Absence and presents

As the holidays once again come around, a great many of us are engaged in frantic preparation. Even those focused on the spiritual aspects of the season have social obligations and family traditions they can’t ignore. There are gifts to buy, gatherings to prepare for, reunions to attend, Christmas party presentations to practice for. For many, Christmas is a time of happiness, of celebration, of gathering with family and friends.

Not all of us, however, have that privilege. And for those of us who do not, the Christmas season can be a keen reminder of things we have sacrificed in the pursuit of a better life.

For the migrant worker who is unable to return home, Christmas can be a time of great loneliness, of suffering and longing. Data show that as of last year, after a brief reduction during the pandemic, the number of Filipinos working abroad reached a record number of 2.3 million people. A substantial number of those people will not be able to return to their motherland to spend the holidays with their families. The reasons can vary: the return trip may be too expensive, for instance, such that the migrant worker would rather remit the money home than spend it on a homecoming. In other cases, the precarious immigration status of the worker can make leaving a risk they cannot afford to take, as they may not be allowed to return to their place of work or would lose their jobs due to any significant absence from work.  

To be sure, in some ways, the world has shrunk in these modern times. Advances in technology and the internet have made it easier than ever before to maintain contact across great distances. And not just any kind of contact – the use of instant messaging, video calls, the ease by which large video files can now be sent to and from… all of these can allow a migrant worker to interact with their family with immediacy, to speak to them in real time, to have a virtual presence in their everyday lives and homes.

But it is important that we remember that it is only a virtual presence. Instances like the recent storms and other emergencies remind us that there are times when there is simply no substitute for physically being there for your family. Rough times aside, there is also no substitute for the touch of a loved one – a hug, a kiss, a hand that is held. It is important that we do not allow modern conveniences to mask or normalize the unnatural situation of parents living apart from their children, of spouses being oceans away from their beloved.

The Philippines has, for a long time, been a labor exporter, facilitating and encouraging overseas migrant workers – our “bagong bayani” – to make a living abroad in order to provide a better life for the families they leave behind. These types of overseas cashflows have become so important – not just to Filipinos but to workers all over the world – that the UN has emphasized the  importance of remittances, even going so far as to have an international day dedicated to family remittances every June 16. But as important as these economic contributions are, to families of migrant workers and by extension to the nation itself – we must not view migrant work as a permanent fixture of society, much less an ideal. The needs that compel a worker – someone who more than likely has a family that they wish to provide for – to leave their home and work abroad, point to a failure of our country to adequately provide jobs and support for them. This is not a problem that we can ignore, simply because the migrant worker’s sacrifice allows them to support and improve the standard of living of their family.

While the State cannot ignore the reality of migrant work and must continue to do all it can to support migrant workers, it must also not grow dependent upon their sacrifice. For the life of a migrant worker, above and beyond the suffering brought about by their separation from their family, is a precarious one. A great many host nations where migrant workers ply their trades are now places which are hostile to foreigners, where corporate interests in cheap labor align with anti-immigrant policies to create an unstable environment where workers have no pathway to either long-term residency or tenured employment. As revealed by the treatment of many during the height of the COVID pandemic, migrant workers, usually alienated from their host nation by their migrant worker status, are often treated as disposable tools. A great many suffer abuse while abroad. We can and must desire more for our countrymen and women.

Labor export is only a stopgap measure, and the long-term goal of the State must be to create systems and an environment here which will allow migrant workers to return home and make it so that there are options at home to which Filipinos can turn to in order to support their families. In both cases, the State must provide programs such as livelihood assistance, education and training – not meant to make Filipinos more appealing to foreign employers, but to allow them to make a comparable living here. To make it so that working overseas is but one option among many viable ones.

For families, now and in the future, the most valuable present of all remains that of the presence of all, together in a place they can call home. This Christmas, let our thoughts be with those who must celebrate it alone and apart, and may we too wish for the day when they can be reunited with those for whom they have already sacrificed so much. That is the gift that the nation owes its new heroes.