2024-02-11 23:05:00
MANILA, May 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Four years ago, when Lucy Ortega boarded a government-chartered plane returning to her native Philippines, she thought it was the end of her nightmare of being forced to work as a domestic slave in Syria. Ta. However, many new problems await her.
Ortega fell into a human trafficking trap and was forced to work as a slave for eight years in Syria, where she ran to the Philippine embassy seeking help, where she was kept for two years along with other maids. The incident sparked outrage in the Philippines and made global news.
But when she returned home, she found no government compensation for her mistreatment at the embassy, no psychological trauma counseling, and no help finding a job. Ortega, 43, who has three young children, said job opportunities are becoming fewer and fewer.
In an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation from a small wooden house in a slum in the capital Manila, Ortega said, “In the first place, there were no good job opportunities in the Philippines, so I was attracted to the idea of working overseas.However, after returning to Japan, “It has become increasingly difficult to find work.”
The Philippines ranks among the top countries in the world as a source of migrant workers. It is estimated that remittances from overseas Filipino workers to their families back home reached about $40 billion last year, equivalent to about 10% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The Philippine government is covering the costs of emergency repatriation for workers caught up in wars, political crises, or exploitative labor overseas.
During the coronavirus pandemic, 2.24 million Filipino workers returned home without paying out of pocket. Dozens of Filipino women and their children recently returned temporarily from the Gaza Strip and Israel.
<“Weakest link”>
But as the number of Filipinos obtaining overseas work permits reaches an all-time high of about 2.5 million in 2023, human rights activists working for immigrants are warning. Many people who have returned to the Philippines face problems ranging from unemployment to housing difficulties.
Arman Hernando, president of Migrante Philippines, an immigrant rights advocacy group, said, “According to the latest government data, the Philippines is sending 6,800 people overseas every day.If we don’t properly monitor all those people, we will end up in conflict areas.” There is a possibility that the number of Filipinos exposed to the virus will further increase.
“I think we are sending out more people than we can protect,” Hernando said.
Some say that the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) must do more to provide support. DMW was established two years ago with the purpose of facilitating work related to overseas employment and social reintegration of returning Filipinos.
A study on economic immigration in 2023 by a group of university researchers says that reintegration into the country is the “weakest link” in the Philippines’ immigration policy.
To address this concern, DMW established a response headquarters in 2022 to provide emergency repatriation and livelihood support for migrant workers in distress.
The problem, Hernando said, is that the DMW only provides emergency assistance, not a comprehensive reintegration plan that would include employment, housing, legal advice or mental health care.
Economic analysts say such a comprehensive approach could encourage overseas workers to return home, foster domestic industry and sustain the long-term growth of the Philippine economy. .
The two government agencies responsible for repatriation, the DMW and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not respond to requests for comment.
Recent returnees from Syria and the Gaza Strip say the government has paid for their airfare and provided them with emergency grants of 10,000 to 50,000 pesos (about 26,000 to 132,000 yen).
Some people were advised to use the support money to start small businesses.
But Hernando says many migrant workers who have lived abroad for years lack the social networks they need to start and succeed in business.
According to a study published in 2022 by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), very few migrant workers have self-employment experience. The survey found that finding a means of livelihood was cited as the biggest challenge for more than 80% of workers who returned to the Philippines.
Ortega, who opens the story, leads a support group for 52 domestic workers who are victims of human trafficking and have returned from Syria. Since returning to the Philippines, he has received only 10,000 pesos from the government, and has received no support to help him reintegrate into society.
Ortega now works part-time at a lottery ticket stall, earning less than minimum wage.
“My three children are still in school, so I need a steady job,” Ortega said. They also say they want government assistance to recover unpaid wages from their Syrian-era employers and seek compensation for their staff’s actions during their time at the embassy.
“We need justice, but we also need money,” Ortega said.
Maria Eliza Alcala (47), who was also a victim of human trafficking and was forced to work as a domestic worker, returned from Syria in 2020. She says it’s especially difficult for middle-aged mothers like herself to find work because of ageism.
“Nobody wants to hire me,” Alcala said. She is currently caring for her 85-year-old mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, in exchange for a free place to live from her siblings.
In addition to finding work, returning workers say finding housing and temporary accommodation is a major challenge.
Dozens of women evacuated from the Gaza Strip recently moved to live with students in a university dormitory. An interview with a local non-governmental organization (NGO) revealed that there was no place for them to stay.
One of the returnees from Gaza, who requested anonymity, said, “Government authorities told us to go back to our respective hometowns. (Omitted) But we don’t know anyone and we don’t have a home waiting for us.” I don’t have a job,” he said.
According to Alcala, some Syrian returnees have lost hope of finding work in their home country and are taking risks, especially during the coronavirus pandemic when the unemployment rate reached 10.3%. Some people are said to have decided to go abroad again.
Working abroad is always a gamble, Hernando said. But some take that risk because they don’t have enough support in their home countries.
“Whether it goes well or not is a matter of time,” Hernando said. “But they also have no place in the Philippines, so many of them leave the country again, despite suffering exploitation abroad.”
(Translation: Airkreren)
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