Saving Jessica Sanchez and protecting migrants

Born to a Filipino mother and a Mexican father, 16-year-old Jessica Sanchez has moved on to prove to all that she is a voice to reckon with. Those who have been following the American Idol series on TV saw how she wowed and moved the audience,the judges and the voters to keep her on the top 10, then top 7 among the contestants.

However, just when so many thought she would be the first Filipino-Mexican ever to become this year’s American Idol winner, she found herself receiving the least number of votes and, if not saved by the judges, would have been declared out of the contest!

The judges, however, decided to vote for her, and in the view of many, also showed their bias for her over the other candidates. No one, however, can deny that Jessica is one of the best singers among this year’s contestants.

Why did Jessica get to be the one with the least votes when consistently, she had never, till last week, landed at all in the bottom 3 with the least votes?

Could it have been that she sang a song so unknown to the voting public? Could it have been her comment that she said, in jest and in gratitude, that she had about 20 million relatives supporting her? Could it have been a vote of discrimination vs. a Filipino-Mexican contestant? Or could it have been complacency on the part of her supporters, who missed voting for her because, anyway, she has never and it was unthinkable that she would end up in the bottom 3, much less, be the one with the least votes?

 Whatever the reason for the low votes last week, from this week on, Jessica and the rest of the AI contestants no longer have the judges to save them. Their fate is in the hands of the voting public. Regretfully, only those inAmerica can vote for her and the other contestants. Will Jessica remain and move on to become this year’s American Idol? Soon, as early as this week, everyone will know the answer to this question. Abangan…

Jessica has consistently told the judges and the audience that she has worked hard all her life to be accepted as a singer, to be declared a winner. One can easily see the angst in that remark. Many of our OFWs have been saying that - many of our people have been saying that they have been working all their lives, to support their families, to keep their whole family alive, and if possible, to give them all the comfort that they can be provided. Those abroad have the added burden of being discriminated against.

For their struggles, however, millions of them remain unprotected from harmful and abusive policy and policy implementation or neglect.

Migrant advocate Ellene Sana informed us that from April 17-19, 2012, labor ministers from 19 countries, will have aninter-regional consultation between labor-sending countries and labor-receiving countries on contractual migrant workers, their second consultation since the last one held in Abu Dhabi with the theme: “Sustaining Regional Cooperation Toward Improved Management of Labor Mobility in Asia.”

The governments will discuss the draft for a “2012 Framework of Regional Collaboration of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue,” which would commit them to taking domestic, bilateral, and multilateral measures to increase the benefits of international labor migration along four stages of migration: recruitment, employment abroad, preparation for return, and reintegration and to help prevent abuse and foster greater benefits from migration.

Civil society groups representing migrants’ organizations, non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, and trade unions across Asia will also hold a parallel process.

We pray that better protection for all migrant workers will result from this consultation. While we also pray Jessica Sanchez will see herself moving on to her dream from this week onwards, more importantly, we pray that all migrants, especially our own, are spared further trials and hardships wherever they are all over the world.

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