The People We Export

Just the other day, my kuya told me about a Filipina DH in the Middle East who was raped and videotaped by her employer’s son. The worse part of it was that she was even passed to all of her rapist’s sadist friends. My initial reaction was, “Buti na lang naka-uwi pa siya (Thank goodness she even got home).” Then my kuya said, “Hindi pa nga eh. Hindi pa nga alam kung nasa’n siya eh (Nope she hasn’t come home yet. They don’t even know where she is).”

From PCIJ:
Top Ten OFW Destinations (New Hires)
Saudi Arabia 64,971
Japan 38,756
Taiwan 34,346
UAE 33,861
Kuwait 24,861
Qatar 17,669
Hong Kong 17,624
Lebanon 13,176
Korea 6,916
Bahrain 4,814

As you can see, the stats say that Japan and primarily the Middle East countries top the destinations where we send our Pinays to work (supposedly) for money they couldn’t earn here. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Japan and our country is still in the middle of a long-standing battle: COMFORT WOMEN. PM Abe doesn’t even recognize the fact that his countrymen raped and killed our women during the WWII. And yet, we keep sending our women, primarily, to work for them as entertainers or helpers.

The Middle East countries are an even bigger source of headache for us. We know what’s been going there: Pinay DHs being raped, being maltreated, not given any pay, and even the Pinoys are given the same treatment. We know of the lives of our kababayans who died or was killed, we even had movies made in honor of these people, but we just keep on letting our people go there and be killed almost willingly.

It’s such a sad reality that some people must and should leave the country in order to support their families in this way; be it that these people are walking blindly into an unforeseen tragedy or blessing specifically designed for them. We sympathize and even admire these people for braving the unknown, but what the government can do for them is to make more of an effort to protect their rights and their lives while they work their asses off for their loved ones.

I agree with a lot of what Pedestrian Observer said but seeing as our politicians can do all talk and no apparent action is just damn wrong. They do it for publicity and that’s sick. Where’s the public service in all of that? I guess the people who work for POEA or whoever maybe doing something to ensure our OFWs’ safety, but again, could it be possible that they are working too slow?