OFW nightmare

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople said it outright: the best solution to the abuse and even murder of overseas Filipino workers is to create a job environment in the Philippines that will end the OFW phenomenon.

Ople issued the statement following the brutal murder of yet another OFW household helper in Kuwait, Jullebee Ranara, at the hands of her employer’s 17-year-old son.

As such a Philippine employment scenario is currently in the realm of wish ko lang, we will have to deal with the problems arising from having up to 15 million Filipinos (by Ople’s estimate) working overseas for lack of better employment opportunities in their own land.

The badly burned body of Ranara, who was reportedly pregnant, was found dumped in the Kuwaiti desert on Jan. 22. Probers have yet to announce the likely motive for the murder.

Sadly, the brutality is not unique, and Ranara is not the first Pinay whose dream of a better life turned into a nightmare.

As early as January 2018, the government had suspended OFW deployment to Kuwait following the deaths of seven Filipino household service workers (HSW) due to suspected abuse.

A total deployment ban was imposed the next month, after the body of another HSW, Joanna Demafelis, was found stuffed in a freezer in an apartment abandoned by her employers, a Lebanese and his Syrian wife. Demafelis was believed to have been dead for over a year.

Kuwait tried the murderers in absentia and sentenced them to death, but the two are still facing the judicial process in their respective countries.

Meanwhile, a bilateral agreement was drawn up between the Philippines and Kuwait to strengthen protection of OFWs. The deployment ban was eased and then lifted as the agreement went into effect. But the terms failed to protect another Pinay HSW, Ma. Constancia Dayag, 47. In May 2019, she was beaten to death by her employer. This was followed by the killing of Jeanelyn Villavende, 26, in December that same year, by the wife of her employer reportedly due to jealousy.

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Migrante Philippines chairman Arman Hernando said the bilateral agreement lapsed last year. Migrant Workers Undersecretary Hans Cacdac said it was automatically renewed, but the Marcos administration is subjecting it to a review to determine areas for improvement.

Offhand, Cacdac told “The Chiefs” on One News last Wednesday that rules covering recruiters may be tightened. Information materials may also be produced and supplied to both prospective OFWs and Kuwaiti employers, Cacdac said, so that both sides can have a better understanding of each other’s cultures. 

How useful such measures will be remains to be seen.

As Hernando noted, the agencies tasked to address OFW concerns were set up when the ranks of migrant workers were still way below the current numbers. Today there simply aren’t enough government personnel to properly monitor the massive army of OFWs worldwide and provide timely assistance to those in need.

Cacdac says digital technology has enhanced such monitoring and made it easier for distressed OFWs to seek help. The requirement to give household helpers one day off a week, he said, also allows them to mingle with other OFWs and relay any abuse at the hands of foreign employers.

This is presuming, however, that the employers are decent, sane and complying with the agreements governing migrant workers.

But what if the OFW is locked up in an employer’s home and deprived of access to phones and computers? The scenario is not farfetched; there have been numerous reports of such cases.

Domestic helpers, nearly all of them women, are particularly vulnerable, especially in places where there is strong social stratification and certain sectors are treated as second-class humans. Many HSWs work alone in their employer’s home, in an environment that inspires psychotic employers to give full rein to their inner beast.

The horror stories about Pinay HSWs have been well publicized, but many are undeterred. Cacdac told us that from 10,000 to 15,000 Filipinos have been deployed to Kuwait annually in recent years. Many of them are HSWs.

Government officials keep hailing OFWs as heroes, for keeping the consumption-driven Philippine economy afloat even during global downturns. Increased OFW remittances are touted as good news.

OFWs are indeed heroes – for propping up the economy while enduring separation from their loved ones, and risking exploitation, discrimination as third-class citizens, and (as we have seen) rape, torture and murder.

Perhaps Toots Ople’s views would spark a conversation on what the OFW phenomenon is: a symptom of a national failure to create gainful employment.

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Ople’s aspiration, which will effectively render her agency unnecessary, does not have to remain wish ko lang.

There are economic activities that can generate meaningful jobs and livelihoods on site, which can discourage even urban migration.

Tourism is one; just look at what it has done to Thailand. The creative industries is another; consider the spectacular success of Hallyu, the Korean wave.

Agribusiness is another. We are blessed with such a wealth of natural resources and Philippine biodiversity is among the richest in the world. Tragically, our agriculture sector is underdeveloped, exploitative and an unmitigated disaster.

We also need to get serious about upgrading the quality of Philippine education. If people are armed with better education and higher skills, they wouldn’t settle for jobs overseas cleaning other people’s toilets.

Analysts have been warning that without the required upskilling, the Philippines could soon lose its appeal as a hub for business process outsourcing – another sector that creates jobs in-country. While voice BPO, where the Philippines is a leader, is unlikely to disappear anytime soon, it is rapidly being overtaken by skills BPO.

We cannot adapt to this shift if our 10-year-old students are performing poorly in something as basic as reading comprehension.

In the meantime, regulation of recruitment agencies can use improvement. Migrante’s Hernando told us that even if an agency or its operator has been blacklisted or shut down because of the bad experience of clients, it is so easy for the agency to simply register under a different name or tie up with another agency, and resume recruitment.

The toughest aspect of this problem, of course, is the need that drives people to ignore the documented horror stories, endure long separation with their loved ones, and seek greener pastures overseas.

Toots Ople is correct: the answer is to eliminate that need.