Heroes or Slaves?

 

Being away from one’s family, obeying commands from strangers and being discriminated are just some of the difficulties our fellow Filipino Overseas Filipino workers experience abroad. For the sake of providing life for their families, these people endure and sacrifice a lot.

Goodbye Dear Nurses?

When nurses were in demand, an exodus of Filipino nurses left the country for a chance of a greener pasture. Even doctors here in the country decided to study nursing for them to be able to work outside. What happens here? Our skilled workers are gradually losing in number. Their exemplary services are instead imparted to those who can even be considered as strangers.

Eventually, the tides turned, the most in demand job in the world perhaps was losing its fame. However, more are still convinced that they would have a better chance in life if they have nurses in the family so mostly students enroll in the course. Much to everyone’s disappointment, nursing graduates end up unemployed or just mere volunteers. Recently, there are some schools which even think of closing their nursing programs.

It is sad to note that our present-day Florence Nightingales are now in flight. If you’re willing to wait in queue for your one-in-a-million chance of hitting the nursing jackpot, then go ahead, get a nursing degree.

A Hero’s Welcome

If Overseas Filipino Workers are considered modern day heroes, do they even feel like they’re one? When OFWs come home, they do not get a heroes welcome, a medallion or a parade. Who gets all the attention? Many Pacquiao, the excellent boxer that he is. I am not at all against Manny. He is excellent in his own field and we Filipinos are proud of him. However, is it enough to label him as a hero?

With the word hero, the first thing that comes to my mind is Rizal or Bonifacio. They died years ago but their deeds are still taken into account up to these days because of its contribution to the status of the country. Now, “modern day heroes” refer to our OFWs. The question is, do we even value the role of these people? I would bet that only a few realize their importance. Usually we treat them as ordinary people who decided to go abroad for their own sake. Well, they deserve much more than that. The Philippine government benefits from them in many ways than we can count. If a statue would be built for every OFW who sacrificed for the country and its people, then one national park wouldn’t be enough to fit them all.

 

Fueling the Economy

Every modern day “hero” renders into the government a large sum of money before leaving the country. Included in this amount are the forced membership, processing, passport and other fees. Every day, about 3000 “heroes” leave the country. With that number and with each of their payment, I believe the government coffer will not run out. Even remittances of immigrants are heavily taxed. This implies that every transaction with these OFWs means revenue for the country. Where do all the money go then? Given all these, it seems like labor are exported and people are marketed in order to fuel the economy. Now, is there a difference between these OFWs and the slaves that date back in the prehistoric times who were bought, sold, traded, given as a gift, or pledged for a debt by their owner?

These OFWs are not only a form of means to keep the economy rolling, they also suffer under the hands of their masters abroad. There are those who are victimized and battered ─ just bearing the hurt of the bruises and emotional trauma. Some end up detained in their master’s houses or in death rows in prison cells. Relatives back home might as well pray that they receive a balikbayan box instead of a wooden box containing their beloved. These actually happen to the “heroes” who do not get the attention they deserve from our very own government.

Alienated Labor

I could actually identify the work of these OFWs as alienated labor, a term coined by the philosopher Karl Marx. It is in this aspect where the worker becomes the slave of things. Ultimately, there is dignity for man as he acquires mastery over nature and his own passions. However, this time around, work has become very important that it now determines where man is to live. It is as if man’s world revolves around the performance of work that man eventually becomes nothing without it. Like a slave to its master, man responds to what work commands without even considering the harms that are inflicted as long as he earns the pay. Here, he loses his identity as he assumes that of another.

In this case, man is embodied by our OFWs who work for the sake of their family’s survival. They set aside things that they actually are passionate about. His labor is not voluntary, but coerced, forced labor.

What is a Filipino?

Filipinos are creative, talented, and hardworking people. As stressed in the article, the Philippines owes it to their people to nationalize their job industries to provide quality jobs. I notice that corruption (also mentioned in my last reaction) always plays a major role in the country’s economy. If there were just no greedy men who would use its people as source of wealth…If funds were just allocated efficiently and effectively…Perhaps, we could grow as a nation.

In a draft edition of an Oxford English dictionary, Filipino is defined as a domestic worker. A Chinese columnist even coined Philippines as a nation of servants. We are not just domestic helpers, caregivers, or entertainers. We are much more than that.

Now, what is a Filipino? Are we ready for an answer?