as I watched them walked away.
That was four administrations ago. The promise that things would go well in due
time didn't come to pass. Instead, the exportation of human beings escalated to
madness level that it can now be compared to the Diaspora or mass evacuation. A
former ambassador called it as the worst calamity to befall in our country.
Our country is sinking from severe corruption. The able and the capable are
running away in droves to employ their worth elsewhere. It is a tragedy whose
magnitude is beyond redemption. Family values are badly affected from absence
of either husband or wife in the household. Marital and parental competence is
on disarray where children bear the pain.
This is the price our nation endures from gain on remittances of foreign
workers. A family unit is the nucleus of society and broken relation amongst
members as result of being apart is common. It throws the Filipino image into
the pit of decadence where infidelity and immorality is believed to be our way
of life. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and the nearest person at hand
often assumes the role as proxy in both sides of the ocean.
Filipino communities abroad meet them gladly as they come. We know that they
are lonely being away from home. We provide them with things they initially
need like clothing to suit our harsh winter, a place to live, etc. We invite
them to our houses. We sympathize on the ordeal they experienced. Each has a
story to tell and mostly is not pleasant. They are indeed pleased to have come
to where they are liked and welcome.
But human instinct can not be tutored away. Regardless of efforts from
concerned sectors, many still fall into temptation where faithfulness and
responsibility to families they left behind are compromised. Community leaders
in our city suggested recently to reassess the practice of putting out parties
for foreign workers for though with good intention inadvertently promotes
harmful consequences to their families back home. It instead encouraged
religious groups to fill in the gap.
And no one dares to kill the golden goose. As long as money keeps on coming,
our government cares less of the outcome. It's no longer about sacrifices to
the economy as was during Cory's time. It now becomes an addiction for crooks
to play around. Corruption is the cause of our country's poverty; thus
corruption drives our people to escape away to foreign land.
We have ten million Filipinos off-shore today. We ardently hope that the
exportation of men and women to other countries be addressed seriously with
resolution by whoever come victorious this coming election.
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