Social costs

A young man died recently in what relatives suspect was a suicide, after the vehicle he was driving crashed into a tree. The impact was so powerful the man’s face was unrecognizable. His chest was crushed and a leg was nearly severed from the body.

Relatives said the man was having marital problems; his wife is working overseas. Suicide was suspected because he had told relatives they would no longer see him after election day and he had asked them to take care of his children.

The case reminds me of a similar tragedy, in which a wife, upon learning that her husband had found another woman while working overseas, drank insecticide to end her life. As the poison began taking hold, the woman changed her mind and called for help. Her young daughter called neighbors who rushed the woman to a hospital, but it was too late.

I know several other wives who are aware that their husbands have not only found other women while working abroad but have also started second families. Because the husbands are the family breadwinners, and with their children in mind, the spurned wives, after a period of despair and rancor with their husbands, have learned to live with the bigamous (and possibly polygamous) setup. No one bothers to seek an annulment or legal separation, much less an expensive Catholic divorce. Unions are simply suspended in civil and religious limbo.

In several cases, the children in such marriages, having grown up without one parent, also find work overseas and enter into similar relationships.

I’m sure such stories are not unusual among our army of about 10 million migrant workers. The breakup of marriages and the phenomenon of children growing up without one or both parents are just among the social costs of exporting a tenth of our human resources because we can’t offer them decent alternatives in their own land.

Pope Francis, when he visited the Philippines last year, mentioned the toll on families of the migrant worker phenomenon.

President Aquino is surely aware of the toll. When he was campaigning for the presidency, he told us at

The STAR that among his objectives if he would win was to bring back home a significant number of those migrant workers.

That’s one campaign objective that was not attained. In fact daang sarado, like the previous administrations, happily used the massive remittances of Filipino migrant workers to tout rosy economic figures in the past six years.

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The hefty contributions of our migrant workers to GDP have also provided a powerful incentive for the political establishment to resist structural reforms that will make growth inclusive and end the stranglehold of the miniscule elite on money and power.

Because of the billions of dollars remitted by 10 million Filipinos annually, the political and moneyed class can argue, when presented with proposals for drastic reforms, that the country has enjoyed sustained economic growth, and if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Never mind if only the political clans and the handful of families that control wealth are the principal beneficiaries of the growth. As long as Filipinos unhappy with the lack of opportunities in their own land can seek greener pastures elsewhere on the planet, the ruling class can argue for the retention of the status quo. The elite can always tell the hoi polloi, when they bellyache about lousy public education and health care, poor mass transportation and lack of decent jobs, “If you don’t like your country, leave.”

For several decades, Filipinos have heeded the advice, voting with their feet and leaving.

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We don’t know if incoming president Rodrigo Duterte will do a better job than P-Noy of luring back Filipino migrant workers.

But because the Davao City mayor is seen as an outsider in the landlord class that P-Noy represents, and with his personality and style the opposite of the perfumed set, the vote for Duterte is seen as a vote for drastic change in the status quo.

In between the profanity-laced warnings about his plan to exterminate criminals, Duterte has promised to push for federalism and lifting of economic restrictions – moves that will necessitate constitutional changes. He has said that federalism will address the concerns of Islamic secessionists and can bring lasting peace to Mindanao.

Duterte believes the combination of peace and the lifting of constitutional restrictions on free competition will draw more investors to the country including Mindanao, creating meaningful employment and livelihood opportunities.

Such moves must also be complemented by, among others, serious efforts to cut red tape, upgrade the average Pinoy worker’s skills, improve infrastructure, overhaul agriculture policies, and provide affordable and reliable energy supply.

Duterte, dismissed by critics for “small-town” ideas, has been a local chief executive for a long time and presumably knows what to do.

In the recent elections, Filipinos voted for someone who promised the most drastic change. If Duterte, through sweeping reforms, can curb the Pinoy exodus and its tragic social costs, it will be an impressive achievement.

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EXPAT, NOT OFW: And speaking of our migrant workers, urban developer Jun Palafox has an interesting suggestion: we should refer to Filipinos who find work abroad as expatriates rather than overseas Filipino workers or OFWs, which he said has condescending overtones and “sounds like POW” or prisoner of war.

He informed me that in 1977, when he was hired by the government of Dubai, he was called a Filipino expat, “very well respected.”

“We don’t call foreign workers in our country OFWs but expats. They would not want to be called OFWs, American OFW, Japanese OFW,” Palafox remarked. “Let’s give (our workers) more protection and respect they deserve.”