Noted southern California based journalist Dionisio C. Agrava has recently brought to light the unfortunate and sometimes pitiful conditions that many Filipino overseas workers find themselves in. A recent concern highlighted by Mr. Agrava involves some 11 such workers who had fled oppressive and cruel conditions at an employer in Mississippi and had sought the help of officials at the Philippine consulate in Los Angeles. As I understand it only the fierce and ferocious advocacy and reporting done by Mr. Agrava is what prodded the consulate hierarchy into finally taking action to aid the Filipinos.
Mr. Agrava also succeeded in rallying the Filipino-American community into providing housing and food for the 11 workers. How their cases and status were finally resolved is not known. It seems that only one person in the L.A. consulate office really cared what happened to the stranded Filipinos, a certain Alberto Duero the labor attaché.
The problem, as reported by Mr. Agrava, is that Duero is not properly funded and seems unable to get much action from his bosses at the Department of Labor in Manila.
Typical Philippine bureaucracy.
Mr. Agrava also recounts the several incidents in various places where Filipino workers have either been short changed, underpaid or exploited and abused one way or another. He paints a grim picture for many of our countrymen lured to overseas “opportunities” in their search for a better life for themselves and their families.
In Reno I’ve heard of the story of one Filipina, (let’s call her Vicky – not her real name) who has been thru one sad tale of woe. Vicky is in her late thirties. She was a teacher in the Philippines. She had actively sought opportunities to work as an overseas worker and one day was overjoyed at finding a recruiter who promised her employmentin the USA. The job was for a “housekeeping aide” at one of the hotel-casinos in Reno.
She was promised a salary of a little over $10 per hour which is about 25% more than the nationally mandated minimum wage of $7.50 per hour. But it came with a catch. Vicky had to pay the recruiter, up front, $4,400.00. This represented the recruiter’s cut as well as air transportation to and from Reno, Nevada.
Vicky had to sell, borrow and beg to put this amount together. She figured that at $10.00 an hour, provided that she lived a frugal life, she could make up the $4,400.00 in about 12 weeks.
When Vicky finally got to Reno and reported to the casino-hotel, she learned that she was not guaranteed a 40 hour work week. There were weeks when she only worked 16 hours. A major recession gripped the USA and business was slow. And she was being paid only the hours that she worked. So, not only did she not earn enough to start paying back what she owed from friends and relatives, she could not even afford her own place to stay. Mercifully, a Filipino family took her in . Not much, since she had to sleep on the floor, or when available, the couch. He had to do housework to pay for her stay.
Being resourceful she hustled around for any extra employment finally finding another Filipino couple who had a “home care” business taking care of elderly patients who could not live on their own. This “part time” job at least earned her a few hundred dollars a week and gave her free meals. The couple also gave her warm clothing as the cold northern Nevada winter was creeping in. This employment did not last long because some of the elderly patients were pulled from the home, again the effect of the recession: relatives, many now unemployed themselves, decided to take over the care of their elderly parents in their own homes and pocket the fees themselves.
I lost touch with Vicky as she had moved on to seek other employers. Her story, sad to say, is not an unusual nor isolated one. I’ve heard of many equally unfortunate Filipinas, many mothers of small children, like Vicky. (Her contract at the casino-hotel was not renewed, so technically her visa had expired. She either had to go home or stay as an illegal alien.)
As I heard it many in her group, upon landing, did not report to the casino-hotel they were contracted to. They had friends and relatives in the US and decided to join the underground economy that is often the refuge of undocumented or out of visa aliens.This is turn, reportedly caused US Immigration officials to refuse issuance of any further “temporary work visas” for Filipinos. A bad situation all around.
What I find abhorrent is how these recruiters in the Philippines can continue to ply their trade. How they can blatantly hoodwink desperate Filipinos into onerous “deals” and continue to get away with it. Shall we conclude that the officials at our Department of Labor, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration are sleeping on the job or just totally incompetent? Or should we conclude, as we often must when it comes to the Philippines, that they too are in on these scams and are profiting from them? Corruption again raises its ugly head. I share Mr. Agrava’s outrage, as every Filipino should.
ldq44@aol.com
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Dear Mr. Quintana, all people of conscience need to be concerned with this flagrant exploitation of fellowmen and we sincerely thank you for helping elevate this issue through your site. However, one thing I wish to correct is that it is not me but some other people and groups who are presently helping the 11 OFWs in Los Angeles. In fact it was Mr. Pex Aves, my colleague in Pinas newspaper, who started the advocacy. He went to verify the leaked presence of the victims who escaped from their recruiters in Mississippi. Mr. Aves complained of being treated badly by one Vice Consul Chua and Consul General Aragon defended her against Mr. Aves' allegations. The officer who reportedly leaked the story, Mr. Duero, alleged that his superiors are now after his neck. I am sending you an open letter of the victims concerned as well as a press release from the groups now helping them. Again, many thanks.
ReplyDeleteDionesio Grava
Yes, we should lament that there are unscrupulous recruiters in the Philippines who are only after their fee and do not have real or good employment opportunities for their recruits (they do get their fees upfront and apparently are uncaring as how the recruit's fortunes end up).
ReplyDeleteYes, we should lament that there are unscrupulous employers who abuse the desperate recruits that end up in their employ. (what's the story on these 11?)
But also, we should lament the conditions in our country that would lead our people to desperate moves (beg and borrow)just to get to the States for what they perceive as their only opportunity for their financial woes.
And let us lament our future generations who have lost the teachers who leave their calling to teach and are willing to go and become "hotel helpers" in another country.
I even lament that the U.S. economy has not yet improved to be able to provide better opportunities for these teachers who have gone there.
Dear Lord, please listen to our lamentations and, and in Your mercy, help us lift ourselves from this quagmire we are in.