Awarded domestic workers remind gov’t to protect OFWs’ rights

MALACAÑANG PALACE — Two domestic workers who received presidential awards from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. showcased their work that reminded the country’s highest office to advocate for the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos.

Zita Cabais of France and Elvira dela Cruz of Morocco were among 13 recipients of the Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas (PAFIOO) that the president and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) handed out on December 11.

The award that Cabias received, she said, affirmed “the inclusivity of the award” since “even domestic workers… can be recognized by the PAFIOO.”

The PAFIOO, the Paris-based Cabais added, represents “a beacon of hope for those who may feel trapped by their realities.”

During his address, Marcos reiterated the government’s vision of making international migration a “choice” than a “forced option,” and laying out the social protection services for distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Cabais once endured harsh conditions from a previous employer, and her assertiveness led this native of Bani, Pangasinan to win a labor case in 2003 against that employer. Cabais then went on to trade unionism, to help some 180 irregular Filipino domestic workers acquire legal work permits, and to legally support some 86 other fellow Filipino victims of labor exploitation.

Cabais also continues to lobby that the French government should ratify Convention 189 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), or the 2011 Domestic Workers’ Convention.

Meanwhile, Dela Cruz has been a household service worker (HSW) in Morocco since 2009 who went beyond her work to assist distressed compatriot HSWs. Dela Cruz helped some 40 OFWs whose wages were not paid, who did not enjoy days off, and whose passports were even confiscated.

When the Philippines still did not have an embassy in Morocco (that now operates in Rabat), Dela Cruz bridged some of these distressed OFWs with Moroccan authorities, like when they were able to secure legal residency permits, and through Labor Day rallies in the capital Rabat to voice out OFWs’ concerns to the Moroccan government.

Both Cabais and dela Cruz (hailing from of Pozorrubio Pangasinan) led Filipino groups in their respective destination countries: the Asosayong Sanggunian Filipino (ASF) in France, and the Filipino Society of Morocco (FSM).

Cabais and Dela Cruz won PAFIOO’s Banaag Award for championing “the cause of Filipino communities overseas.

Other PAFIOO awardees include the following:

• The Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino Award to four US-based awardees: nurse Leo-Felix Jurado; medical doctor Emilio Quines, Jr.; the Philippine Nurses Association of New York (PNANY); and the Neurosurgery Outreach Foundation.
• The Pamana ng Pilipino Award to painter Larry Carumba of Saudi Arabia, geologist Jane Gregorio-Abaya of Austria, screenwriter Roberto Eusebio Lavides of Canada, and medical researcher Melvin Sanicas of Switzerland;
• The Banaag Award to medical doctor Elvy Barroso of the United States; and
• The Kaanib ng Bayan Award to United Arab Emirates Police Major Bader Ahmed Al Zafeen and to Honorary Consul of the Philippines in Moldova Victor Gaina.

“Many (Filipino domestic workers) remain trapped in silence,” Cabais said in her address, “unable to escape circumstances that strip them of their dignity and rights.”

The OFW Journalism Consortium is a nonprofit news service that writes about the overseas Filipinos sector and the Philippines’ international migration phenomenon.