Filipino OFWs continue to die in many countries all over the world. Some die in tragically unjust, even criminal, circumstances. Others become the victims of their own inability to adjust to, foresee, and follow the cultural and religious traditions of their host countries. Still others find that a job abroad does not necessarily free them from the smallness that had characterized their lives and values in the past.
This was written in connection with the case of Flor Contemplacion, who was meted the death penalty in Singapore over the killing of her friend, Delia Maga, another Filipina domestic helper. It may as well have been written today.
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Editorial, The Evening Paper
Issue of 8 March 1995
In the comfort of our private moments, as we read about her in the newspapers, we probably sigh with gratitude and whisper, "There, but for the grace of God, go I..." We may even offer a tear for the woman who could never have foreseen, even had she the most vivid of imaginations, the infinity she now contemplates.
The Christians among us will no doubt pray for her soul, for that alone seems to be her remaining salvation. But who among us would dare ask if we, individually or collectively, contributed to the burden of the cross that now weighs heavily on the shoulders of this simple Filipina caught without any more defenses, awaiting the end of her life in a strange land among strange people?
There can be no doubt that Flor Contemplacion and all the others who had gone her route before--domestic helpers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Middle East; entertainers in Japan; construction workers in Saudi Arabia or merchant sailors on the high seas--left their native land with only one thought in mind: to earn a little more than the pittance they would have received in Manila's factories or the starvation they would have faced in the countryside.
Flor actually went in search of her fate the legal way. No domestic helper gets into Singapore without going through a legal sieve and coming out with very clean papers.
The state that was sending her out gave her its blessings; the state that was taking her in found her satisfactory. Both found her papers and persona in order. Does it not fall on the shoulders of both to discuss, explain, demand, negotiate, argue, debate the case of Flor Contemplacion the human being, not just Flor Contemplacion the statistic on an OFW file?
At some point, while Flor carried out her duty of servitude, it was clear something happened. Doubts are now being openly cast on her sanity, her health, her guilt--or all of them.
We do not know the real circumstances surrounding the fateful event that brought her whole world to collapse.
We do know, however, that more tragedies like those of Flor Contemplacion will haunt us unless we all do something to help prevent them.
The government must stop playing up overseas workers as the "new heroes"; they are actually the new victims in a trade as old as humanity. The government must make it more attractive for Filipino workers, especially the unskilled--the more easily victimized ones--to stay in the Philippines by spreading the benefits of foreign and local investments more equitably throughout the country. Filipinos already working overseas must be able to count on the strong support system that should be available from Filipino diplomatic staffers assigned to our embassies abroad, from the Department of Foreign Affairs, and from the President if needed.
As for each one of us, let us not end this episode by briefly weeping for a countrywoman like Flor Contemplacion. Let us look into ourselves and ask ourselves very honestly whether we, too, have contributed unthinkingly to the tragedy of Flor Contemplacion and others like her.
In our travels abroad, did we ever meet other Flors but turned our backs on them because they were "only" domestic helpers? Did we swiftly look elsewhere when we met fellow Filipinos, and thereby lost the chance to send a greeting that could have warmed their hearts, answered their prayers, and convinced them that God continues to look after them?
Here at home, there are programs and organizations that can be established to assist our countrymen before they even make the fateful decision to leave for jobs abroad. Rallies to protest death sentences in Singapore and funds to assist maltreated Filipino workers in the Middle East are all well and good. But what we need are humanitarian acts and organizations dedicated to helping Filipino migrant workers before the fact, not after.
As for all of us, perhaps all that is necessary is for us to extend the hand of friendship, assistance, concern to everybody, whether we know them personally or not. You never know what even just a kind word or look, extended to a stranger, can do to change the meaning of life for those who have very little of it to look forward to.
-- NBT
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