BUHAY OFW, MAGKAPAREHO BA?

September 30, 2008

 Likas sa ating mga Pinoy ang pagiging mapagmahal. Mula pa ng tayo’y isilang sa mundo, hinubog na ang ating mga isipan at pinuno na ang ating mga puso sa pagmamahal sa Dios, sa kapwa at sa mga bagay-bagay na may kaugnayan sa ating buhay. Dahil sa pagmamahal natuto tayong lumaban, makibaka at magbuwis ng buhay. 

 

Si Ate Myrna nilisan ang Pilipinas dahil sa pagmamahal sa tatlong anak. 14 year-old pa lang siya nang matukso sa pag-ibig. Naging kabiyak sa murang edad. Nagkaroon ng asawang di marunong kumilala ng responsibilidad at umasa lang sa mga magulang. Nagmahal ng todo-todo ngunit sa kanya din pala ang huling hagulhol.

 

Nagsimula ang labis-labis na kalbaryo ni Ate Myrna noong isilang niya ang tatlo niyang anak. Noon din kasi sa panahong iyon, nagsimulang sa kabilang bahay na umuuwi ang kanyang asawa.

 

Wala man ang kanyang asawa ngunit itinaguyod ni Ate Myrna ang pagpapalaki ng kanyang mga anak sa sarili niyang diskarte. Kahit anong hirap ng matinong trabaho dinanas niya mabigyan lang ng maayos na buhay ang kanyang tatlong anak.

 

Nang magka-college na ang mga ito, nakipagsapalaran siya sa Saudi para matustusan ang kanilang pag-aaral. Nasa kolehiyo na kasi at lumalaki na ang mga pangangailangan nila. Limang taon siyang di umuwi sa Pinas. Ngunit lingid sa kanyang kaalaman na sa mga taong iyon, maraming nangyayaring di kaya tanggapin ng inang kulang sa pagmamahal sa anak.

 

Buntis ang anak niyang babae. Nagsisipag-asawa ang dalawa niyang anak na lalaki. Gumuho ang mundo ni Ate Myrna. Di niya lubos maisip na wala man lang nakapagsabi sa totoong istorya ng mga pangyayari. Kahit ang kanyang ina kung saan niya ipinaubaya ang kanyang tatlong anak ay di man lang nagawan ng paraang sabihin ang totoo. Buong akala niyang ang paghihirap niya sa Saudi ay magbubunga ng kasaganaan sa buhay nila. Makapagtapos ng kolehiyo ang kanyang mga anak, magkaroon ng marangyang trabaho at ng siya’y makapagpahinga na sa pagsisilbi sa mga taong di niya kalahi. Iyon pala’y mga pangarap lang na ang katumbas ay luha.

 

Duguan man ang kanyang puso ngunit di niya ginawang manumbat sa mga anak niya. Mahal niya ang mga ito’t tinatanggap niyang maluwag sa kanyang puso ang mga pangyayari. Nangyari na ‘yon at wala na siyang magagawa. Alam ng Dios na di siya nagpabaya sa kanila. Alam ng Dios na ginawa niya ang lahat para sa kanila. Suklian man siya ng kalupitan sa mundo di niya ito papansinin dahil ang alam niya’y mahal niya ang kanyang mga anak at lahat kaya niyang gawin para sa kanila.

 

Pagkalipas ng ilang taon, nilisan na naman ni Ate Myrna ang Pilipinas at tumungo ng Dubai. Dito namamasukan siya bilang isang kasambahay. Mababait ang nagiging amo niya. Ibang lahi man ang mga ito, ngunit may puso namang marunong magpapahalag ng kapwa tao. Sa loob ng dalawang taon, maganda ang buhay ni ate Myrna. Sa kanya pa rin umaasa ang kanyang mga anak kahit may mga pamilya na ang mga ito. Ngunit, para bang mailap sa kanya ang tadhana. Sumama siya sa kanyang kababayang tumakas mula sa amo nila. Walang magandang rason ang pagsama niya sa kanyang kaibigan kundi ang awa. Naawa kasi siya nito dahil nagka-problema ito sa kasamahan din nila sa bahay. Kung iisipin ang pagtakas nila ay hindi dahil sa mga amo nila.

 

Ngayon, patagong namumuhay si Ate Myrna. Nagpalabas man ng amnesty ang Dubai ngunit hindi siya sumuko. Ayon sa kanya, di pa kasi niya naiaayos ang kanya-kanyang buhay ng tatlo niyang anak. Kung kailan ito mangyayari ay di pa niya alam.

 

Sa pakipag-usap ko sa kanya, para bang napintig ang aking isipan sa katotohan. Ang isang ina’y kahit anong mangyari ay ina pa rin. At kahit ano mang dagok sa mundo ay kayang harapin para lang sa mga anak. Sana lahat ng mga ina katulad ni Ate Myrna. Sana ang mga anak din ay di aabuso. Kung nasabi ko man ito ay dahil sa nakaka-relate din ako sa istorya ni Ate Myrna. Noong nkaraang buwan, isinulat ko ang artikulong may pamagat na “Buhay OFW sa Dubai” posted on July 6, 2008, kung saan nailathala ito sa GMA. Sa artikulong ito, mababasa natin ang parapong ito:

 

Minsan nagdu-duda ka sa Pinas. May mga time kasi na tumatawag si Inay. ‘Wag lang daw kayong mag-alala sa kanila at maayos na man daw ang buhay nila. Nakabili na daw siya ng yero para sa bubong na sinalanta ng nagdaang bagyong Frank. Eto naman kasi si Frank ang tindi ng hagupit. At si Junior ang ganda-ganda daw ng grades, palagi daw first honor. Ang kapatid ko namang babae na si Mahinhin 4^th year na daw sa college at magtatapos na sa kursong Nursing. Nakakatuwang marinig ang mga balitang ganito. Kahit papaano nagamit pala sa wasto ang perang padala. Pero paano kung ang binabalita sa‘yo ay lahat kasinungalingan? Paano kung ilang taon na pala si Junior sa grade one dahil sa pagiging bulakbol? Paano kung wala palang naipundar ang pera mong pinagkatiwala sa pamilya mo? Paano kung hindi na pala makapagtapos ng college si Mahinhin dahil nabuntis na ng boyfriend niya? Diba parang walang silbi din ang pangingibang bansa mo? Napakasakit isipin lalo na pag nabalitaan mong si mister ay sumakabilang bahay na. At ang perang padala mo ay pinanggastos niya sa kumare mo at ang mga anak mo ay wala man lang makakain.

 

Di ko inaasahan na naging totoo ang mga sinusulat ko. Ang kapatid kong babae, huminto na sa pag-aaral dahil buntis ng dalawang buwan. 17 year-old pa lang siya at tulad ni Ate Myrna malaki din ang pangarap ko sa kanya. Sadyang ganito ba ang buhay namin sa ibang bansa? Magkatugma? Magkapareho?

PGMA’s SONA 2008

September 28, 2008

In my own opinion, the recent State-of-the-Nation Address of Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not quite different from her previous SONA’s.  The contents and emphasis of her address was purely on regaining the trust and approval of the Filipino people. We can’t hide the fact that even before she became our president the economy of the Philippines had never been good.  We were tailing behind the economies of Asia, like Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Japan. But as a President it is her duty to uplift the life of Filipinos.

 

 

She might have significant reasons of saying that the postponement of weekly oil price hikes is due to her appeal to oil companies. Few people acclaimed she deserves credit for this but many also are skeptical and are thinking that this is just but a deceptive maneuver.  We will take into account the result of the SWS survey on June 2008. President Gloria has recorded a sudden drop of her rating to -33% from the -16% she got last year.  This result is the reflection of the peoples’ restiveness in the issue of uncontrolled increases of oil prices and food prices which leads to 11.4% inflation rate that has been considered the highest in past 14 years. We can say that one of every two Filipino thinks that PGMA’s performance and trust ratings are poor but the analysis as would be given by the president’s advisers are not that poor – it is not that bad, in the end. Even if the statistical data already tells us that 48% disapproves of PGMA and that 53% distrusts her – this disapproval and distrust ratings – can still be misinterpreted. The deterioration of the people’s standard of living triggered the people to bring her rating down and to discredit her accomplishments of pulling in international credit agencies and paying for our country’s foreign debt. The issue of our foreign debt will not die and will forever be a burden to the government. But good job for Her Excellency she had not stopped finding ways to allocate budget for it.

 

The President is firm and intact to her decision not to take away VAT on oil and power because according to her tax is the lifeblood of the nation. For me, I will only affirm this statement if collections are kept in the proper safe box and not in somewhere else’s pocket. I am not accusing the President. I am just implying that most of her appointed tax collectors are corrupt and disobedient. The government is collecting too much on the people’s pocket. Anything is being taxed, from salaries to businesses, anything that can be monetized, but still our economy is suffering. If it’s true that the country relies only in the tax collection, how will we explain the economy of the United Arab Emirates? The United Arab Emirates is one of the richest countries in the world and is not taxing salaried individuals whether they are locals (UAE citizens) or foreigners. They don’t even collect value added tax. But then the government has more than enough capacity to serve the people at its best. No local is unemployed.  It is just a small country but the influx of foreign investors in its shore is amazingly increasing every year.

 

President Arroyo and her allies of have explained that the economic crisis is a global phenomenon but do you believe them? What if they are just washing their hands off so that the vast number of people organized in rallies because of this mal-developed and economic retrogression will not blame them? Yes it is true that the Philippines economic crisis is part of the current crisis in the World capitalists system, in particular, the depression of the US economy, is false and misleading that the government can’t do anything about it.  In the first place the problem with our economy is the result of our previous economic policies that had no strong fundamentals combined with this world crisis. President Gloria may have studied every angle of this scenario but have not pointed out the best possible solution. Something has to be done to alleviate our economic situation.

 

The President is certain that we are heading forward and our economic crisis would soon meet its end.  She is proud that we are now earning precious foreign exchange as evidenced by the increasing value of Peso to a dollar.  To earn higher precious exchange, the Philippines must export brawn and brain power.  But how will we export agricultural products that we can’t even produce enough rice to feed our own hungry people? The only noticeable tools in earning foreign exchange are the Overseas Filipino Workers who are working hard, shading tears and blood only to earn a living for their family back home. But on the other side of the story (if the value of peso becomes stronger) the lives of million of Filipinos abroad would be in misery.

 

Indeed, the President had established pro-poor programs that are visible at ground level. Who will forget the food for children program, the one-time P500 refund on electric bill, the cheap NFA rice in designated outlets, the land titles to identified beneficiaries rationalized by presidential proclamations, those checks to families of the victims of the shipwreck, typhoon frank and others? And who can forget the promise of the President about the P.50 per text?

 

In general, the State-of-the-Nation Address of the President was wonderfully delivered.  In particular, the President is vigorously in high spirit that the crisis of our country can be solved if we, the people, do our share. Let’s us not blame the President, after-all, she is also a person and she has the limitations.

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September 21, 2008

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THE RISK OF FAKING DEGREES

September 8, 2008

“On September 3, 2005: Post-offices across the UAE have started accepting certificates under the Degree Verification Program which is being carried out in partnership with Integra Screen, one of the world’s leading providers of immigration screening and document verification services.

 

This follows the appointment of Emirates Post as Integra Screen’s exclusive partner in the UAE Degree Verification Program. The project is being carried out by Integra Screen on behalf of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

 

The Degree Verification program involves conducting educational background verification for all individuals who are required to produce educational certificates prior to obtaining their UAE residence Visa and working permits.

As the UAE attracts jobseekers from all over the world, it is essential to adopt fool-proof verification techniques to ensure that only genuine candidates are selected for the job market. Emirates Post is glad to support this national initiative by providing convenient single-window services to customers.”

 Dubai has been so strict with regards to the educational background of its expats.  Unlike in the past few years, the Ministry of labor in Dubai has been closely monitoring and screening the qualifications of all job applicants.

According to the Ministry, this has to be done to protect the working environment of Dubai. Many expats were cheating by faking their degrees to get job with much higher salary but without any qualification at all. Their documents seemed to be legal and authenticated but in the actual application they were very poor.

In place where competition of work is at its strongest level, everybody (sorry to say this) can cheat. This is one better way to survive. I don’t condemn my fellow Filipinos who are doing this. Like me, they eat, they drink, they dream. The main core of this issue is at risk. The families at home, the realization of our goals that our country can’t offer were just some basic reasons.  However, I am not saying that only Filipinos are doing this kind of thing. This scenario is a world-wide fact.

For long time, this was the trend. A jobseeker had to go to RECTO to pay for 100 to 150 USD and 2 days later he could have the authenticated documents (Transcript of Records, Diploma, Certificates, and Birth Certificate). With this “authenticated” documents you could have a chance to come in Dubai or any cities of the world and find a work based on your documents. If you were lucky, the Ministry of Labor without any questions, as long as the authenticated documents were stamped and signed by UAE Embassy in Manila, grants you working permit. Enjoy!

But that was before. Today is totally different. Authenticated documents whether they are real or fancy are no longer the basic requirements to earn a job. The UAE had implemented a new rule. There is now the so-called “Degree Verification Program”. Here’s on how to do it: A jobseeker (professional), having a potential employer has to go to the Post-Office and ask for Degree Verification form.  This form, including the mailing envelope costs AED 510.00 or around USD 140.00. After supplying all the information (basically about the school, where you graduated, in what year, what degree/course, seat number and so on and so forth). And of course, you have to sign the form and authorize the UAE Post-office (with its partner, Integra Screen) to do the verification. If the result is favorable, the Ministry grants you working permit and the UAE government gives you residence (employment) visa. Well, that is if you are in good faith. What if, you have these fake documents?