Claire Daguio, secretary-general of the Migrante International chapter here, said in an interview that 74.24 percent (or 1,533) of the 2,065 Cordillerans who worked abroad last year are women while men comprise only 25.86 percent (534) – citing data from the regional office of the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA).
BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 7, March 16-29, 2008
BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) – The number of women going out of the country for overseas work are higher than men. Worse, the numbers of female overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who died abroad and were subsequently repatriated to the country is higher than that of males.
Claire Daguio, secretary-general of the Migrante International chapter here, said in an interview that 74.24 percent (or 1,533) of the 2,065 Cordillerans who worked abroad last year are women while men comprise only 25.86 percent (534) – citing data from the regional office of the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA).
Also citing data from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) regional office, Daguio said more women cadavers were repatriated in 2006 with 15 (or 65.22 percent) from the total 23 cases while those of men were just 8 or 34.78 percent.
The rate of repatriation of dead OFW increased to 44 last year, but Migrante International failed to determine whether or not women outnumber men. Among those repatriated last year was Jocelyn Dulnuan, who was killed in Canada.
More OFWs going abroad
Daguio said that at least 9 million to 10 million OFWs – documented and undocumented – are scattered all over the world.
“There are at least 3,500 to 4,500 OFWs leaving the country daily,” Daguio added. Eighty percent of these are women, said Daguio, a former OFW from Hongkong.
According to Migrante International, however, at least six to 10 dead OFWs are repatriated every day where most of these deaths are considered mysterious. Migrante claims that at least 35 OFWs are on death rows in various countries, mostly in the Middle East.
Push factor
Daguio said that the absence of employment opportunities and poverty push Filipinos to go abroad. The exodus of Filipino workers is abetted by the government’s implementation of the labor export policy.
Mila Lingbawan, secretary-general of the Innabuyog, explained that Cordillerans are pushed abroad due to the displacement brought about by conduit government corporations’ projects like mining and dams. The adverse effects of these projects are compounded by militarization, Lingbawan said, of which most of the victims are women and children.
Innabuyog is the regional chapter of GABRIELA, a national federation of women’s organizations.
Migrations’ social cost
As a consequence of going abroad for “greener pastures,” Daguio said women and their families suffer most from the social effects of this “forced situation.”
Migrante International observes that the situation where a person has to be away from his or her family for a prolonged period has usually led to estrangement between spouses, between parents and children, extra-marital relationships; and, among the children, early marriages and drug addiction.
“While OFWs make our economy afloat through their remittances, the situation of OFW families shows the social costs of going abroad,” Daguio said. Northern Dispatch /(Bulatlat.com)
