Christmas and OFWs
3rd December 2006
By Nini B. Cabaero (Beyond 30, Sunstar Cebu)
Christmas is the time you wish the family could be whole again. But that wish may not come true this Christmas for at least another million Filipino families.
A report by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) brought home this reality.
Dole said the deployment of OFWs hit the one million mark in the last 11 months. Even before December, one million Filipinos left their families this year to seek employment abroad.
The one million mark was the target of labor officials in terms of OFW deployment. While positive in that more Filipinos could help their families financially, the sad part about their departure is the spouse or son or daughter left behind.
Undersecretary for Employment Danilo Cruz announced last week a total of 1,011,148 Filipinos left the country for jobs abroad from Jan. 1 to Nov. 21 this year. This number represented a 12.4 percent increase in OFW deployment from the same period last year. These Filipinos went to 180 countries for various types of jobs on land and on sea.
This rise in numbers is despite issues over the qualifications of Filipino nurses, the compensation for domestic helpers, and the ban on the deployment of workers to war-torn countries like Iraq and Kazakhstan.
Cruz said the hike in OFW deployment figures confirmed that the Filipino is being sought abroad for his skills and work attitude.
But what was distressing about these figures was that the Labor department, the same office mandated to oversee the welfare of workers here, does not relate OFW deployment to the reasons why they left.
Any OFW family left behind would rather have the member working abroad back in the country. Lack of jobs, inadequate pay and poor working conditions are what pushed their loved ones to seek jobs in other parts of the world.
While Dole sees the growth in OFW deployment as a positive development, it too is a black mark on its performance in ensuring a good working environment here and in making it worthwhile for workers to stay.