Roots
A President and a Pangasinense
By Marifi Jara
QUELIMANE, Mozambique–Live stream proved frustrating but youtube.com saves the day for those like me who are far but never in spirit away from home. I was, of course, curious to hear the country’s newly-proclaimed boss.
But first let me tell you a story. There was a Pangasinense – in her late 20s, married and a mother of two young children, a college degree holder from one of the universities in Dagupan and used to give tutorial services back in her hometown – who came here to work as a teacher for a private school. After less than a year, she was already contemplating going back home, but decided to stay on as she weighed the higher income she was earning here and for fear that there would not be any job opportunity for her back home. She managed to hang on for more than a year, but that was as long as she could take.
The “higher” salary was really relative to what she was earning back in the Philippines, but it was by no means high enough that it allowed her to save much (if any) after sending the bulk of it to her family and paying for her expenses here where the cost of living is much more expensive than in the Philippines. She hardly had any other benefit outside her basic salary, did not have a clear-cut contract outlining the terms of her employment, did not have possession of her own passport while here, and had to ask permission every time she wanted to go somewhere in town like some detainee. She was not a registered OFW nor had the legal papers to work here; but she took all that risk because she and her family needed better prospects. But more than the unpleasant working terms and conditions, the toughest part for her was being separated from her young family.
She is one of the many Filipinos who has been, to quote President-elect Benigno Aquino III during his first press conference, “forced by necessity” to leave the country. It was reassuring to hear his response when asked about his plans for our OFWs: “(T)he ultimate target has to be to provide jobs here in the country that will not necessitate our countrymen by force of necessity to venture out of the country and be at risk. But that will take time. In the interim, all the concerned agencies that deal with the OFWs…. should be demonstrating more readiness and more efficiency and greater scope in terms of being able to protect our citizens abroad…”
It was pretty much a motherhood statement surely, but in my mind, our new President could have been talking face to face with our fellow Pangasinense. When we cross paths again in the future, I hope that she will then be telling me a happier story.
P.S. to freedom’s enemies
It was disappointing, although not at all surprising, to find five of our six representatives in the list of absentees during the crucial June 4 congressional session when the Freedom of Information Act could have finally been passed into law.
The only one not in the list was 3rd District Rep. Ma. Rachel Arenas. Had there been a quorum and a voting, Ms. Arenas may possibly not have supported the bill, but that is now beside the point. She was at least there and that is an indication of a sense of responsibility, courage, and decency.
Absent were Arthur F. Celeste (1st), Victor E. Agbayani (2nd), Jose de Venecia Jr. (4th), Mark O. Cojuangco (5th), and Conrado Estrella III (6th).
In the name of fair reporting as well as to test the usefulness of the congressional website (http://www.congress.gov.ph/members/) and the efficiency of the staff of our congressmen in terms of responding to people’s queries, I sent an email to the five absentees to give them a chance to salvage themselves from being remembered as among our freedom’s enemies. Non-responsive. No labay, nayarian; no andi, manbaraan.
It’s interesting to note that none of these five blokes are returning to the House of Representatives or to any public office for that matter until at least after the next election in 2013 (or heaven forbid, is anyone of them considering a post in their respective barangays?). It is equally worth noting that the successors of two of them are their respective wives, Georgina De Venecia and Carmen Cojuangco, while Celeste will be replaced by his brother Jesus.
Will our new set of representatives prove themselves to be champions of our freedom when the FOI Act is re-filed in the 15th Congress? Again, I am hoping for a happier story.
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