A Day in the Life of a Filipina Worker – What You Are About to Read Will Surprise You!

Imagine for a minute that you are a female, living on only 3 – 4 hours of sleep a night. You aren’t allowed to bathe or shower. You are forced to clean yourself with a rag and bucket of water that hardly gets the job done. You work 12-14 long hours performing back breaking labor that you only get paid cents per hour to perform. You can forget about getting a day off, there’s always too much to do. What little time you do have to yourself is spent in a small claustrophobic space.

You have hardly enough food to keep your growling stomach from keeping you awake at night. However, you consider yourself lucky because you weren’t shipped off to be one of the many women sold into sexual slavery. You are able to earn a wage that can help you support your family back home. But still, you spend most of your days in doors, afraid, alone and stripped of your civil rights as a Filipina, a female and a human being.

Can you imagine living this type of life day in and day out? Terrifying isn’t it?

You might think that this struggle is one that happened decades ago. Sadly this is the daily life of a present day Filipina Overseas Foreign Worker (OFW). The landscape isn’t safe for these women leading them to live lives similar to that of slavery. The Department of Labor and Employment can only do so much when it comes to helping OFWs. Unfortunately these type of injustices still exist in today’s landscape.

It’s no secret that the working conditions are less than ideal for many immigrant workers. In fact, a recent report stated that “The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Labor and Employment are conducting the investigation after three women, working overseas in the Middle East, claimed they were sexually exploited and abused by their labor officers. There have also been allegations of sex-for-flight operations by Overseas Labor Office officials, in which labor officers pay for workers’ flight expenses in exchange for sexual acts.” [source] In essence, workers were being forced into prostitution to pay for their expenses.

The article goes on to suggest that not only were the labor officers being accused of sexual exploitation but they were also trying to take commissions on the labor of the Filipino workers. “The investigation also revealed a number of other alleged criminal behaviors, including labor officials attempting to gain commissions from the paychecks of overseas Filipino workers, as well as overcharging plane tickets to host countries. Some worry that the government agencies should not be conducting these investigations, given that their own personnel are involved in the allegations.” [source]

Many believe that it’s the government’s responsibility to take care of overseas workers because it falls under their jurisdiction while others are skeptical about involvement. Sadly, this is not a new story as many Filipino’s have been subjected to these types of injustices for decades.

Here are some of the numbers, “…the poor treatment of these workers has been documented since the beginning of Filipino labor exportation in the 1970s, when exportation was first institutionalized by the government. Ten percent of the total population of the Philippines (over 90 million) is exported labor. Filipinos, distributed in over 100 host countries, take jobs in the service industry as cooks, waiters and cleaners. Women make up 75% of exported Filipino labor, taking on domestic work as maids or caregivers. Overseas workers work very long hours (up to 12 hours a day and often deprived of days off), are underpaid and are provided with small living spaces and inadequate food rations. Additionally, they are regularly exposed to racism and discrimination, often physically abused, raped and even killed. It is modern day slavery.” [source]

It begs the question, why would so many seek work outside the Philippines if the labor conditions are so poor? It’s not a simple decision by any means but more of a necessary one. It can be the choice between allowing their family to starve to death or find work where they can so they can survive. For many, it’s a clear choice – protect your family by sacrificing themselves. The investigations continue and steps are being made in the right direction by bringing justice to those victims who come forward. We can only hope victims continue to come forward and bring the culprits to justice.

These brave women continue to work hard overseas to support themselves and their families. Until we can get a tight hold of civil rights for these women they will continue to suffer these injustices. What’s important is that we do not forget their struggle and we strive for action.