Returning migrants and photo-ops

In the news, we are seeing thousands of our Overseas Filiipino Workers ( OFWs) returning prematurely back to our country because of retrenchment.

With their return are dashed hopes and dreams of security for their loved ones. Many are also returning to huge unpaid debts that they had hoped would be paid in time with their overseas income. More are coming back homeless and landless as they and their families have sold their properties in exchange for their overseas employment that sadly, did not prosper.

What will happen to these returning migrants? Will our country be able to cope with thousands upon thousands of OFWs returning sooner than later? Will this country of unemployed millions be able to accommodate millions more of returning unemployed OFWs?

These questions have not been raised only now in the midst of the recent recession and global crisis. Those who questioned the labor export policy of governments have raised these issues before.

Dependency on a global labor market is just as precarious as dependency on a global commodity market. We are now seeing the truth of this statement with the increasing number of returning OFWs. As soon as host countries enter recession or as soon as host countries change their immigration policies, expect foreign migrants in their midst to be the first among those to lose their jobs andbe sent home.

The Philippines has long been considered as a migration model with the country as a leading migrant labor-sending country with government mechanisms created solely to address the issues related to overseas migration.

Government upon government would proclaim that the labor export policy is temporary but skeptics are asking what the time frame of the government is for this temporary policy. Critics are also asking whether government is serious about providing sustainable employment to the Filipinos so that overseas migration becomes a free, not a forced, choice among our people.

It is no secret how our overseas Filipinos have supported not only their families but the whole country as well. Their huge remittances have become the survival mechanism of this country. Without overseas remittances, our country and our people would have experienced worse economic crisis, survival for the poor would have been more severe.

Unfortunately, their remittances have been uselessly squandered by irresponsible leaders who use public funds for personal gains. If only the OFWs financial contributions were channeled to productive programs that would have benefitted the most needy among our food producers, among our poor and jobless, our country and our people now would be living more comfortably, more securely, with thousands now no longer forced to leave their families to seek survival means abroad.

Government has been quick to proclaim our OFWs as modern heroes. Government has accorded them awards, citations, a special day even to honor them and their families.

Even now that thousands of them who have lost their overseas jobs are returning, newspapers carry the news that this government is on top of this situation. Photos of them being met and even honored with a photo session with the President and officials who try to project their concern and appreciation for the returning OFWs abound.

Remember a recent photo-op with the returning OFWs holding the checks provided them by government officials led by the President? After the photo-ops, the returning OFWs were surprised to have those checks taken back from them!

Later on, the OWWA head is supposedly reported to have explained that the checks were really intended for the returning OFWs given the following requirements: 1) the returning OFWs will attend trainings for food and other livelihood projects; 2) the returning OFWs will apply for an initial loan to start their own business, and 3) the returning OFWs will get more loan upon the expansion of their prospective business.

One does not need to be extremely intelligent to understand the impact of the photo-ops showing returning OFWs holding government checks! The photo-ops were purely for publicity, the sincerity of government sorely missing and their insensitivity to the plight of the returning OFWs obviously highlighted for all to see! The Government got their publicity, the returning OFWs had no checks, nothing from the photo-ops.

This government wants to show that the returning OFWs have nothing to worry, that they will be taken cared of upon their return. There are checks waiting for them but wait. The checks are merely symbolic of what awaits returning OFWs: trainings, loans and more loans. Hence, promises, more promises and more and more promises from the very government that did not offer them job and survival opportunities before their migration!

Returning OFWs, their families and other migrants and their supporters have questioned the sincerity of this government that continues to insult OFWS, their families and the rest of the Filipino people with their insensitivity and callous mismanagement and non-accountability of the OFW remittances and other public funds.

Next time you see photos of smiling government officials and OFWs or our other kababayans, check for truth and sincerity beyond the photos. Now, the returning OFWs know better. Now more know the truth about how this government will handle returning OFWs.