Katas ng Saudi and politicization of Filipinos

JEDDAH – Twenty years ago, the politicization of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, or anywhere else in the world, did not seem possible. When my husband and I began a campaign on a five-point platform for overseas Filipinos in the 80s, we were political exiles in London. Lower passport fees, better treatment from embassies, dual citizenship, no double taxation and the right to vote were issues around which we hoped to draw support from overseas Filipinos against Marcos dictatorship. It was a challenge that took us to more than 200 hospitals and hotels – anywhere where Filipinos could be found – using personal money and time. We opened the first community newspaper for Filipinos in the UK, Pahayagan, to sustain the campaign. It helped at the time to latch our campaign to helping Filipinos, targeted by the anti-immigration policies of the Thatcher government.

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The key to the campaign was to demonstrate that despite difficulties they were better off in a free and democratic society. We hoped to show by example they could fight for their rights in democratic UK, but not in dictatorial RP under Marcos. We took a different route from Filipinos in the US, the Movement for Free Philippines by Raul Manglapus and later, the Ninoy Aquino Movement International by Heherson Alvarez and others with Ninoy when he came to the US. The thrust of the Filipinos in the US was to persuade Americans to withdraw support from Marcos. It was widely believed that Americans were behind the Marcos regime. As far as overseas Filipinos elsewhere were concerned they went abroad to earn better wages in foreign currencies to move up economically and socially. Our five-point platform for Filipinos overseas had to be relevant to this aspiration. But it would take many years, more than two decades from the time my husband delivered a speech at the East West Center in Hawaii, for the campaign to sink in and become the banner of the politicization of overseas Filipinos. Indeed, we insisted on the term OFWs to distinguish our campaign from the more Marxist influenced groups that used OCWs, for overseas contract workers. My husband insisted that overseas Filipinos came from all classes and for different reasons.

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That is the background for the pleasant surprise that awaited me when our group met with Filipino leaders at the Riyadh Sheraton on the second day of our information trip here in Saudi Arabia made possible by esteemed Saudi Ambassador Saleh Al-Ghamdi. The group, headed by STAR publisher Max Soliven, included INQUIRER publisher Isagani Yambot, TODAY editor in chief Lourdes Fernandez, TIMES Editor in chief Jose Galang, ABS-CBN Senior Vice-President for New and Current Affairs/Regional Network Group, Danny Bernardo, Precious Soliven and myself met with Filipino community leaders Mike C. Bolos, Jimmy G. Lagman, Rashid Fabricante, Alfredo J. Ganapin, Polly C. Manansala, Elso Cabangon and Bert Bariga. They spoke with the same passion my husband and I had campaigned more than two decades ago in London for the politicization of overseas Filipinos. The five-point platform launched in Hawaii had taken root. It was no longer a campaign vs.Marcos dictatorship but the identity of overseas Filipinos against bad governance. No wonder they want the passage of the Absentee Voting Bill so badly. They believe that with their numbers, and the influence they can use to bear on the direct beneficiaries of their remittances, they can bring about good governance in the Philippines.

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That might be an extravagant dream but so was ours at the time we first embarked on the politicization of Filipinos overseas. Who would have thought that Filipinos would take up what seemed impossible issues? But in fact through the years the five-point platform for overseas Filipinos was successfully waged if in less dramatic ways. Today Filipino passports cost less, embassies are organized to address needs of the largely migrant labor Filipino communities, and double taxation has been eliminated especially in host countries with high levels of taxation. Only the more difficult absentee voting and dual citizenship remain unfulfilled but as Max Soliven told the Filipinos present, "it will be passed, we just cannot tell when."

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Speaker Jose de Venecia will be glad to know that Filipinos here are aware of his pioneering role in opening work for them in the Middle East. They also know he was behind bills that have benefited them including three of the five-platform OFW program I mentioned above. He will get the credit he deserves but "why has he developed cold feet with regard to the Absentee Voting Bill and Dual Citizenship?" they ask. They ask this also of Lakas NUCD and the Arroyo administration. Are they afraid? Some told me privately they do not agree that OFWs will vote on popularity rather than competence, as some members of the media group also fear. This is based on the assumption that 82 percent of them belong to CDE. According to this theory the OFW vote if held today will not be different from back home. It would go for a popular figure like actor Fernando Poe, Jr. with popularity and name recall are all that count. More ominous, it is being spread that the Philippines needs a strongman and the name of Ping Lacson is dropped "because he will assassinate those evil recruiters." Interestingly, the question of his alleged connections with drug lords, which victimize children of OFWs left behind, is not being questioned.

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I put across to them that if it is true that they are committed to good governance then maybe it is time to retrace their steps and opt instead for constitutional change that would allow them direct participation in a parliamentary federal government and eliminate expensive national elections, the primary source of graft. It is wishful thinking they can vote in a "savior" in the present presidential system of multibillion peso campaigns that encourage institutional graft and vote in popular actors and actresses. What bothered them was increasing Saudization with Saudis taking over their work. Although the Saudis have assured that Saudization will not affect Filipinos, it is happening in cases. What is true is that more and more skilled jobs are going to Saudis and more and more unskilled jobs are being taken by Filipinos who want jobs almost at any cost. That is why the issue of good governance has become compelling. OFWs especially here in Saudi Arabia now realize they can fulfill their aspirations only in the Philippines with good governance. They are afraid when they return with their savings and these fritter away because there is nothing to invest on that will improve their lives. Indeed, what they really want is to be able to influence policies and rules as they have seen in other countries in which citizens flourish.

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My e-mail address: [email protected].