MANILA -- Many Filipino women go abroad to find work and support their families. Even though they experience unfair and unsafe working conditions, they push themselves to work harder in a foreign land in exchange for a bright future of their loved ones.
Such is the plight of Novelita Palisoc when she left the country to work in Qatar as a childcarer 12 years ago.
"Nag-aaral ako that time, kinuha ko po iyong opportunity na makapunta doon as a domestic worker din doon para makatulong sa mga magulang ko na mga magsasaka (I was studying at that time, I grabbed the opportunity to get there as a domestic worker so I can help my parents who were farmers)," she told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in an interview.
Palisoc shared that her life abroad was tough as her boss made her do a lot of household chores with meager pay and no social benefits. She also experienced violence and sexual abuse.
"But I was silent because I thought I owed everything to my employers. Naging cleaner, bus conductor din ako sa loob ng dalawang taon para lang may maipadala dito sa Pilipinas (I worked as a cleaner, bus conductor also for two years just to send some money here in the Philippines)," she said.
Palisoc added that her agency kept her passport until she completed her two-year contract.
"Ang pinirmahan kong kontrata dito is $300 na sahod, pagdating ko doon, in peso po ay nasa ano na lang 8,000 pesos po automatic iyon, so naiiiba po ang nasa kontrata (I signed a contract here stating a salary of $300, but when I got there, in peso it became 8,000 pesos automatically, so the contract details were different)," she said.
According to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), almost two million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were deployed abroad in 2017. The figure indicates that the annual outflow of documented OFWs has reached its second million mark.
PSA reported that women OFWs have constituted a little less than half of the OFWs for decades but have become the majority since 2013. In 2017, they have become 54 percent of the total OFW population.
In her speech at the Safe and Fair Program launch on April 11, United Nations Women acting officer-in-charge Maricel Aguilar said that women migrant workers are disproportionately vulnerable to violence at all stages of the migration cycle and often experience intersectional forms of discrimination.
Aguilar said most women OFWs do domestic work, which is excluded from labor laws and social protection in many countries.
Citing Department of Foreign Affairs data, she said around 7,556 OFWs were in distress and repatriated by the government in 2016 --and about 67 percent of the figure are women.
She said the DFA also reported that 251 OFWs had experienced trafficking in the same year, and 82 percent of them are women.
Palisoc said most Filipino women are already aware of the dangers of working abroad as domestic helpers but they continue to seek overseas employment to "at least flaunt they have worked in another country".
Safe and Fair Program in the Philippines
Stressing that women OFWs have the capacity to shape government policies and programs, Aguilar said they must be given the opportunity to do so.
"It is also important to remove the stigma about our women migrants, stigma from the abuse that they have suffered from elsewhere and there are a lot of social breakdowns because of those stigma," she said, adding that labor migration governance frameworks must also be reviewed.
Aguilar said the Safe and Fair Program provides a venue for such reviews and improvements as it focuses on both land-based and sea-based women OFWs in all stages of migration - pre-migration, transit, on-site and return.
It is implemented at local and national levels in the Philippines, in the ASEAN countries of destination, in the selected migration corridors of East Asia and the Gulf of Cooperation Council , and is guided by a National Project Advisory Committee which is composed of 29 members from the government, trade unions, employers, recruiters, grassroots and civil society groups.
It involves the following government offices: Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Commission on Women, National Reintegration Center of OFWs, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Economic Development Authority, Commission on Human Rights and DFA.
Established in 2018, it also complements the current programs, strategies and efforts of the government, private sector groups and stakeholders in combatting violence against women, gender discrimination and labour exploitation.
Meanwhile, Palisoc said there a lot of groups and government agencies that are willing to help OFWs, especially women.
"Malawak naman po ang tulungan ngayon ng POEA, OWWA at ng iba, ang Duterte administration nakakatulong po sa pag-claim ng mga migrant workers na may problema (There's an extensive collaboration between, POEA, OWWA and others, the Duterte administration is able to help claim migrant workers with problems)," she said.
Palisoc went home when her two-year contract ended and continued taking her education in college while working as a domestic helper.
She is now the president of the United Domestic Workers of the Philippines, a national union of domestic workers nationwide, which empowers members through knowledge of their rights as stated in the Kasambahay Bill.
"Ang maipapayo ko, huwag tangkilikin ang illegal recruitment. Hindi solusyon ang pag-abroad, kumuha kayo ng certification sa housekeeping sa Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) kung gusto ninyo makapagtrabaho sa foreigner boss at mas malaking sahod dito sa Pilipinas, kasama mo pa pamilya mo (My advice is, don't patronize illegal recruitment. Working abroad is not the solution, get a housekeeping certification from TESDA if you want to work for a foreigner boss and have higher salary here in the Philippines, and you're with your family)," she said. (PNA)
