The “sins” of our “heroes”

There is no question that our migrant workers abroad deserve to be considered our modern-day heroes. They have done a lot, not only for their families, but also for the whole nation. Apart from the economics of it, beyond the US$22 billion that they remit to our economy every year, many OFWs have brought fame and honor to our country and people. However, there were some, a few “misguided souls”, who caused us deep embarrassment and anguish. Top of mind are a few OFWs who were caught, prosecuted and convicted of drug-related crimes, others were held guilty of murder, theft, and other crimes against persons and property. Every time a drug convict is about to be executed, our government spends a lot of time, money and emotions, trying to do the impossible: to persuade the host government to extend clemency to the convicts? Is this really the right thing to do?

There is no quarrel on the fact that our OFWs are the pride of our race. They have done much more honorable things than perhaps many of our politicians. Our engineers, contractors and construction workers, plumbers, electricians and masons have built almost all the infrastructures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where more than a million Filipinos work and reside for a long time. Filipinos built the highways and bridges in the Middle East, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Our engineers constitute the bulk of Bill Gates' human capital in Seattle and the US world famous Silicon Valley in California. Our nurses and doctors man the hospitals all over the world, from New York to Dubai. Our seafarers are the best in all the seven oceans in the world. Our DHs and care givers are entrusted with the children, old folks and homes of Sultans in Malaysia, the kings and queens in the Arab world and of the royal families in Europe.

But all the good things the good OFWs have done and are still doing, to quote Mark Anthony's eulogy in the death of Caesar, “are oft interred with their bones.” The evil that some misguided OFWs have done “lives after them.” Because of the Flor Contemplacion case, when she “murdered” a fellow OFW, Delia Maga, the image of the Filipinos in Singapore was tainted beyond full repair. We lost two sterling public officials, DOLE's first female Labor Secretary, Nieves R. Confesor and DFA's Roberto R. Romulo, worthy son of a great father, Carlos P. Romulo. Because of the many drug cases involving hundreds in China alone, because of crimes of passion (unrelated to work) committed by some Filipinos in the Middle East and Asia, many possible job opportunities were instead given to migrant workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Pakistan.

We have written a lot of good things about many of our OFWs. Having been a labor attaché in Malaysia, Kuwait and Taiwan, I have written volumes about the heroism of OFWs. But, to tell the whole story, we need to reflect on the sad reality, that, indeed, on the other hand, a number of our migrant workers (albeit only a small segment), do not have the proper attitude and values that would make us proud as a people. Some of them do not honor their contract. They run away for no reason at all, without being subjected to maltreatment, but only to get a higher wage from another employer. Others do not respect the culture of the host country. They are not careful in their demeanor and language, in their manner of dressing and their social intercourse. They violate local laws of the host government, create trouble at times and sow intrigues and false rumors against each other.

Another undesirable trait, with due respect, is the propensity of a few of our  lotharios to have romantic and illicit relations with married persons, male or female, whether fellow Filipinos or foreigners, and publicly display affections, which are better kept confidential. There had been a lot of fights among OFWs that the embassy and the Labor Attaches had to mediate due to love, sex and romances among our people. If I could write all about them, perhaps it would be as lengthy as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra and many other novels. But many of them are better left undisclosed to avoid further pain and anxieties. It has always been my advocacy, as a labor diplomat and as a Filipino, telling the OFWs, that if we could supplement our world class competencies with a sterling character, then we really could be the best in the world. PILIPINO, I used to say, PILI na LIPI na PINO ang ugali.