Analysis

Returning OFWs from Lebanon:
Faces of Distress, Cries of Desperation

The joy and relief of Filipinos returning from Lebanon quickly turns to feelings of distress as they remember the hardships they endured abroad and realize the anxiety of being jobless in the Philippines.  Seeing their distressed faces and hearing their cries, one would easily see the desperation that has compelled Filipinos to face so many hardships and to risk life and limb just to earn a “decent” income.

BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat

An OFW is met by a loved one in a tearful embrace upon arrival from war-torn Lebanon

The debate over the true state of the nation seems to be dying down. Reactions, after all, to the grand infrastructure plans of President Arroyo are now being overshadowed by other pressing concerns. Hugging the headlines are news about the war in Lebanon; the daily trickles of arrivals of overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) fleeing that war-torn country; and the bickering between Ambassador Alfrancis Bichara, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Overseas Workers Welfare Agency (OWWA) over who has the money and who is to blame over the slow pace in the repatriation of our OFWs. Analyzing these, however, one cannot help but be reminded of the state of the nation today.

There is the usual bickering between departments and agencies of government. Ironically, OWWA is probably the last agency of government that would experience lack of funds. Every OFW pays a membership fee of $25 aside from the various fees and licenses required which amounts to an average of P17,925 ($347.65, based on an exchange rate of P51.56 per US dollar).  Given that there are about eight million OFWs, OWWA and the government should not have any problem with funds. It is practically the remittances of OFWs already amounting to $4.9 billion for the first five months of 2006 alone -- which by government estimates will surpass the record $10.7 billion remittances in 2005 -- that has kept the economy afloat.

The OWWA fund was also allegedly depleted because of questionable transfer of funds. Migrante International revealed that P530 million ($10.28 million) in Medicare funds for OFWs was transferred to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) at the time that President Arroyo was distributing PhilHealth cards during the run-up to the 2004 elections.  Another questionable re-channeling of funds was the P23.59 million ($457,467.03) allocated to the International Labor Affairs office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

But the more striking images which reflect the state of the Filipino people are that of OFWs.

In Lebanon, they are cramped in a small evacuation center as more and more arrive to be repatriated.  Even as the war continues to escalate and the U.S. is rushing the delivery of more bombs for Israel’s use, repatriation is exceedingly slow. As of July 28, only 694 OFWs have been repatriated out of the roughly 30,000 OFWs in Lebanon. The government is aggressive in sending Filipinos out of the country to earn the much-needed dollars but is excruciatingly slow in coming to their aid, even in situations of life and death.

Upon arrival, OFWs express joy and relief at being safe at home. But their joy quickly turns to feelings of distress when recalling the maltreatment they experienced while in Lebanon; of having to escape their employer who did not permit them to leave or to be suddenly abandoned by a fleeing employer; of having to work for eight years without being able to go home; of salaries not being given to them; and so many other stories of hardships and difficulties. There is also the feeling of anxiety for those who cannot imagine how they can live now that they are jobless in the Philippines. 

Seeing their distressed faces and hearing their cries, one would easily see the desperation that has compelled Filipinos to face so many hardships and to risk life and limb just to earn a “decent” income. And this “decent” income, amounting to around $200 a month or sometimes less, is even below the P664 ($12.88) per day living wage set by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) for a family of six.

But who can blame them when the unemployment rate is registering double digits since 2001 (if the old methodology in measuring employment were used)? The underemployment rate is continuously increasing.  From 17 percent of the labor force in 2004, it increased to 21 percent in 2005. 

There seems to be no progress in terms of employment generation. Of the 750,000 jobs supposedly created last year, only 13.06 percent or 98,000 jobs were for wage and salary workers. The rest were unpaid family work mostly in agriculture, which is 51.86 percent or 389,000 of the jobs created, and  35.06 percent or 263,000 were in the own-account category, which includes vendors and small consumer store owners.  The number of wage and salary workers already fell by 156,000 in 2005 compared to 2004.

Included in the wage and salary jobs opened up are in the business process outsourcing industry, which includes call centers; legal, data, and medical transcription; software development and animation. But these companies hire only three to five out of 100 applicants because of the required English proficiency and computer skills. 

If there are a lot of opportunities for gainful employment locally, who will choose to suffer separation from their families and maltreatment? Who will risk life and limb working in war-torn countries like Iraq and Lebanon?

The stories of OFWs belie all government statistics of growth and improvements in the economy.  The problem with President Arroyo’s grand plan of building bridges, highways, airports, ports, and dams is not where to find the budget to finance these. The problem is that the plan does not directly address the fundamental problems of unemployment, poverty and desperation enveloping the Filipino people.  Marcos did the very same economic strategy. Look at where we are now. Bulatlat