The Eastern Samar Community Blog

by Karl Gaspar, CSsR

Much has been written about the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and as the number approaches 10 million (and counting), more write-ups will appear everywhere. What I want to write about comes from a reflexive view of a Pinoy-in-pilgrimage who has encountered hundreds of them at every stage of my sojourn in the last ten months.

First of all, the term OFW may already be outdated as the phenomenon of the Filipino abroad has shifted into various constructs. Wasn’t it only yesterday when they were referred to as Overseas Contract Workers (OCW)? One of these days, another acronym might arise as the new realities would impact the manner that a phenomenon is labelled. Might it be FiD as in Filipinos in Diaspora? (Sa mga Bisaya sa Mindanao, anyone for FiDeralism? He he he!)
The OFW if they involve “workers” is only one of the categories of the FiD. They are, of course, the great majority. And rightly so, since they are the “bayani ng bayan.” Through sheer hard work in, mainly, very harsh working conditions, they’ve been very much responsible for keeping our economy floating (even more than Gloria’s technocrats who think mainly in terms of perpetuating our dependency to our western masters who control the flow of capital and investments) and our country surviving in the globalized scheme of things.

But there is more to the OFWs in terms of the face of the Filipino abroad. There are also all other kinds of “OFWs” who are better included in the wider “FiD”. Even among the OFWs alone, there are now all kinds of categories: those who are “legally” in foreign countries for just a limited time according to the stipulations of their contracts (and who will have to return to the native land once the contract expires); those who are “illegal” (or TNTs) and yet able to secure employment where they are exploited further on account of having no papers; those who might be abroad for a much longer time as their contracts are regularly renewed until they retire; those who in the process of being abroad have married locals and could now enjoy citizenship; those who are aggressively seeking citizenship through one way or another. There could be other sub-categories within this category.

One other feature in this typology has to do with where they will be once the age of retirement catches up with them. There are those who are counting the days before they go home as they have no doubt where they will retire, namely, in the arms of the Inang Bayan.

Some are making provisions now in terms of being able to comfortably settle down in the country as they retire. In some cases, their foreign husbands/wives are the ones more interested in retiring in the Philippines. I know someone whose German husband is so in love with Samal Island that even at age 35 he wants to retire and live in Samal for the rest of his life, along with wife and children. There are those also who feel that they are better off retiring abroad as their health and medical insurance will provide them better access to health care if they get sick during retirement.

But who are the non-workers among the OFWs? Well there are the husbands and wives who are not employed outside the homes. There are the children, too. A confrere of mine in Rome who is working with the OFWs told me that Italy may soon have a policy of allowing husbands/wives and children of the OFWs join their OFW husbands/wives in Italy and be provided visas to enter the country. The motive is not unselfish that comes out from the deep Christian values arising from the hearts of the Italian policy-decision-makers. It is purely because of practical (even monetary) consideration. The State will save more money by bringing in the members of the families of the OFWs as they will spend less in terms of paying for “medical” costs as depressed OFWs – separated from loves ones – require such treatment paid for by the State.

There are also Pinoys who do not fit in easily with the category of OFW unless this construct is understood to bring in almost every FiD under its umbrella. Usually when the letters OFW appears in the average Pinoy consciousness, one refers to those who do manual work especially as domestic workers, nannies, selling goods in stores, low-paid workers in various establishment in malls, seamen, hospital aides, and the like. There are, of course, other ways of earning money as this list could be much longer.

In my travels, they have constituted the big majority. As I went to see the penguins in Cape Town, South Africa, I met a nanny who was traveling with her Saudi Arabia employers who were on vacation. In the Washington DC Cancer Research Institute, I met hospital aides. In Vienna, they were the ones I saw in the fast–food/junk-food eateries. All across Israel, from the old city of Jerusalem to Capernaum, they were mainly domestic workers. In Rotterdam and Copenhagen, they are mainly seamen. As I was walking towards the Coliseum in Rome, I caught up with an Ilocana Manang who was walking the dog (a huge German Shepherd who weighed more than her).

Our conversation went this way:
KG: Kumusta na po kayo?

She: Ito Kuya, hirap na hirap sa ginagawa ko. Ang laki kasi ng asong ito.

Me: Kumusta naman ang employer ninyo?

She: Mabait naman Kuya. Pero noong isang araw, sinigawan ko po dahil masyado na siya. Alam mo kaya, nag-iyakan kami pagkatapus. Kasi sinabi ko sa kanya, kung mananatiling siyang malupit sa akin, iiwanan ko siya.

Interesting conversation considering the sub-texts. Another conversation worth including here is one I overheard in an internet cafe right inside the old city section of Jerusalem in the morning of Holy Thursday. The internet cafe’s name – Ali Baba Internet Cafe.

Nimfa is from a village in Monkayo, Davao and she was going to chat with her mother who was at an internet cafe in Tagum. She was accompanied by Lita, her friend who is from Cebu. Since I was just beside Nimfa as she chatted over cyberspace with her mother, I could not help but hear the conversation:

Nimfa: Oy Nay, perte man nimong payata oy. Mora man kag sigueg puasa. Tan-awa ko, nanambok na ko dinhi. (Mom, you are so think, as if you’ve been fasting too much. Look at me, I am so stout).
Silence

Nimfa: Kusga imong tingog Nay, kay dili ko kadungog sa imong tingog. (Speak louder Mom as I can’t hear you).
Silence

Nimfa: Kusga lagi imong tingog ba. (Speak louder ba).
Silence

Nimfa (laughing): Sobra-an sab kakusog sa imong tingog, pero OK lang. (You speak too loud but it’s OK).
Silence

Nimfa (shedding tears): Lisod baya ang kinabuhi dire Nay! Pero unsaon ta man, kinahanglan man gyod kong motrabaho dinhi. (Life here is difficult Mom, but what can we do, I need to work here).

Ay pastilan puno gyod sa drama ang kinabuhi sa atong mga OFWs! (Hard to translate).

But, indeed, given the huge number of FiDs, the categories beyond the usual construct of OFWs is quite awesome! If someone ever wants to write an interesting dissertation about FiDs, this area of study would yield very interesting findings. Consider the following narratives of FiDs I met along my sabbatical journey (names and places have been changed to protect their identity):
Fely lives in Brussels. She married a Belgian as a mail-order bride from a small village in Leyte (quite near Ormoc and right after that tragedy of the floods). Her Belgian husband has been a well provider. Today she does not have to work and because she has no child, she can do what she wants to do. For the moment she is doing a course on Art History and among other activities, she and her classmates go to the best museums in Europe to discuss all the various theories on art. Not bad for a paisana ni Imelda.

Susan was a teacher back home in Butuan but has always wanted to be a nurse. Somehow she found a way to study having stayed in New York for a while. Today, she has a relatively lucrative job in what is known as a niche labor market. She works as a nurse to mother-and-child within the first 12 weeks after the mother gives birth, the period deemed as very crucial in making sure the baby stays alive. Having established her name within this tight circle of elite families in New York, she is never wanting of an employment that pays relatively well, even as the work puts her on a 7/24 schedule. Susan’s two kids are studying in an elite school in Butuan and their father look after them. Of course, she misses them a lot.

Maricel used to work for the Department of Agrarian Reform in Cagayan de Oro City. She was being promoted to a job in Manila but she thought it was best to follow her cousin working in Washington DC. She managed to get a visa and now she works for the Jordanian embassy. She finds this ironic: back home, she had no interest in knowing about Islam. In her present job, she has to be well-versed in Islam and thus, had to do some study on her own.

Puring was a catechist in a parish near Dumaguete City. In a resort in the city, he met a Dutch tourist. To make the long story short, they feel in love and, eventually, got married. She found her way to Holland, found a job and raised two kids. Meanwhile, she got quite active in her parish and dragged her husband to taking an active role also in their parish. Today, she heads the parish choir and her eldest daughter plays the organ. In that parish, she’s been able to recruit 17 more Filipinos to be part of the choir. Like many stories in Australia, New Zealand and Italy, Pinay wives are providing some life to their parish through their active involvement.

Then there are the priests and religious abroad and some of them do accompaniment work with the OFWs. In one sense, that also make them OFWs. For some this is an assignment. I already mentioned my confere in Rome, Fr. Teodie Holgado CSsR who covers the whole of Italy.
In Jerusalem on Good Friday, there was a diocesan priest who was with a group of OFWs who were able to take a break during the holidays and spent their Good Friday doing the Via Crucis at the Via Dolorosa. Another group followed them and they were led by a Pinay nun. Both were assigned for this ministry.

In Brugges (one of the loveliest cities of Belgium), three Benedictine nuns from Davao (whose main convent is in Cogon, Digos) were assigned to a monastery there since the Begian nuns are getting older and there are no more local vocations. On their week-ends, they make themselves available to OFWs.

This is the case also with some Carmelites at Cape Town, South Africa. There is also the other phenomenon, of more and more Pinoy/Pinay religious being elected as members of the General Councils of their congregations and living in Rome.

Fr. Tony Pernia SVD who used to be with the Regional Major Seminary in Davao is the Father General of the SVDs, one of the most numerous men religious in the world. Among the OSBs, the Medical Mission Sisters, the DeLa Salle Brothers, the Daughters of Charity, there is one in the Council who is from our native land. This could expand further in the years to come as there are less and less Europeans and North Americans to fill up such posts.

Then there are the Pinoy artists abroad. Some have to find jobs so they can survive as their art is not yet able to support them financially. A Pinay theatre artists in Chicago who founded her own dance-theatre group works as a nurse. A painter from Cotabato works as a landscape designer in France. A visual artist from Davao does odd jobs in Austria. A fiction writer in New Jersey works for a computer firm.

Another group is constituted by development workers who honed their skills in various Church and non-governmental organizations since the martial rule of Marcos until post-EDSA. Many were with institutions like NASSA and its national network, PBSP, the MSPCS and the like. Many are in development agencies in Europe including England, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. Their colleagues are in other parts of the world from Thailand to Cambodia, Burma to East Timor. They travel in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe as they represent the interests of their funding and/or development agencies. Truly, their being in such agencies is a confirmation of the expertise developed by the Pinoys/Pinays in this significant field of work aimed at making poverty history.

Then, finally, there are the Pinoy/Pinay scholars who are out to learn new theories/skills and develop expertise. There are Pinoys who are doing their course in Annapolis, Maryland and would ultimately like to be a US Marine. There are those studying at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

A half-Pinoy I met in Israel who is studying Medicine in Harvard and would like to return home to work among the poor. There is a sizeable number of scholars in the University of Leuven with a few from Mindanao (Davao, Bukidnon and Agusan).

A young girl from Mandug is studying agriculture in a university in Ghent, Belgium.

And I met a Pinay who just finished her PhD in Development Studies at a university in London.
In the past, some of these scholars ended up marrying a local person or being employed abroad. Fortunately, a good number do return home and do what they can to serve their country in whatever way possible.

Why am I writing this essay? Possibly I just want to collect my thoughts on something that has really struck me since I began my sabbatical and traveled far and wide. The Filipino abroad is everywhere. At airports, train and bus terminals, at public plazas, malls, hotels, fast food centers, museums, hospitals, churches – everywhere, they are there. In my travels before, it was quite usual to stop and say Hello and exchange a few words especially: Kumusta? Taga saan ka sa atin? Anong ginagawa mo rito?

But now, as the numbers have so drastically increased, one no longer feels compelled to stop and chat with Pinoys even as one knows they are truly Pinoy (afterall,our collective habitus is so transparent, one can easily spot a Pinoy in an international crowd).

However, one thing is quite evident. The Filipino face abroad is actually that of a FILIPINA. A PINAY. I don’t know what the actual statistics are but my hunch is that at least 75% of the FiD are Pinays. And of these number, at least 70% are in the age range of l7-40. It is a young face and a beautiful one at that because of the perceived exoticism in the face, especially of the morena type.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Israel (although this would also be true in Hongkong, in many countries of the Middle East and some cities in Europe). Everywhere in Israel, the Pinay was present. Except for the Jew (with his curls and hat), the Greek Orthodox functionary (with his black robe and hat) and the religious woman (there seems to be a million of them across Israel), the other familiar figure in Israel is the Pinay. She could end up an iconic figure in this beleaguered country. Why here? Perhaps because they allow us to enter their country and stay for three months without a visa. What accounted for this? Perhaps a sense of gratitude as the Philippines’s vote at the UN recognizing the right of Israel to exist was quite crucial. Perhaps because we have shown we can be relied on as workers. Whatever is the reason, the Pinoys are everywhere in Israel, including the battered city of Haifa.

I met Lolita, a young Pinay who works there and our conversation went this way:

KG: Sa Haifa ka gatrabaho? (Your work in Haifa)

Lolita: /strong>Oo, Kuya (Yes)