Returning OFW wants to teach

Having had enough of being a domestic helper in war-torn Lebanon, 26-year-old Marilou Mendoza now wants to stay home and pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.

"I really want to become a teacher. I will work on that now. I don’t want to leave again," she told The STAR.

A native of Pila, Laguna, Mendoza is among the 4,600 Filipino workers who have been evacuated from Lebanon since the start of the Israeli offensive a month ago.

Although her employer’s house in Beirut was far from the Hezbollah facilities attacked by Israeli forces, Mendoza said hearing sirens and explosions frightened her.

She said she did not have any problem with her Lebanese-American employers, who own a school. She worked for them for one year and six months.

Mendoza’s employers went to the United States but promised to rehire her when the conflict dies down and they return to Lebanon.

What worries her is that her 50-year-old mother, Nancy, and her two sisters-in-law were left in northern Lebanon, where they are also working as domestic helpers.

Before going to Lebanon, Mendoza tried to apply for a teaching position at several public schools in the Philippines but her efforts were in vain.

Yesterday, Mendoza was among the 500 evacuees who went to the "Reintegration Fair" organized by the Department of Labor and Employment at its office in Intramuros, Manila. Through DOLE’s assistance, she wants to finally fulfill her dream of being a teacher.

The event was attended by President Arroyo, who chose not to deliver a speech but instead shook hands with the evacuees and their families.

The services offered by DOLE at the fair ranged from livelihood and entrepreneurial assistance, skills training, scholarship, redeployment program, job assistance for local employment and cash rewards.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development provided counseling to those who were traumatized by the war.

DOLE intends to replicate the fair at its regional offices to reach out to the evacuees who went to their home provinces.

Meanwhile, the non-government organization Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. (VFFI) called on lawmakers to pass a law that would professionalize domestic work and provide protection for those working locally and abroad.

The VFFI and a number of overseas workers who had just returned from Lebanon last Friday held a prayer vigil at the Shrine of Nuestra Senora de Guia in Ermita, Manila.

VFFI president Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda said it was a symbol of their solidarity with female domestic workers, many of whom were maltreated by their employers and are still trapped in Lebanon.

She said that it was only timely to revive their appeal for both houses of Congress to prioritize the proposed "Magna Carta for the Kasambahay 2005," which has been pending in the legislature for the past 10 years.

"Many of the legislators have given us their verbal support but up to now, they have not passed the bill. They should stop pretending to be deaf or blind on the concerns of this particular sector in our society, they should be regulated and be given protection by our government. This bill is important," Oebanda said.

She said the government can demand better treatment for Filipino domestic workers from their employers and countries of destination with the passage and implementation of this bill.

Oebanda said while the bill does not directly cover Filipino overseas workers, it would serve as an example on the kind of treatment foreign employers should bestow on Filipino workers.

There have been previous reports of Filipino workers who were left inside locked homes by their Lebanese employers, who also confiscated their passports, when the bombings started. Some of these workers were forced to jump through windows just to escape.

Oebanda said about 60 percent of those who returned from Lebanon were reportedly undocumented workers, some of whom were also victims of trafficking.

The VFFI said that while they do not support the deployment ban since these workers have families to support, "we hope the government would recognize the vulnerability of this sector and (officials) should not limit themselves to performing palliative actions." — With Evelyn Macairan