OBLIQUE OBSERVATIONS
By Atty. Gilberto Lauengco, J.D.
Promoting overseas employment to mitigate unemployment and generate foreign currency through remittances has been a decades-long program and policy of our country. Our government has been promoting skills development, job development, job and skills matching to generate employment overseas while focusing on welfare and protection of the said overseas workers.
There are about 2.3 million documented overseas Filipino workers (OFW) working in and around 200 countries worldwide. Our OFWs contribute around USD30 billion annually to our national economy or roughly 7.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). To say that OFWs are quite important to our country is quite an understatement.
There is, however, a large human cost for that large contribution. Last Feb. 28, a 32-year-old Filipino caregiver in Israel was the first documented casualty in the ongoing crisis in the Middle East when she was killed during a missile strike in Israel. She is the latest among many Filipinos who have lost their lives while working abroad. Two years ago, six OFWs were also killed in Israel when Hamas attacked. OFWs have also died due to disasters and accidents.
When I was assigned in Taiwan, I had the sad duty of arranging for the return of remains of several OFWs. One was due to an earthquake and the other was due to a freak accident. In both instances, I was able to speak with the loved ones of the fatalities during the services held for the said OFWs. I will never forget the faces of those who lost their husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters so far from home.
Some get sick while working abroad. Though there has been no specific study, I have had two relatives who worked in the same area who acquired fatal diseases after working abroad. Could there be a correlation between where they work and their diseases? On some instances in Taiwan, I had personally accompanied dying OFWs on their way home. All of them had a deep sense of regret that they did not have enough time with their families because of their jobs. They had missed the important occasions and their imminent deaths would deprive them of the opportunity to spend time with their loved ones when they get home.
In many OFW gathering I had the privilege to attend, I had the occasion to listen to so many stories of regret, sadness and longing. It is no wonder that when OFWs reach six months in their deployment, they encounter what we call a wall of sadness and despair that is almost palpable. There is also the ever-present fear of war and disaster.
In all those encounters, I have always reflected on the human cost of our labor export policy. Especially now in times of war, our hearts and prayers should go out to the OFWs in the danger areas. We may be thinking of the price of fuel today here, but in many countries, our countrymen are afraid for their lives. Let us say a prayer for the OFWs who are literally paying the human cost of overseas deployment.
