There’s a particular Filipino habit of dressing up sacrifice as virtue. For instance, we call our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) “bagong bayani,” or modern-day heroes, and mean it sincerely, but the term also makes their leaving feel inevitable—noble, even—rather than the product of a system that has failed to give them any other option. The...
Tag: overseas Filipino worker
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Filipino fire victims get windfall cash aid but still reel from trauma
HONG KONG – Filipino migrant workers who were among those who survived the tragic fire in Tai Po that killed 159 people have received a cash bonanza, mainly from the Philippine government, of at least P70,000. Of this, P50,000 came from the Aksyon Fund (Agarang Kalinga at Saklolo para sa mga OFW na Nangangailangan), a...
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Mary Jane Veloso is still languishing in jail. ‘What are you waiting for, Mr. President?’
More than a decade after being saved from a firing squad in Indonesia, former overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso remains in prison, this time in her own country. The mother of two has been held at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City since Dec. 18, and her plea for executive clemency...
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When I was an OFW, I got detained in Saudi
Thirty-six years ago, I left my wife Malou and our two young sons to take a job in Saudi Arabia. Back then I was called an “overseas contract worker” or OCW, a term that has since morphed into “overseas Filipino worker” or OFW. From a college teaching job in the Philippines, I became a supervisor...