Playing with Fire
Do’s and don’ts for would be OCWs
By Gonzalo Duque
WE must forth with warn many of our countrymen who are inclined to join the vast army of overseas workers because of the lure of the petro dollar or Green Buck.
For all they ought to know, if they want to avoid being trapped into deep pits of tragic problems, there are basic do’s and don’ts before they literally take the adventurous dive into the rosy unknown.
First, they should not only be trained about the job abroad. More importantly, they should pass first the so-called psychiatric test.
Believe you us, because we used to be the country’s deputy administrator of the POEA. On personal account, we saw with our own two eyes a young woman throwing a leather shoe into the washing machine along with the laundry. You laugh, but that was only one of the many indications of depression that our loved ones abroad usually run into endangering their lives.
Another one involved another middle aged woman who complained of a nauseating meal of congee in the morning, congee at lunch and congee for dinner. She was about to scream “by gum, ano ba ito, congeenetal meal?”
In South Korea, a depressed worker was also complaining of Kim chi in the morning, Kim chi at lunch and kim chi at night. Out of exasperation, she blurted, “tse!”
We sound this alarm because many think working abroad is like going into the land of fairy tales. Wrong. It’s all hard work, work, and more work. This is why we accord out Overseas Workers the flattering label of unsung heroes. Because they literally are heroes where blood, sweat and tears are invested.
We offer this simple advice: be sure your employer is licensed, has a record of employment. Watch out for employers who are fun of collecting advance payment without any clear working contract. Diyan sila magaling, ang mga mapagsamantalang employer na yan.
It’s good now because, the government has come up with protective regulations for the workers. Even the giving of psychiatrict tests is a basic requirement to protect our workers. Before, wala ang mga yan, that’s why we saw lot of unfortunate Filipino workers who ended up in mental asylums or worst.
* * * *
We missed the State of the Province address of our governor, His Honor, Amado “Spines” Espino.
From the grapevine however, we’ve heard that what he had accomplished in one year it took his predecessor nine years to do. Naman, naman!
Kayo naman, agaguik ira, ikaw naman, Butch Velasco, hinay hinay met so panangidayew a? Bilib tayo diyan kay Spines, pero, maglabas kayo ng statistics to buttress your line that he is better than Congressman Victor Agbayani, when he was governor.
Your brother told us the governor has succeesfully laid down the foundation for a well-meaning development program for Pangasinan marked last week by the province’s acquisition of seven new buses to be augmented in January by seven more. Talaga ha? Tsampyon sirin ha, Spines?
Last Thursday again, he distributed shotguns for the barangay captains. And fingerlings to our fishery and marine developers. Spines is really going great guns. Yan ang gobernador, but what happened to our suggestion that he first put his mark to the actual founding date of Pangasinan? Wala pa ba? Medyo, mabagal ata kayo sa historical work a? But congrats for a first-year job well done.
We also want to congratulate provincial director Isagani Nerez for going after the criminals especially those engaged in shabu. We heard Board Member Alfie Bince took him to task for the series of criminality in the province, and here Colonel Nerez didn’t want to take Alfie’s fireworks sitting down. He went all out against the criminals, and effectively turned the tables against his critics because he has gone into action. Let’s support him, eh, Manong Alfie?
(Readers may reach columnist at punch.sunday@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/playing-with-fire/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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