Taking Chances

We know that Filipino workers and job-seekers who arrive everyday at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aren’t here for a lark.  They’re here to earn their keep, send money home to put a child or sibling to college or support dependent parents, and to save.

There is no such thing as minimum wage in this country.  Were salaries a fistfight, it would be a free-for-all.  So our government has pegged the minimum wage of our unskilled workers at 200 US dollars a month.  This means that the government has required placement agencies involved in hiring Filipino domestics, who are at the bottom rung of unskilled workers, to have this minimum wage in their contracts.

The obvious truth in our job diasporas is that a domestic in our country earns an average of three thousand pesos, more if she’s lucky.  It would take a college degree to qualify for a clerical job and earn around ten thousand pesos, which is the equivalent amount of a domestic’s average pay here.There’s no contest in this pay scale.

A high school graduate who hails from Cebu came because his aging parents are about to be evicted from the land where their house stands.  His parental devotion is justly rewarded.  He now has a job in a furniture factory that pays him 500 US dollars a month, which is a fortune compared to the 200 pesos a day he earned back home as a waiter.

As usually happens, the good and so-so experiences of Filipino workers don’t merit attention.  They are all lumped together as “our modern-day heroes”.  Their remittances fuel our economy, make their families happy, and add to taxes when their families improve their buying power, on top of the taxes through bank remittance service charges.  They also keep them from “sharpening their knives in the night” for a revolution against the present order.

Unfortunately, there are also those job-seekers for whom realities run short of expectations.  A Cebuana recently reneged on her contract because her employer reneged as well.  She came to work as a family driver but ended up being made to work as a domestic.

So far I have met a few Boholanos.  There was that wedding entourage of five young ladies and one man.  (Yes, the consulate administers weddings, and yes, Aga Muhlach’s movie “Dubai” has some basis in fact; an average of 20 weddings a week isn’t off the mark.)

I happen to be there when, after a no-nonsense lightning ceremony, one of them said, “Ramasola!  Ramasola!”  It was picture-taking time, and the familiarity of the name that has become synonymous with Bohol photography made me turn from my quiet corner.

Except for the lone man who happened to be the groom, all five girls including the bride came from Valencia.  Small world, I said.  My mother is a del Bando from Valencia. There was no time for more niceties and knowing names because the next bride and groom were waiting.

For other Boholanos thus who dream of “abroad” like Dubai and are willing to take their chances, here are basic tips that official pre-departure briefings may also give.

Always check the legal existence of a recruitment agency.  An office and its trappings of sweet-talking recruiters with IDs do not a legal office make, most especially if they ask for a big down payment up front.  The nearest labor office is your surest bet.  It has a list of legal agencies and can countercheck their existence better.

Never sign anything you cannot read.  Some workers sign papers upon arrival.  Some turn out to be contracts in Arabic with half the pay that they’ve signed a contract for with a placement agency back home.

Never forget that, like Filipinos and the rest of humanity, most Arabs and the big number of expatriates here are just as kind and fair.  The bad eggs are the exception.  So are the Filipinos here who prey on their fellow nationals the exception; they do exist and are very slippery.

Always know the address and contact numbers of the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate or Philippine Overseas Labor Office - Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) office.

Lastly, prepare to suffer terrible homesickness in the first few months at least.  This human factor is one thing that no briefing or government representative can help you with.  The excitement and bravado are there while you’re still on your way.  Until you arrive.

(12 Nov 2006)