BONN, Germany - “The media should not always talk about how much remittance we send home. They must look at the sufferings we have to go through to send money back, how people exploit us both in the Philippines and overseas while our government is not doing enough to stop this.”
This was Papias Banados’ message to journalists at the Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany on June 21 where the 39-year old Davaoena, who has worked as a domestic helper in Kuwait and in Singapore for the past 16 years, spoke about her recently published book.
“The Path to Remittance - Tales of Pains and Gains of Overseas Filipino Workers” is a collection of short stories based on real-life experiences of Filipino domestic helpers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It was edited by Dr. Kalinga Seneviratne of the Singapore-based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC).
At the Bonn conference, Banados talked about the three main issues she brings out in her book: the excessive placement fees that recruitment agencies charge overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the constant demand from OFWs’ families “for money and always more money,” and the unwanted pregnancies that force many Filipino women to seek overseas employment.
Excessive placement fees
Excessive placement fees
Banados cited cases of OFWs who do not get salaries for the first seven to eight months because the employment agencies that recruit them in Manila get their wages as payment for the job placement and airline tickets. These agencies also ask for placement fees in cash before the applicants’ departure but do not extend help when problems arise in the countries of destination, said Banados.
She related the story of Randy, a schoolteacher who went to Saudi Arabia to work as a private driver. When his employer accused him of having an affair with a Sri Lankan maid, he ran away and sought refuge at the Philippine embassy. But the agency that recruited him did not help. He did not get his salary and returned to the Philippines after five months but could not get back the P30,000 placement fee that he paid to his agency in Manila.
Most OFWs suffer in silence and do not complain about the abusive practices of their recruitment agencies because they are afraid of losing their jobs, said Banados.
She related the story of Randy, a schoolteacher who went to Saudi Arabia to work as a private driver. When his employer accused him of having an affair with a Sri Lankan maid, he ran away and sought refuge at the Philippine embassy. But the agency that recruited him did not help. He did not get his salary and returned to the Philippines after five months but could not get back the P30,000 placement fee that he paid to his agency in Manila.
Most OFWs suffer in silence and do not complain about the abusive practices of their recruitment agencies because they are afraid of losing their jobs, said Banados.
‘Money, more money’
The constant demand for money from families in the Philippines is another problem that many OFWs bear in silence.
“Many girls (in Singapore) borrow from others to send money because they don’t want to say they don’t have money. Some have foreign boyfriends (from Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh) from whom they get money,” said Banados.
She noted that most of her friends in Singapore always complain about their parents, siblings, cousins and uncles who pester them for money.
One friend was so upset because, just after sending money to her family, she received another SMS from her mother asking for more money to pay the electric bills. This friend had to tell her mother that she gets her salary on a monthly, and not a weekly, basis.
One message that Banados’ book seeks to convey is that OFWs are not ATMs or Automatic Teller Machines.
Unwanted pregnancy and migration
At the Bonn conference, Banados also explained that unwanted pregnancy pushes many Filipino women to work overseas.
“The church is teaching (people) not to use contraceptive, that it is a sin. Many girls get pregnant when they don’t want to. They also cannot abort because it is sin and (a) violation against the law. (The) husband is just a laborer (or) a tricycle driver so the income is not enough to support the family needs. The girl leaves the baby with the mother or sister and goes overseas to work.”
Banados is aware that President Benigno Aquino III wants to introduce a law that would give government assistance to people to use contraceptives.
“The media should look at how this law could stop unwanted pregnancies and stop Filipino women from going overseas to work,” she said.
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