Manila Bulletin

No more maids

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By

PRESIDENT Duterte endears himself to our OFWs when he warns other countries, particular­ly Kuwait this time, to not abuse Filipinos working there. He deserve kudos for that. But it’s not enough. During another presidency, the then incumbent proudly declared that Filipino domestic staff should be trained to be “super maids” before being deployed abroad.

That’s shallow thinking that demeans all Filipinos and the country. It demeans the Office of the President. Besides sending out our able accountant­s, doctors, and nurses, we should train our people to be super researcher­s, draftsmen, artists, IT experts, interprete­rs, caregivers, and other skilled profession­s.

Let’s not send out any more maids out there, who are frequently abused by their employers. Migrant workers adviser and advocate Susan Ople has said in a TV interview that Indonesia has stopped sending maids to work abroad. We should do the same, no more Filipino maids.

After all, our compatriot­s who work as maids abroad often are university graduates. How many Filipino teachers, nurses, and other skilled workers are forced to downgrade their skills and degrade their persons by working as service people, a deodorized term for maids and servants?

Every Filipino tourist who’s been to Rome’s Pyramide district or the Catholic churches there, and of course Hong Kong, and all over the world has met hundreds of Filipino profession­als working as servants and chauffeurs.

Many had been teachers and even managers here before who, in search of a better life their own country is unable to provide them, swallowed their pride and acceped lowly jobs abroad. The constant threat of abuse and even death makes their situation even more pitiful, deplorable, and sickening.

Our government should expand TESDA and train all Filipinos who would like to work abroad. TESDA should offer skills training that is at par with that offered by universiti­es. Or, even better, make the quality of their training there even superior to what’s offered elsewhere. That is the solution, not training “super” maids.

The government should do this instead of concentrat­ing on an unwinnable “war” on drugs that is falsely seen by government as the nation’s priority problem. It isn’t, it’s poverty.

Poverty, as every OFW knows, is what drives them to seek employment abroad even though the work conditions there are abominable. People are poor because there aren’t enough jobs for everybody.

So, no more dreams of deploying “super maids” to other countries. We either create more jobs here or help workingage Filipinos to acquire skills that are in demand abroad. Since the public and private sectors here have been unable to provide jobs to all Filipino employable­s, training them in skilled positions is the answer.

Let’s stop demeaning our own countrymen by sending them abroad to be abused and maltreated. Let’s create a super force of highly skilled Filipinos that the world will fight over for their worth as meaningful­ly employed profession­als.

There’s nothing breathtaki­ng or revolution­ary about the idea of training Filipinos to be highly skilled profession­als. It’s just common sense. Training them as “super” maids and houseboys robs them of their dignity.

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Tantum Ergo. Congratula­tions to the Manila Bulletin’s administra­tion and editorial/news department on the paper’s 118th anniversar­y, making it the oldest and most durable newspaper in the nation!

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