OFW FORUM
Much to his credit, Saudi Arabia-based Eli Mua staunchly pushes and promotes thousands of miles away from home the government’s establishment of a Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (DOFW) which he believes will address and resolve the seemingly endless constant physical, psychological and other abuses of Filipino women across the Middle East.
Apparently aghast and pained by horrific rapes and other brutalities inflicted on Filipino women in that region, he is pressing on with his frenetic and lonely crusade for the current government – whichever administration – to adopt vital institutional changes, aimed principally at ending the sufferings of OFWs in the Middle East.
Last week, for instance, he made a flurry of posts on Facebook in which he urged OFW rights advocates in Metro Manila to stage a picket outside the Senate building in Pasay City to nudge gently Senator Joel Villanueva and fellow lawmakers into approving a Senate version of a proposed law creating a dedicated department or agency for overseas Filipinos.
Compared to other OFW rights advocates in the Middle East, the Philippines and elsewhere across the world, Mua stands out as the most persistent and dedicated advocate of creating a single, all-encompassing government agency charged with the affairs of overseas Filipinos, especially Filipino women many of whom bear the brunt of all sort of abuses across the Middle East.
His crusade certainly resonates and gains the support of countless distressed former OFWs that he has directly or indirectly assisted to go home to their loved ones after harrowing and even traumatic work stints in the Middle East and nearby regions, notably Africa.
Mua’s deep passion for the creation of a dedicated agency for all OFW-related affairs is understandable. More often than not, the current state of OFW affairs, especially in the Middle East, is chaotic and often devoid of rhyme and reason, with different government agencies with disparate functions being brought to bear in search of solutions to problematic circumstances of distressed OFWs.
Cases in point are Filipino domestics who get raped or physically assaulted and maimed by their employers or other parties. Why is there often no news at all about successful prosecution of culprits in Middle East countries where the crimes are committed? Why are victims simply assisted by the government to go home physically and psychologically battered without any recourse from culprits, like financial compensation for damage inflicted and loss of job and income?
Why isn’t the government unable until today to adequately protect Filipino women from getting raped and physically assaulted in the Middle East despite the fact that the wave of OFWs to that region started way back in the 1970s? How much longer will Filipino women wait before they are treated like human beings and legitimate foreign employees or staff – not slaves or animals – by wayward employers in the Middle East?
It is in this context that a dedicated OFW department is very keenly sought after by Mua and other avid OFW rights advocates.
But assuming a DOFW is set up tomorrow or next month, how long will it take to effectively tackle and resolve long-standing malpractices and abuses of Filipino women in the Middle East?
Taking into account my decades of actual experience as a journalist dealing with different government agencies, even at the highest levels, I can’t help but take a pessimistic view. Very long years of ineptness, callousness, inefficiency, laziness, utter lack of dedication to high-quality service and a few other choice superlatives have inevitably prompted me to take a very dim view of what it will take to set up a dedicated OFW department and the extent to which it will help resolve long-standing and deep-rooted problems of OFWs in the Middle East.
My cautiously hopeful but pessimistic view on a DOFW and other macro initiatives for OFWs is buttressed by my critical analysis of various supposed major initiatives for the benefit of OFWs in general.
Cases in point are the OFW Bank that was launched in January 2018 and the OFW Hospital which is now being constructed in Tarlac or a province close to it. Operated by the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines, the OFW Bank offers very few services, namely savings account opening and money transfer. How will it benefit OFWs then when the country’s universal banks, like BDO and BPI, offer more services and more extensive branch networks?
And if the OFW Hospital is located in Central Luzon, how can OFWs and their family members in Mindanao, the Visayas and Bicol provinces benefit from its services?
Where is the rhyme, reason and common sense logic in these attention-grabbing OFW projects which clearly lack holistic and intelligent planning? Had labor officials cared to canvass the views even of select OFW rights advocates, including this writer, they would have gotten more holistic perspectives in projects for the benefit of OFWs in general.
Contact this writer at [email protected]