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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Vol. IV, No. 26 August 1 - 7, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
MIGRANTS WATCHAngelo
dela Cruz Is One of Millions Despite
the risk to life and limb, hundreds of others are lined up waiting for the
Philippine government to lift its ban on deployment of OFWs to Iraq.
Local talk shows and newspaper commentaries have highlighted the
sentiment among the OFWs-in-waiting that they would prefer being killed
while working in Iraq to seeing their families die starving in the
Philippines. BY JESSICA TULLOCH Contributed to Bulatlat
Yet,
despite the risk to life and limb, hundreds of others are lined up waiting
for the Philippine government to lift its ban on deployment of OFWs to
Iraq. Local talk shows and
newspaper commentaries have highlighted the sentiment among the OFWs-in-waiting
that they would prefer being killed while working in Iraq to seeing their
families die starving in the Philippines. Centuries
of colonialism and decades of neo-colonialism under leaders who are more
interested in protecting their own class interests than serving the needs
of the nation have left the Philippines with a weak economic base that
cannot meet the needs of the Filipino people.
Aggravated by globalization, the Philippine economy remains
export-oriented and import-dependent, producing more for the international
market than for domestic needs. Majority
of the population are peasants who do not own the land they till, and use
simple tools and hard labor to work the land into profit-making ventures
for multi-national firms and local landlords.
Finding work overseas is often much more likely than finding work
in one's homeland, no matter what your level of education.
Official
policy Sending
workers overseas became official government policy in the Philippines in
the mid-1970s in the midst of the country's debt crisis.
By an executive order, Marcos forced the remittance of overseas
contract workers' wages through government banks.
In 2003, nearly $8 billion were remitted by the Filipino diaspora
making OFWs a significant source of dollars for the debt-ridden
government. The
world over, about eight million Filipinos are working abroad mostly as OFWs.
They represent more than 13 percent of the population. Almost 2,500
Filipinos leave the Philippines every day as registered OFWs,
making the Philippines the largest "exporter" of labor in the
world. Unfortunately,
however, the Philippine government offers little support and protection to
its overseas workers. President
Arroyo said during her pre-inaugural address that she would create 6-10
million jobs during the coming six years.
Given the state of the Philippine economy and the current fiscal
crisis, there's no way this is possible - unless the jobs she's talking
about are overseas. After
all, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA)
did say that the number of OFWs that will leave in 2004 is expected to
reach nearly one million. Multiply one million by six for every year of
Gloria's term and that makes 6 million! Is
this really a development plan that considers the long-term interests of
the people? Between
a rock and a hard place Due
to Arroyo's support for the
Bush administration's War on Terrorism, Filipino lives abroad are at even
greater risk. The story of
Angelo dela Cruz is a testament to this reality.
Since
Sept. 11, 2001, GMA has lent all-out support to the US' War of Terror.
As the US' strongest ally in Southeast Asia, she has toed the US'
line in the region and domestically in the Philippines. She has put decades-old internal conflicts in the Philippines
into a framework of "terrorism," thereby increasing
militarization and human rights violations.
More than 170,000 individuals have been victims of human rights
violations since she assumed office in early 2001, human rights groups in
the Philippines report. President
Arroyo was put to the test by the kidnapping of Angelo dela Cruz. She was forced to choose between the wishes of the Bush
administration and the will of the Filipino people. Historically, she has sided with US policy, but this time, an
explosive issue hit her presidency just days after being proclaimed as
President on June 24 in the midst of allegations and evidence that she
mobilized the entire government machinery to secure her electoral victory
through fraud. The
plea of Angelo's family and that of many people’s organizations who went
out to the streets to protest was
to withdraw the Philippine troops immediately. It was clear from day one
that the overwhelming majority
of Filipinos supported their call. The
government hid the family from the public eye even as 24-hour daily prayer
vigils and rallies continued nationwide calling for the withdrawal of the
Philippine contingent in Iraq. On
July 13, a prayer vigil in Manila was brutally dispersed by the police.
Even as the participants moved back, the police pursued and beat
them with two-by-two sticks. If
the Filipino people had been silent about Angelo dela Cruz, it is likely
that Arroyo would have let his head roll in order to maintain her favor
with the United States. But
given that her claim to office is questionable and many believe that she
secured office through systematic cheating nationwide, she had to pull out
her troops in Iraq in order to ensure domestic stability.
The
Bush administration was "dismayed" by the decision of its former
colony, and media billed the pull-out of Philippine troops as essentially
"one more blow to the big headache of the US." Although
Arroyo’s motivation was to save her own neck and not Angelo's, it is
still a victory for the people of the world that one more country has
pulled its troops out of the US' immoral and illegal war of conquest in
Iraq because of the concerted action of its citizens. Bulatlat (*
Jessica Tulloch is from the Philippine Solidarity Group in Chicago. She is
currently engaged with ecumenical and multi-sectoral groups in her second
year of solidarity visit to the Philippines.) We want to know what you think of this article.
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