Through the strenuous efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), some 300 more Filipino workers in Sudan gained passage to Egypt amid the raging conflict between army and paramilitary forces. Seventeen have returned to the Philippines as hundreds more await repatriation. According to authorities, more than 700 Filipinos have contacted the nearest Philippine embassy and at least half of them have signified their intention to return home.
Many Filipinos in Sudan are engineers and mechanics employed by Toyota and other Japanese firms. Others are teachers, hotel and restaurant employees, computer professionals, or marketing specialists, occupations for which there are also available jobs in their own country. Yet, they risked life and limb while daring to work overseas apparently because they felt they needed to avail themselves of better opportunities for securing their families’ future. Recall that when there was a political upheaval in Libya a few years ago, many Filipinos working there were reluctant to leave what they regarded as secure and well-paying jobs.
Commendably, the top officials of the DMW – Secretary Susan Ople, Undersecretary Hans Cacdac and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Arnell Ignacio – are working actively in the frontlines of the evacuation efforts. They are coordinating closely with Philippine Ambassador to Egypt Ezzedin Tago and his staff to ensure that bureaucratic hurdles – such as lack of passports and visas – are handled with dispatch.
They have performed well thus far, considering that the evacuation is being carried out in the midst of continuing gunbattles on the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. There is difficulty in securing buses to transport the evacuees over the nearly thousand-kilometer road trip to the Egyptian border from where they are ferried to Cairo for their homeward flights. Our officials are seeing to it that safe passage is assured; moreover, they are provided with pocket money and amenities.
Beyond safely evacuating affected OFWs in Sudan, Senator Grace Poe has flagged the need for government to review its deployment policies. “We understand the need of our people for better paying jobs, but it is also incumbent upon the government to constantly review its deployment policies to ensure the safety of our countrymen working abroad,” she said.
Fresh initiatives by micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs such as those launched by Go Negosyo and the Kapatid Angat Lahat Agri Program (KALAP) meet the expectations of four out of five Filipinos that, according to the latest OCTA research survey, would opt to go into business than work as employees.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has emphasized that it is imperative for the government to ensure the creation of higher paying jobs and more attractive employment opportunities so that progressively less and less Filipinos are constrained to seek overseas employment. This is the proverbial silver lining that offers viable options for afflicted OFWs caught in the maelstrom of the Sudanese conflict.