Protection and preservation of national security and territory is important, as well as the Philippines’ relation to other countries, and of course we should not forget the economic progress. And these topics must not be set aside for these will determine the development of our country. However, there is more important topic than these, and I consider that it is the protection of nationals. The nationals of any country are important, they are the ones who run the government, who contribute to the economy, who represent their country to other states, and who protect the territories of the country. In short, a state is useless without its nationals for no one will administrate and participate for the development of the country.
In our country, Philippines, businessmen are not the only ones who contribute a lot to our economy but also the Overseas Filipino Workers or the OFWs because of their remittances. Nowadays, we rely for the OFWs’ remittances, and treat them as our modern day heroes. And I believe that the Philippines must formulate more effective foreign policy or policies towards the protection of nationals, especially the Overseas Filipino Workers for the Philippines is a democratic country, which the people and their voices are the most important.
Our country must protect the OFWs because they are not in our own country. We know that it is harder to live when we are not in our own country or to the place where we used to live. The climate, the language, and the culture may be some of the reasons why it is hard to live in another country also, maybe because the treatment and perception of the nationals from the other countries towards Filipinos. It is also harder for them to fight for themselves overseas especially they have limited connections with people there. It is like in sports, others say that it is harder to win a game if you are not playing in your home court because the environment, ambiance, and the atmosphere maybe different from what they are used to be.
There are a lot of controversial Overseas Filipino Workers all over the world. And in my opinion, the most talked about was Flor Contemplacion, even if the case happened for almost two decades years ago. Flor Contemplacion, a 42 year old Filipina from San Pablo City, Laguna, was a domestic helper in Singapore. On May 5, 1991, through the diary of Delia Maga, she was accused of double murder by killing Delia Maga, also a Filipina maid, and Nicholas Huang, the son of Delia’s employer. The findings were Delia Maga was killed through strangling and Nicholas Huang was drowned in a pail. Flor was found guilty because of her statement where she admitted that she did kill Delia Maga and Nicholas Huang, not knowing why she was able to do that and because of the paraphernalia used to kill the victims. There were several appeals of the Philippine government to stay the execution; there were countries that wrote letters to the Singaporean government in support for Flor. Also, two weeks before the execution, there were new statements from two Filipina maids suggesting that the four year old boy was an epileptic and during the sudden attack of epilepsy, he got drowned in the bathtub and when the father of Nicholas knew what had happened, he was so angry that he was able to strangle Delia Maga to death and framed Flor of being the one whi did the crime. Virginia Parumog, one who shared a cell with Flor, said in an affidavit that Flor is innocent. “Delia immediately phoned her employer about the incident. Her male employer immediately rushed home. Very angry, the employer strangled Delia’s neck” the statement that Flor has told her.[1] Other claims by Virginia were Flor had undergone electric shock treatment and was sexually abused by the jail guards while waiting for the trials. These statements made by Virginia Parumog were dismissed by the Singaporean Home Affairs Ministry, they said that “These claims are pure fabrication”, “The wild and baseless allegations of Virginia Parumog are yet another attempt to stir up controversy over the Flor Contemplacion case, without any regard for the truth.”[2] The Home Ministry also added that the Philippine embassy officials visited her for nine times during her imprisonment so Flor had sufficient opportunities to protest her innocence but she chose to tell the story to Virginia Parumog. The Home Ministry said “Are we to believe that of Flor Contemplacion felt that she was innocent she would chose to say so only to a prostitute in prison” and according to them, Parumog had been arrested in Singapore on June the 25th, 1992, and had signed a statement saying that she had come to the island republic for prostitution and "was charging Singaporeans $100 ($70) per sexual entertainment."[3] All the statements of the two Filipinas and Virginia Parumog, all the appeals from the Philippines, and the letters from the other countries were not sufficient to spare Flor Conteplacion from death. She was hung at 6:00 am of March 17, 1991, Friday with three other male drug traffickers at the Changi Prison.
Another controversial story about an Overseas Filipino Worker was the story of a simple man Angelo Dela Cruz, a father of eight who left the Philippines in 1996, he was a truck driver based in Saudi Arabia. On July 4, 2004, he was abducted by the members of Khaled Bin Al-Walid Squadrons, a part of Iraqi Islamic Army, he was held captive for two weeks but no harm was done to him, and he was threatened to be beheaded if the Philippine government will not withdraw its troops, that consists of 51 Filipinos, from Iraq as soon as possible. A lot of Filipinos developed their sympathy towards Angelo Dela Cruz when his first video with seven masked gunmen surrounding him was released on July 7, 2004 which caused pressure on our former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Angelo Dela Cruz was freed on July 17,2004, he was dropped off in front of the Embassy of United Arab Emirates in Baghdad within 24 hours after all the members of the Filipino humanitarian contingent in Iraq were pulled out, one week earlier that the original plan that the troop was due to leave Iraq on August 20, 2004. Being the first country who gave the request of the terrorist, the decision of the former president had received a lot of criticisms from United States of America, Iraqi government, and the other allies in the international war on terror because they said that giving what the terrorists want may cause more trouble because they will gain more courage to threat more people and countries. In spite of these criticisms, still the Philippines rejoiced for the release of the poor truck driver from Mexico, Pampanga. "I made a decision to bring our troops home a few days early in order to spare the life of Angelo. I do not regret that decision. Every life is important,"[4] "Angelo was spared, and we rejoice." [5] former President Arroyo said. Angelo Dela Cruz is still lucky because former President Arroyo’s administration and the prayers of the whole Filipino community were able to save his life, unlike the poor Flor Contemplacion who was put to death because of the crime that we are not sure if it was really done by her.
These instances that happened to two of the Overseas Filipino Workers are really upsetting. Filipinos go overseas for them to provide a better life for themselves as well for their family back here in the Philippines and yet they went through those kinds of experiences. These happenings do not only deprive Filipinos but also strain relations between our country and the countries that are concern.
Though they have different kind of story and outcome, Flor Contemplacon and Angelo Dela Cruz are both representatives of Filipinos overseas that undergone a devastating experience, and we know that there are a lot of these kinds of stories only they are not being known to us maybe because those are not as grave like their experience, especially like Flor’s.
There are a lot of Overseas Filipino Workers that are being maltreated by their employers through physical and mental abuse, nonpayment of salary, not following the contracts, etc. Some of these OFWs who received maltreatment from their employers are the seven women working as maids in Abu Dhabi. They only have three hours of sleep everyday because they are forced to work until 2 in the morning and must wake up at 5:00 am. They were experiencing hunger for they eat only once a day. But the brighter side is that they were able to escape from the cruelty of their employers and was able to come back home at April 23, 2008 with a help from a senator. Another two Filipinas, 21 years old and 27 years old, were hospitalized in Dubai because of the injuries they gained from their brutal employers, they suffered from cuts, broken bones, etc and the report said that the sadism of their employers became habitual that actually happens almost every hour. Also from Dubai, there was a 32-year old Filipina that was repatriated after suffering a year of maltreatment from her employer. Her hair was burned by her employer when she was not able to pacify the child that she is taking care of, she was hit on her private part and was also throttled. “Kinuha ang kamay ko iyun ang inilagay sa apoy,” she said.[6] The employer burned her hands because she was not able to wash the dishes in three minutes. She also had broken teeth as a result of a punch from her employer. Not only are the poor Filipinas suffering from abuse but also our male nationals. There were eleven Filipino fishermen in Ireland who were receiving physical abuse from the son of the ship’s owner and the fishermen said that not only they were abused but their employer did not comply with the things stated in the contract.
Despite the misfortunes of a lot of the Overseas Filipino Workers abroad, it does not stop the Filipinos to try their luck outside the country. For me, Filipinos are not that hardworking unlike the other nationals who rush and do all the work they can do even their working hours are over, we tend to hang out rather than to work overtime, in short we tend of slacking off when we know that we can do the work later or in the next few days even if we can already do it at the moment, but when it comes to our family, we will do anything to give them a good life that we endure the life thousand miles away from our beloved ones. The love for the family of the Filipinos may be one of the reasons why Filipinos strive to work abroad, doing dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs, searching for a greener pasture rather than to stay here in the Philippines.
It is good that no one of the OFWs nowadays has experienced or is experiencing the cases like Flor Contemplacion’s and Angelo Dela Cruz’s, and we hope that those grave incidents will never happen again. We can see that the Philippine government is doing its best to prevent other cases such as what happened to Flor and Angelo. Though we can see the effort of our government, sadly there are still a lot of Filipinos being maltreated abroad. Which these kinds of maltreatment can shatter a Filipino’s dream in to pieces.
The Philippine Government must think of a more effective foreign policy or policies to ensure the safety and the dignity of the Filipinos overseas if our government cannot make the Filipinos to stay and try to make their lives better here in our motherland or they can set higher standards to Filipinos so that the jobs that they will get will be white collar jobs which I think not prone to maltreatment, also they must make a policy towards the recovery of the Filipinos that were repatriated due to abusive acts of their employers, on what they have to do after their unpleasant experience abroad. However, it is not only the government that must do its part, but the Filipinos who want to work abroad must also do its part by helping themselves and cooperating with the government and comply with its rules and laws, they must not negotiate with illegal recruiters thus their lives will not be in danger and that their hard work will be paid off so that they can ensure that they will be able to bring their family to a better life. The government must do anything to protect the Philippine nationals, either in or out of the country, either businessman or employee, male or female, young or old as long as a person is a Filipino because every Filipino’s life is important, for every Filipino can be a key for the betterment of our country. It is not too late for our country to progress, it just need cooperation between the government and the nationals. The government will implement laws, ensure the protection of nationals, harmonize the relationship of the Philippines with other countries, preserve the national security, and be transparent to the Filipinos, and of course us nationals will abide by the rules of the government and do our best to make our lives better, when all of these happens, there’s no doubt that the Philippines will progress. I believe and all of us must believe that no one can bring the Philippines to success but only us, Filipinos.
[1] "Flor Contemplacion." Capital Punishment UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2010. http://capitalpunishmentuk.org/flor.html
[2] Flor Contemplacion." Capital Punishment UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2010. http://capitalpunishmentuk.org/flor.html
[3] Flor Contemplacion." Capital Punishment UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2010. http://capitalpunishmentuk.org/flor.html
[4] "Dela Cruz freed." Sun Star Network Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 July 2010. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2004/07/21/dela.cruz.freed.html
[5] Roberts, Joel. "Filipino Hostage Freed In Baghdad - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2010. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/22004/07/21/iraq/main630795.shtml
[6] "Maltreated OFW back home from Dubai | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2010. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/features/08/26/08/maltreated-ofw-back-home-dubai
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