The Philippines - José (Joefel) Resol – 1990 Graduate
by José (Joefel) Resol
submitted February 2022
Network e-Bulletin No. 10, March 2022
Taking Care of Our Overseas Foreign Workers
Some numbers from the Philippines:
The Philippines total population – 110 million
Number of Filipinos working in foreign countries – 12 million
Approximate amount of money sent home to the Philippines each year – $30 billion
Number of Filipinos that leave the country daily to work abroad (pre-pandemic) – 5 to 7 thousand
The Philippines is the No. 1 exporter of nurses and No. 2 exporter of doctors in the world.
The second largest number of seafarers in the world is Filipinos.
Number of Filipinos who return home each day maltreated, abused, raped, or dead – 7 to 10
https://gyazo.com/f5ffc4fb0d7835bc0587a730b7dd81d9
Joefel at a migration and development forum on Guimaras island. On his right, in the striped shirt, is Helen Reala (1986 ARI Graduate).
When I went to ARI in 1990, I was already aware of the fact that the Philippines was exporting not only bananas and shrimp to Japan, but also migrant workers for factories and the entertainment industry, as well as brides for Japanese men. During my training, I had a chance to meet some of them, including factory workers and girls as young as 15 employed as entertainers at a place called “Filipina Club.” In December I arranged a Christmas party at the Koinonia House and invited them to join. When I heard some Filipinos were not receiving their pay in an electronics factory, I connected them with Japanese labor lawyers. This was where my advocacy work on behalf of Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) began. It continues to this day.
https://gyazo.com/40e2739c089275750a11ab8cd7961466 https://gyazo.com/f90e6c7c3e92f73e56b7c500f7619bab
Every day, thousands of Filipinos go abroad to earn money for their families, but the lives of Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) are full of hardships. / The second photo is of the happy homecoming of a distressed OFW, but so harsh were her working conditions that she died one month later as a result of the maltreatment she had experienced.
Currently, I am the Regional Program Coordinator of ATIKHA Overseas Workers and Communities Initiatives, Inc. for the Western Visayas Region in the Philippines. Recognizing that there are positive and negative impacts of migration, we seek to maximize the positive and minimize the negative. We organize pre-departure orientation seminars, and family and income management trainings. Since OFWs often come home with little savings, already old and sick, and in the worst cases, to broken families, we offer reintegration counselling and planning, skills training, and social entrepreneurship training. In Western Visayas, we have already reached out 2,500 OFWs and their families.
https://gyazo.com/196df78bece4d0e6e01d245e1bab99eb
A family and income management training session with the families of OFWs.
Additionally, I assist OFWs who are facing distress while they are still abroad in their host countries, by helping them come back to the Philippines, or fight for their rights against abusive employers and agencies.
https://gyazo.com/5f69b36d2a37a8c8824141754b206f13
Joefel talking with an OFW about how to assert her rights.
Most OFWs are from farming communities that face difficulties such as the high costs of farm inputs, the low prices of farm products, and the impacts of climate change. In this respect, the training I received at ARI, and especially the concept of “foodlife” in rural development, continues to be relevant. I provide education on organic farming systems to free them from the bondage of constant debt. If they can have stability at home, the OFW members in their families can return for good.
https://gyazo.com/88d921cde8a6c6bde95f840a4d093c8e
Training on organic farming is part of the reintegration program.
One of my present tasks is developing 30 hectares of government land into an agroforestry training center as part of our reintegration program. We have already organized the community of OFWs and their families in the area and conducted some training on organic vegetable production. Soon we will plant other crops without using of the types of herbicides that are common in the area and are degrading the soil. I still need to learn more about agroforestry, and I am calling for graduates of ARI who have knowledge and experience in this area to inform and enlighten me.
The sacrifices and suffering of OFWs and their families inspire and strengthen me continuously to respond to their needs. I pray that these minimal efforts would give a flicker of hope to our people.
https://gyazo.com/ab389bda0f5c1300d79bdfa244016ad6
Thirty hectares of land is ready to be transformed into an agroforestry training center. Would you like to come and help Joefel with this big project?
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