Members of Migrante International hold a gathering at the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Manila ahead of Pope Francis' papal visit earlier this month (Photo by Eloisa Lopez)
Overseas worker Marina Sarno says she is lucky to be alive after months of cruel treatment at the hands of a family in the United Arab Emirates.
She accepted a job last year as a private English tutor, but after a few weeks her employer began demanding that she work as a domestic helper.
“It was difficult. We would sleep at two in the morning and wake up at five,” Sarno said.
Her work schedule was so demanding, Sarno says, that she suffered partial paralysis in one of her hands.
Sarno tried repeatedly to seek treatment at a local hospital but says her employer always denied her requests.
“Instead, she gave me a medicine drink that she said would help me get better. I fed it to the cat first to be safe, and after five minutes the cat died.”
Sarno said she was subsequently locked in a room for days with only toilet water to drink.
“The only important thing was to stay alive,” she said.
More than two million Filipino workers leave the country every year for employment abroad, and as many as six and 10 corpses return each day, according to Migrante International, a watchdog group that advocates on behalf of overseas workers.
“The truth is, the remittances are far more important than any Filipino worker’s well being, much less dignity,” says the group’s chairperson Gary Martinez.
“Since the implementation of the Labor Export Policy in 1974, the government has constantly assured us that this would be the start of our country’s development. But so far, [it] has only done worse for us, with budget cuts and lack of legal assistance.”
Isagani Gomez says his wife was sexually harassed during her employment in Dubai.
“I coordinated with an attorney from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to support us with our case, but he did more to burden us than help on our behalf,” Gomez told ucanews.com.
Gomez works as a bus driver earning the minimum wage. In a state of despair, he told his attorney that he would provide money to have his wife flown back to the Philippines, even if it meant spending more than he could afford.
“The government attorney did not hesitate in accepting my money, but clearly he had no idea how to help us,” he said.
After President Benigno Aquino was elected in 2010, Migrante submitted a 10-point resolution for better protecting overseas workers. More than four years later, the group says, it has yet to receive a response from the administration.
“They have treated our cases like mere bad luck instead of resolving them with actual policies,” the group’s chairperson Martinez said.
“Our government does not have the political will to stand up for its people’s welfare.”
In a November 2014 statement, the Central Bank of the Philippines said that without the remittances brought in by Overseas Filipino Workers, which remains the major source of domestic consumption, the country’s economy would suffer.
“It’s all rooted in money. The government is too scared to fight the perpetrators for fear of losing the labor market,” Martinez said.
On January 11, Migrante International held a small gathering in front of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo to solicit letters from churchgoers to be submitted to Pope Francis during his apostolic visit.
“We hope that Pope Francis could recognize our cry for help, and that he could address it in his homily in the next few days,” Martinez said.
While not addressing the issue directly, Pope Francis did speak about the importance of the family and the need for honesty and integrity among the country’s political leaders.
Martinez says he remains hopeful despite the ongoing suffering of overseas workers.
“We are not mere sacrificial lambs. We are not just a commodity. Millions of families are torn apart by forced migration, and nobody sees the day-to-day suffering these separated couples and abandoned children have to go through.”