One of the unhappy endings of the life of an OFW is to come home, after working for twenty years or more, abroad, and to discover that he has not saved for his old age. He remitted all his earnings to his wife who splurged on heavy shopping, in gambling casinos and vices, and to his children for expensive toys, gadgets and non value-adding items.
Now, in his sixties, the OFW is sickly and weak, and has no medical and hospitalization insurances. His children have already left home, married and have lives of their own. Most probably, his children are also OFWs, and are no longer home to care for them. He and his wife need to work again to support themselves. In their age though, no local employer would hire them, and they are left to fend for themselves.
What are the causes of this sad predicament? Why have the OFWs not prepared for their old age? Why have they not thought of their retirement? Do they need the government to teach them on how to plan and manage their life? Of course, they have reasons and, in fairness, some of the reasons are indubitable.
For instance, they claim that their income was not sufficient for the needs of their big families. They also allege that they paid a lot of money to the recruiters who charged them of excessive placement fees, and too many impositions, not to mention the outrageous interests and many processing fees imposed by the usurers, in collaboration with unscrupulous recruitment agencies. Some of them blame their family members for having been too extravagant and lavish in their lifestyles.
But the bottomline is that most OFWs are not financially literate. They do not know the basic art and science of budgeting. They can not even balance their income and expenses. They have no knowledge on fund management and retirement planning.
In the light of all the above, this writer, as labor attaché now assigned in Central Taiwan, is in the thick of intensive and extensive empowerment interventions in the form of three learning sessions conducted for OFWs in the area. These sessions are: Financial Literacy (FINALITE), Basic Laws for Filipinos (BLAWSFIL), and Filipino Leadership and Management Seminar (FLAMES).
The most popular among these is the FINALITE session-comprising of seven modules, which include analysis of current financial situation, negative spending habits, sources of financial problems, alternative solutions, individual financial planning, basic entrepreneurship, and migrant workers' investment fundamentals.
In the FINALITE course, the OFWs are expected to learn how to analyze their present financial situation, identify negative financial habits, and curb them effectively. They are also being guided on ways of managing their finances well, budgeting their money, increasing their income, and minimizing their expenses. They are also exposed to many ways to have regular savings to be accumulated for retirement.
The OFWs are also encouraged to invest in micro- and medium-scale enterprises like goat and swine raising, small fishpond, barber shop, internet café, sari-sari store, laundry shop and other small businesses. As a condition for graduation, they are required to make a financial plan to be presented to me, with target dates and target amounts for retirement purposes.
This is just a small step in the long journey, to emancipate the OFWs from many recurring problems that enslave them in their twilight years. At least, I am doing this, trying "to light just one little candle, instead of merely cursing the dark."