EDITORIAL — Our big earners are under assault

What is it with our country that we seem to be hounded successively by things and events that threaten our enjoyment of some of our most vital means to survive economic upheavals? What have we done that we do not seem to deserve any moment of uneventful peace?

First, political instability and violence in the traditional destinations of most of our overseas contract workers are threatening our ability to earn those crucial dollar remittances that help keep our thrashing economy afloat.

Then the nursing profession, which has long proven to be a very major source of foreign employment for younger generations of Filipinos, had to be mired in controversy brought on by a leakage scandal that now threatens the integrity of our professionals in this field.

Now Dr. Dulce Gust, executive director of the Occupational Safety and Health Center, has come up with a shocker that is certain to reverberate and shake the confidence of young Filipinos now working in the fledgling call center industry.

According to a report in the Philippine Star last Saturday, Dr. Gust is of the opinion that call center workers are "at great risk of suffering from anxiety, stress, musculoskeletal disorder and eye problems."

To say that mental disorder poses a real and serious threat to the call center industry is to strike an ugly blow at what has come to be one of the rosy industries in the country, and this could send us even deeper into the rut.

Call centers, because they offer decent wages to their workers, have helped to stem the outflowing tide of young Filipinos who otherwise would have studied to become nurses or engineers in order to find better wages abroad.

But even this new and promising industry has now come under threat, its appeal rendered vulnerable to notions of health risks. The government has not been very successful in addressing problems pertaining to OFWs and nurses. It is hoped it will succeed with this one.