At Sorayda’s house, all of the 15 Muslim women waiting for their prospective employers were all her relatives. One of them, sister Warda Sangkupan, 45, has been waiting under her custody for three months now, and her niece Mona Maridas, 25, for a year already. Sangkupan hopes to go to Saudia Arabia and Maridas to Qatar.
While waiting, Sangkupan and the other tenants attend Arabic language lessons from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m every Thursday. “Mas gusto ng mga Arabo ang DH [domestic help] na marunong mag-Sala’h (Islamic prayer),” said Sangkupan. Most of their time is however spent in watching television, listening to radio, eating, chatting, and sleeping.
Business as usual
Her earnings as an agent built her three-story house and a mini sari-sari (variety) store, Aisa said.
“Kung nag-abroad lang ako, hindi ko kikitain ‘to, lalo na kung DH lang,” she said.
Being an agent or middleman is a good business. A source told Bulatlat that at least five agents at Salam have put up their own recruitment agencies, while the number of people doing agent work has reached over a hundred.
Both Sorayda and Aisa said they would get two to three months of the OFWs’ salary for payment of their stay at Salam and for the processing of documents. Aisa deploys 50-70 OFWs a year. Usually, domestics receive a monthly pay of $150-$200. Aside from this, an agent also gets a commission from P2,000 to P5,000 from the agency for every OFW deployed.
For those staying for several months or a year, like Maridas, Sorayda would usually ask for additional salary deduction. Only after three months when her salaries are taken by the agent and another three to six months when the agency takes her pay will the OFW be able to enjoy her salary and send some money to her family back in Mindanao.
Leaving families
Dreaming of a better life for their families in Mindanao, many Muslim women are forced to leave their loved ones to work overseas hoping for better wages.
Sangkupan, who hails from Barrio Manaulanan, Pikit, North Cotabato can be considered a “veteran” OFW. She had actually been to several Middle East countries before but her sacrifice has not uplifted her family’s life. She says her husband’s income as a farmer could not support her big family of eight children. Now her eldest daughter also works in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia. Mother is praying she could go back again in some Gulf country for yet another work.
Sangkupan insists however the whole family could stay put at Manaulanan but the long-drawn war between government and Muslim rebels has diminished opportunities for a stable life. “Sa totoo lang, kaya naming mabuhay sa pagsasaka lang kung walang gyera dun,” she says.
Sangkupan recalled, “makita pa lang ng mga asawa namin ang mga sundalong papalapit sa kanila sa bukid, aalis na sila.” Soldiers arrest innocent civilians and fabricate charges against them she says. Sacks of rice are also looted by soldiers, she said.
She also said that during the all-out war against Moro rebels and extremists under former President Joseph Estrada, one of their carabaos (water buffaloes) was killed during a bombing while another one was stolen by the soldiers.
Sorayda also blamed the never-ending war in Mindanao, particularly in Cotabato where she used to live, as the reason behind their poverty.
“Dahil sa gyera, hindi kami makapagtanim,” she said. “Kung tutuusin, sa pagtatanim, sobra-sobra pa sana dahil maayos naman ang ani.”
She said the military also burned down their house.
Meanwhile, Aisa at one time experienced difficulty in breathing when simultaneous aerial and land attacks were launched. “Kahit madaling araw ‘pag nakakita ng apoy ang militar, binobomba nila,” she recalled.
“Kung maayos naman kami sa Mindanao, hindi naman kami pupunta dito,” said Aisa. Bulatlat
