Sentidokomon

By Johanna Bogbog  (Sideview – Tinig Pinoy)

A certain Pambos Kourtoulos sent his reaction to Chief Ed Joy Miranda about the latter’s article on the latest happenings with the immigration. According to him, those who had been sent home for lack of valid visas have only themselves to blame because a lot of Filipinas are ‘advertising themselves’. For instance, he said, he heard a Filipina singing at the top of her voice in her flat somewhere in Ledra; he likewise saw Filipinas standing outside the flat talking through their mobile phones in the cold evening indicating that there are other girls inside thus, she has to go outside for a private conversation; others laugh loudly and shout while in the street or at the Western Union or Coinstar; and some girls sing at the local karaoke bar in the middle of the afternoon which only means that they are not hard at work. All these of course, attract the attention of immigration officers. He also said that he was often told by a lot of girls that they prefer to live in the center to be near the bus station in Solomou square. But now, for those who had been deported to the Philippines, ‘How far is Solomos square now?’.
First of all, I give my thumbs up to Mr. Kourtoulos (a Brit-Cypriot) for his concern to the Filipino community. I perfectly agree with his observations. Some girls really do not know how to properly conduct themselves especially in public places. However, not all of those who had been sent home were caught because of the above reasons. For example regarding singing, Filipinos are by nature, music lovers. In fact, the Philippines is dubbed as Asia’s nightingale. We, Filipinos, young and old, love to sing wherever we are and whenever we feel like singing. Filipinos find singing as the best way of unwinding one’s stress and/or tension. Anywhere in the world, one can always find a Filipino in karaoke/video or sing-along bars. To Filipinos, singing is a relaxant and one can know what mood a Filipino has at the moment by the songs he/she sings. But then again, one must always consider the right time, the right place, and right disposition while singing.
I also agree on Mr. Kourtoulos’ statement on “running away�. He said that there are places one can go to get help if there are problems with employers instead of running away. Sure, there are. However, I know some girls who had been sent home without prior notice by employers because these girls complained to some authorities. Hence, some girls opted to just run away for fear of being sent home. I also have a first hand experience with problem employers. With my first employer, I was not given any day off and I work even on holidays. My employer instructed me not to even think of asking for a day off because the answer is a very big NO. I was also threatened not to complain to the immigration office because he said he has friends there and the Chief of Police is likewise his friend. And if I complain, he said he will make a strong case against me and I will rot in jail, never to go back to the Philippines. But despite of that threat, I went to the immigration office for help and I was given a release paper and found another employer. Another problem that we face is the lack of trust of employers. Some girls with release papers couldn’t find new employer because the former employer destroyed their credibility to prospect employers. These are just some of the various problems that housemaids face and it is sad to note that not all of us have the guts to conquer fear and insecurities and seek help from the proper authorities.
Except for those whose reason for running away from their employers is to stay with their boyfriends, I still believe that every Filipina wishes to work with a proper visa. Life in the Philippines is very difficult most especially in this time of global crisis. The ratio of job vacancies to job seekers is 1:100. The Philippines is blessed with natural wealth – gold, pearls, abundant forest and water minerals. However, the geographical location and topography of the country render it prone to all calamities like typhoon, hurricane, flood, tsunami, and earthquake. But two of the major reasons for the economic difficulty of the Philippines are the over population, and corruption within the whole hierarchy of the Philippine bureaucracy. I am inserting this piece of information because some employers consider the Philippines as a very poor country, hence the exploitation and oppression that some of us experience from our employers. We are being looked down because we are housemaids. This reminds me of my first employer again. One of the first questions that he asked me was; ‘Do you know about electricity?’ I did not know what to do then, whether to get angry at his arrogance or laugh at his ignorance, so I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders.
For some Cypriots who have gone to the Philippines, they know how the Philippines is. In terms of education, medicine, computer, and the latest technologies, we are at par with the developed countries. We have our slum areas where the poorest in the society, and the outcasts live, but we also have our commercial centers which we take pride in them. The Philippines has the biggest mall in all of Asia. We have skyscrapers. The Emirates and Gulf air offices are in the buildings that have 30 and 50 floors. Our expressways have six lanes and we have trains and railways. However, as I mentioned, our economy is sinking in contrast to the growing population. Thus, most of us have to seek employment outside the country. We spent a lot of money in coming here, In fact, our salary here for one year is more or less the equivalent of the money we spent for the recruiting agency fees, medical, transportation and other personal expenses. Majority of us have incurred interest bearing loans just to pay these fees. This is one of the reasons why those who are not lucky with employers, prefer to continue working, taking the risk even without valid visas rather than to go home.