"Flood" in the desert

KUWAIT — If Metro Manila was devastated by the flood brought about the onslaught of “Ondoy” and Northern Luzon provinces were inundated by the raging waters from Ambuklao, Binga, San Roque and Pantabangan, thanks to Pepeng, believe it or not, the embassies and overseas labor offices in the Middle East were also “flooded” by the onrush of runaway OFWs, mostly HSWs (Household Service Workers) who escaped from the “sling and arrows” of excessive cruelty and abuses of many inhuman employers.

The number of runaways is always expected to rise every after Ramadan on the hopes that the Amir of Kuwait, the King of Saudi and the Sultan of Oman and other Heads of State in the Gulf countries would issue a general amnesty to undocumented foreign workers, many of whom are OFWs. They usually do but not always. If they want to empty their jails and detention centers or whenever they are inspired by some good vibes, they issue such amnesty. But we cannot demand an amnesty as a matter of right. We can only pray and hope.

“Tinimbang, ngunit kulang”

In such an emergency situation, the capacity of government is measured and is always found wanting. “Tinimbang, ngunit kulang.” That is why, we always need a civil society, the NGOs, the Church, the media and the Filipino community organizations. The challenges are simply too overwhelming, “Kapantay ay langit, ika nga.” The capacity is simply too limited, “Bato sa buhangin nga”. The government is too “paralyzed” by its own bureaucratic red tapes and procedural inanities and too constrained by its own self-imposed limitations, that we really need such institutions as the Red Cross, ABS-CBN’s Sagip Kapamilya, the CBCP’s Caritas Foundation and a thousand and one civil society organizations.

Even as the Senate was moving to oust the US soldiers, and to abrogate the visiting Forces Agreement, in the name of nationalism, our people rely on the US contingents for helicopters and rubber boats in order to conduct a genuine search, rescue and relocation operations. And so, also here in the Middle East, we need the help of foreigners to attend to the growing needs of our distressed OFWs. The government is not enough, never enough. It can not afford to be too snobbish or self-righteous. It needs help and it must humble itself.

Sleepless in Kuwait

In Kuwait alone, the number of runaway maids reached an alarming number of 220. We have to house them in a Center ( Bahay ni Kuya sa Disyerto ) which is good only for 30 to 40 people. We have to feed them and nurture them. We had to scrimp on a budget that is enough only for 50 wards. There are eleven toddlers and infants of OFWs who were impregnated by employers, husbands or boyfriends who abandoned or maltreated them. There are the sick and the extremely sick (cancer, TB, diabetes mellitus) They are all sleeping together in one big hall, contaminating each other. There are maids who are now paraplegics after having been pushed from the third floor by employers who refused to pay their salaries.

There are eight or nine pregnant OFWs who don’t want to go home to their husbands in the Philippines, who could not have been the fathers of the children they bear. That is why, yours truly is always sleepless in Kuwait, rushing from the many hospitals to detentions centers, from airports to courts of law where, OFWs are being prosecuted or persecuted for standing up for their human rights. I’m usually alone, with my wife who serves as a volunteer counselor, to ease the burdens of the distressed. And I don’t even have a car to carry my weary bones in the lonely desert wilderness where OFWs await help and assistance.

Where are the politicians?

One distinctive phenomenon in the advent of calamities, whether in the Philippines or in the Middle East, is that the politicians are nowhere to be found at times when they are needed most. A few of them do appear every now and then distributing “goodies” with their names emblazoned with embarrassing obviousness. But in most difficult times, there are no politicians to help. People have to paddle their own canoes. We, frontliners, in the outlying deserts have to make do with whatever are available. Politicians only want to be in the airports with photographers usually claiming credits that we hope they truly deserve.

The “bursting of the dam” is like the overflow of the population to the labor migration channels all over the world. The government has pushed too hard in marketing our skills in the global labor markets but unfortunately we have not provided enough safety nets to cover emergency situations like what we are experiencing now. After all these “floods”, these “storms”, these “inundations”, we need to reflect deeply into our souls in the silence of the darkest night, and ask ourselves: Are we doing the right thing? And if so, what can we do about these? Pastilan, Ginoo. Pait kaayo!    

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