Save our unsung heroes!

By Gonzalo Duque

PRESIDENT Gloria’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia has definitely gained several plus points for her and the administration. 

I could see some anti Gloria elements sulking.

Your know what? I advise the opposition to just think positive, first be good to their families and constituencies rather than shooting down a natural leader as Ate Glo.

But it’s not all rosy out there in the Saudi visit however.

Because it has exposed once again the sad plight of our unsung heroes in the Middle East and in similar areas around the world. These dollar earners are exposed to several risks and problems, that is why many of them are jailed for offenses they never intended to do.

What is behind this problem?

First, we must face the ugly fact that our “heroes” in these risky places are victims of male chauvinism, the foreigner-macho kunos who treat our women – and also our men, the gwapos especially -as commodities, not human beings.

Recall the case of Sarah Balabagan who, while defending her honor from a beastly employer   accidentally killed him.  She was jailed and took 40 lashes and made to pay blood money for her liberty.

Pity our heroes!

I know the situation out there because I was for a while deputy administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).I knew the so-called vulnerable areas which are dirty, demeaning and dangerous.

At this juncture, I remember how Indonesia dealt with its domestic help experience.

Did you know that the Indonesians came to our country to observe and study our overseas workers program, if in fact; we have any program at all?  What they saw are mushrooms of private recruitment agencies clustered in Ermita, Manila.

The wily Indonesians lustily absorbed what they saw and observed and aha!, saw a basic flaw:  the Philippine government did not have a program to really protect its overseas workers. The private recruitment agencies were in control of our overseas workers and were having a heyday. As we all know, these agencies were only after the hard-earned fat placement fees and did not care anyhow for the workers: how they would live or are treated in their place of work abroad. With very few training, the workers are left to the elements. You can stretch your imagination on this account.

For their part, the Indonesians were much smarter. They put up the National Recruitment Agency for Domestic Workers which assiduously trained its human exports for free..  The agency took care of every requirement that would guarantee a successful overseas workers program.

Do you know the score now? The Indonesians have lorded it over their Filipino counterparts in Hong Kong, where our OCWs used to hold sway for a long time.

With this Philippine fiasco, I am asking the government to pick up the pieces and reclaim our supremacy in this area.  It will take a gutsy leadership to do this, what with hundreds if not thousands of recruitment wolves who have learned to grease and exploit the weaknesses of our government factotums.

I have seen the problem at its most pathetic and lurid detail in the stranglehold by profit-hungry private recruiters of our unsung heroes.

About time the government woke up and did something. 

Let’s protect our overseas workers, because it is they who are keeping the economy going.

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