A Modern Odyssey: The Struggle for Home

“Four years ago, I thought I’d never see my family again. I now spend everyday with them to make up for all the time lost. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Erica Manabat, a Filipino former migrant worker, braved to share her escape from abuse when she was working in Saudi Arabia. She experienced multiple instances of sexual assault from her superiors while employed as a domestic helper. During her time as a migrant worker, she was constantly conflicted between remaining at her job to financially support her family and leaving her abusive situation.

Ultimately she was faced with one question: how will she get home?

In 2019, Erica faced financial difficulties after her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. She also separated from her husband, leaving her as a single mother of three children. The responsibility to financially provide for the family fell on Erica, to support both her grandmother and children. She looked for jobs and gigs in the Philippines, but realized the salaries would never be sufficient to alleviate the financial situation of her family.

The average monthly salary in the Philippines is an estimated PHP18,500, roughly equivalent to USD300. “A family of five will need at least PHP13,797 pesos (about USD249) per month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs," explained Philippine Statistics Authority Undersecretary Dennis Mapa. Meanwhile, the Philippines proposed the introduction of a set minimum wage of $400 for Filipino domestic workers abroad. As a result of the significant gap between local and overseas salaries, women like Erica decide that it is a better financial decision to work abroad.

Erica turned her sights towards greener pastures and became a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia.

Migrant workers are crucial to national economies, contributing to both their country of employment and country of origin. For instance, nine percent of the gross domestic product of the Philippines consists of remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). “Overseas remittances are a significant part of [our] country’s economy[,] at any stage of economic development,” commented the National Economic and Development Authority.

The Philippine government emphasizes the importance of remittances to the economy to encourage more Filipinos to work overseas. Former president Corazon Aquino addressed OFWs in a 1988 speech as “modern-day heroes” to honor their sacrifices for their family and the motherland. While the desire to financially support one’s family is still the overweighing factor for many OFWs, the praising rhetoric of the government reinforces migration to find decent work.

A majority of OFWs are women, comprising 60.8% of Filipino migrant workers. Female OFWs are most concentrated in Asia and America, including Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Hong Kong. These women often take on ‘elementary-level jobs’ such as being domestic helpers or cleaners. Being employed in these elementary-level positions is a result of their lack of access to quality higher education in the Philippines, as was the case with Erica.

Erica attended college for several years but eventually stopped. While studying, she juggled overwhelming financial burdens and familial responsibilities. It came the time to choose between herself or her family. “I would have wanted to finish my education but I wanted to help my family more,” she admitted.

Erica did not have a college degree, but she did have experience with taking care of children. It seemed to her that being an overseas domestic worker was her only option. She went to Saudi Arabia, not because that was her country of choice, but because it had the most number of open positions for domestic helpers.

“I was scared of going abroad at first since I’ve heard of stories where the helpers get abused,” she mentioned. Initially, she did not observe any questionable behavior from her employer. Her daily routine as a domestic worker included cleaning the house and caring for her employer’s children. “I’d sometimes be with those kids thinking I was back home with my children because I missed them so much,” she confessed with tearing eyes.

She had long work days where she was always on call in case her bosses needed her. Her nights consisted of video-calling family and silently crying from homesickness in a cramped, spare room in her employer’s house. Erica was crying now, “It was hard, but I endured it since my family needed me to work.”

As time progressed, she noticed a shift in her employer’s behavior. He would give Erica leering eyes. He would stay longer in a room with her than needed.

Eventually, Erica became one of the abused helpers she would hear about.

Migrant workers, especially women, are prone to sexual abuse and gender-based violence. Over 24,000 OFWs reported abuse and violence in 2023. These abuse cases mainly occurred in the Middle East where a high concentration of female migrant workers are not under an agency meant to protect them. The number of abuse cases may even be higher when accounting for those discouraged from reporting out of fear of their employer.

Erica was a victim of sexual abuse. “My employer’s brother forced himself on me, so I ran away and looked for someone who could help me go back home,” she explained.

She found an agency helping the repatriation of OFWs. She needed assiatance with the required documents for returning to the Philippines since she cannot depend on her employer anymore. Since Erica ran away, she technically broke the duration of her work specified in her contract with the employer. She also needed money to pay for a flight because she always sent her salary back to family in the Philippines.

According to the International Organization for Migration, most migrant workers have a difficult time repatraiting due to employers withholding important documents, lack of money, and exploitation from worker agencies. 923,652 OFWs returned to the Philippines during the pandemic out of necessity, but most returned after global restrictions eased.

Despite the role of the agency to protect Erica, the owner of the agency sexually assaulted her. Erica sniffled, “It’s disheartening because the people who are supposed to help you are the ones who hurt you the most.”

She decided to reach out to a government agency directly if she wanted the chance to return to the Philippines. In 2020, she reunited with her family through the help of the Overseas Workers Welfare Association, a governmental body dedicated to assisting and protecting Filipino migrant workers. “It seemed like I would never see my family again but they were all there at the airport waiting for me when I came back,” she reflected. 

Now Erica she was with her family again, her original problem reemerged: how will she support her family?

Since the governmengt agency was responsible for only the legal matters of her repatriation, she was redirected to the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), a  nonprofit organization helping repatraited OFWs through psychological and livelihood assistance.

Erica explained how she did not see the point of giving her psychological assistance at first. She explained, “I thought that program was a distraction since I wanted to go straight into working again. I realized I needed to help myself recover first before I can help my family.”

Through the nonprofit, Erica also received a microloan to start a small business where she sells preloved clothes in Divisoria, one of the largest hubs for small enterprises in the Philippines. Her hobby is weaving and sewing, which she discovered though DAWN. She plans on developing her hobby to sell clothes of her own making at her shop.

Despite her lower income in the Philippines, Erica remains committed to working locally, still recovering from the effects of abuse. She decidedly announced, “I’d rather stay in the Philippines with my family but have a lower salary than go back abroad where I tolerate abuse to earn money.”

Erica’s story is one of survivorship and the triumphs of returning back home. Despite its remarkable ending, most female migrant workers do not get the same opportunity of healing like Erica. Many migrant workers remain to have their stories unheard and continue to suffer through abuse for the sake of financially supporting their family.

Even if Erica escaped an abusive situation, she still has to return to a broken economic situation in the Philippines. The Philippine government will continue emphasizing the importance of Filipinos going abroad for the economy.

Maybe it is time to stop calling OFWs ‘modern-day heroes,’ a term first coined by Corazon Aquino as the Philippines was rebuilding its economy after a dictatorship. The term ‘martyr’ might be more appropriate for these migrant workers who suffer without the needed recognition.

Sources

Agcaoili, Lawrence. ““ Remittances Still Pillar of Philippines Growth.”” Philstar.com, Philstar.com, 24 Nov. 2023, www.philstar.com/business/2023/11/25/2313962/remittances-still-pillar-philippines-growth. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Estrellado, Vilma. “Average Salary in the Philippines: How a Company Saves Costs through Filipino Hires.” Outsource Accelerator, Outsource Accelerator, 25 Feb. 2022, www.outsourceaccelerator.com/articles/average-salary-in-the-philippines/#:~:text=in%20this%20article.-,The%20average%20salary%20in%20the%20Philippines,18%2C423.00%20(US%24%20330.08). Accessed 12 Mar. 2024.

International Labor Organization. A REFERENCE WAGE for MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS.

Laurinne Jamie Eugenio. “Overseas Filipino Workers: The Modern-Day Heroes of the Philippines.” Harvard International Review, Harvard International Review, 11 Aug. 2023, hir.harvard.edu/overseas-filipino-workers-the-modern-day-heroes-of-the-philippines/#:~:text=Referring%20to%20these%20workers%2C%20former,but%20are%20figures%20of%20resilience. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Official Gazette, Republic of the Philippines. “Address of President Corazon Aquino to the Filipinas Working in Hong Kong | GOVPH.” Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines, 17 Apr. 1988, www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1988/04/17/address-of-president-corazon-aquino-to-the-filipinas-working-in-hong-kong/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.