Some heartwarming OFW Christmas stories

I was the Philippine labor attaché in Malaysia in December 2005. The Philippine ambassador, the consul, other diplomats and I travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu. From there we took a long land trip to the Malaysian detention centers in Lahad Datu, Sandakan, Miri and Sibu, and other places in the States of Sabah and Sarawak. Our mission was to negotiate with Malaysian justice and detention authorities for the release of more than 100,000 Filipinos, including OFWs, who were detained for alleged violations of Malaysian immigration laws. Their stories brought us into tears. They were called illegal migrants. We called them undocumented.

The 2005 Christmas we spent in Sabah and Sarawak was very memorable and heartwarming because we facilitated the release of more than 1,000 Filipinos on Christmas Day. These migrantsincluding very young children, very old men and women, sick and some with disability-boarded four ships, one after another, from Sandakan in northern Borneo to Zamboanga City. It was a very joyful occasion when Filipinos left the land they served with hard labor in the plantations, factories and households, and where they were jailed for many months and even years because of the simple lack of valid work visa. We did that same thing every year, from 2005 to 2008.

This experience was repeated when I was transferred to Kuwait. We have almost 200,000 OFWs there, many of them domestic helpers. Almost every day, between five and 12 Filipino DHs run away from their employers and knocked at my office, seeking asylum and help. Many of them were subjected to physical and emotional maltreatment, psychological and sexual abuses. My Christmases in 2009 and 2010 were spent helping runaway maids I sheltered, fed and provided with counseling, legal assistance, and spiritual and emotional support.

My last stint as labor attaché was in Taiwan. The most depressed OFWs there were the fishermen, many of whom were illegally trafficked and recruited from Ilocos, the Visayas, and the hinterlands of Mindanao. On Christmas Day in 2011, I was with some Filipino priests and nuns who were ministering to the spiritual needs of the fishermen in Taichung, Kaoshioung and Taipeh. I also provided legal services to them and their families. All these Christmases-from 2005 to 2011-were spent with our migrant workers abroad.

While we were away from our homes and families, we found home in the bosom of the poor and family in the service of the OFWs who needed our help. Perhaps they too were parts of the reasons why the Messiah was born. They were memorable Christmases indeed. Ido not mind experiencing them again.