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In fairness to the camels…
“We were treated like camels…” Filipino OFW Arsenio Carbal, Jr. was quoted (PDI, 3/10/2011) as saying during a congressional hearing ostensibly to look into the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers from Libya and other Arab countries now embroiled, in more ways than one, in civil unrest and uprisings.
At the risk of sounding insensitive, flippant and facetious, my immediate sentiment naturally was that the recently-repatriated OFW was being rather unfair to camels and other animals in general. After all, camels to the desert-dwelling Bedouins would be like the carabaos to Filipinos and other Asian farmers. These animals are generally treated well, loved or pampered and well-fed like race horses, fighting cocks, pedigreed dogs or other prized possessions. On the other hand, it is rather uncanny that Mr. Carbal intuitively thought of comparing himself to that particular beast of burden.
Indeed, at the risk of being offensive as well, I would venture to suggest that our OFWs have virtually become the beasts of burden throughout the world. Wherever there is any job that’s too menial, too dirty, demeaning and unconscionably low-paying for most people, leave it to the Filipinos (or, if you would, to the Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans or Pakistanis). Like the Jews and slaves of old, we must now scrounge throughout the world and settle for the lowliest and lowest-paying jobs, and thereby be (mis/mal)treated by our masters accordingly. It won’t be that way forever, it is hoped. We just happen to live at a time when it seems to be our turn to merit the unenviable title of “mga api sa mundo” or the oppressed people of the world, the “tired, poor, huddled, wretched masses” that Emma Lazarus must have had in mind when she wrote her poem in 1883.
President Erap played on this theme to drive a wedge between the rich and poor in the country identified himself by devious propaganda with the poor and the oppressed sector of society to successfully propel himself to the presidency. Alas, the poor found out too late that “Erap para sa mahirap” was merely a clever slogan coined by his publicists.
And, mind you, it’s alright or almost to be expected that our OFWs are mistreated and abused by their foreign bosses. But what may really be rather hard to swallow is when our very own so-called public servants and government officers mistreat OFWs while proclaiming them to be our “modern-day heroes.” Just think about those wretched masses who have to line up daily and bake all day long in the hot sun just to get a so-called police, NBI or barangay clearance, while our little government bureaucrats sit around in their air-conditioned offices having a manicure, reading their tabloids or otherwise appear to be busying themselves generally doing nothing.
There oughta be a law outlawing all forms of clearance requirements. Is this the government’s idea of trying to raise more revenues – collecting clearance certification fees from jobless, hence, penniless, unskilled and unschooled job applicants while subjecting them to the inconvenience and indignity of lining up outside such air-conditioned government offices?
In the first place, why are OFWs required to secure a “clearance” of any kind from any government office? Does such a clearance automatically assure them a job? Is that clearance a guarantee of the good moral character of the person “cleared”? Does the fact that a person may or may not have a pending police or court record or even a previous conviction have anything to do with the job he is seeking?
Whatever happened to the legal presumption of innocence, of regularity of transactions? Isn’t there a law that presumes every person to be sane and acting in good faith? Why do we discriminate against and treat jobseekers with suspicion as if it were their fault that they are jobless? Is it a crime to be out of work and looking for work? Why do we treat laborers and unskilled workers like second-class citizens? Haven’t we ever heard of the so-called “dignity of labor”? Didn’t Jesus Christ himself remind us that “the laborer is worthy of his wages”? (Lk. 10:7). If we had any sense at all, if our sense of values weren’t so distorted, if there is any class of people worthy of “VIP treatment” it must be these OFWs whose dollar remittances are mostly responsible for keeping our economy afloat during these hard times.
So, why do we treat these people so shabbily, requiring them to first prove that they are not criminals – which is the only plausible reason for requiring such stupid “clearances.” Quite the contrary, every person who expresses or demonstrates a desire to work should be accorded and afforded all the favorable presumptions, legal breaks, assistance and accommodations as mandated by law and the Constitution, no less. Go and try visiting any “Unemployment Office” in the U.S.A. and you realize how those government officers will assist their jobless clients find something, anything to get them employed immediately albeit temporarily.
Instead, we stand in awe and on ceremony for known plunderers, drug and gambling lords, white-collar crooks, swindlers and criminals masquerading as bankers, investment brokers, pre-need plan companies, etc. And politicians. And retiring generals. And we treat them like royalty. Why, just because they made off with billions of money, albeit illegally, and out of the blood, sweat and tears of gullible, innocent little people?
Indeed, the terrible truth is that animals in general are treated better, at least in so-called civilized countries, than human beings. My late father, who lived in the U.S.A. for more than a decade during the so-called “roarin’ twenties” used to tell us as kids that Americans treated their dogs and cats better than Negroes (as they were then referred to) and the Filipino sugarcane workers in Hawaii in those days. Speaking of which, the poor unskilled Chinese peons who laid out the transcontinental railroads in the U.S.A. in the 1850s-1860s must have given rise to the so-called anti-peonage laws which are mostly responsible for the inability or unacceptability of our unskilled laborers from entering the U.S. job market, an otherwise rich source of jobs for our American-loving Filipinos.
I realize of course that through the ages, man’s inhumanity to fellowman has been well-documented. From the cruelty of the Pharoahs in ancient Egypt, to the systematic extermination of the Jews, the enslavement of Africans in Europe and America, the racial riots in Mississippi, Alabama, man has somehow always managed to devise all sorts of unimaginable ways to act inhumanely to his fellowman .
I would venture to calculate, for instance, that Americans spend more on their pets and pet products and services in any given year than our government would spend in our lifetime for the education of the children in our public schools. Go figure that in dollars and you readily see why we merit the classification as a “highly impoverished country” by creditor countries.
This is not to mention all the scams and abuses perpetrated by unscrupulous illegal recruiters who promise our gullible would-be overseas workers non-existing jobs and fictitious employers. Many of these poor jobseekers will sell their souls to pay purportedly for exorbitant placement fees, documentation, passporting, plane tickets, and other miscellaneous fees only to discover too late that they have been had. Indeed, it has been considered such a despicable and heinous crime to victimize these already destitute people that our legislators made it a non-bailable crime like first-degree murder.
Indeed, it should be considered downright insulting and cruelty for animals to be compared to humans. Animals don’t get drunk – habitually. They don’t do drugs. They have sex only for reproductive purposes (and only when the female is “in estrus”). Animals don’t “overfish” nor rape the environment.
So, let’s stop comparing ourselves to animals. It’s not fair to the latter. It’s a not a dog eat dog out there. It’s man versus man. It’s not a rat race, it’s a human race. Our people are not swimming in shark-infested waters. Those are smart lawyers looking dapper in their sharkskin suits. Those are not pigs making off with millions or billions. Those are retiring generals acting and looking like pigs only because they seem to have forgotten their diet. Our policemen are not crocodiles. They merely love the logo. Cockroaches live better than some of our squatters. Some who have worked in Malacanang call it a “snake pit.” Many houses have signs that say “Beware of Dog” instead of “Welcome.” So, Mr. Carbal, shouldn’t you be glad somehow that you and your hardworking fellowOFWs were treated like camels? James D. Lansang (jeemsdee@yahoo.com)
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