DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 23, 2012) – Children of overseas Filipino workers bonded together and appealed to authorities to provide stable jobs to their parents as a family protection measure in the country.
In an open letter presented during the Mindanao Children Festival held recently in Kidapawan City, Anak OFW, an organization of children of migrant workers, said they “hope and pray that our parents be given work and livelihood opportunities here in our own country so that they will not think of leaving us behind again.”
“We are living witnesses to many difficult situations of our parents in working abroad. Many of them have been victims of illegal recruitment, human trafficking, unfair labor practices and many human rights abuses in foreign lands,” the children said.
The Mindanao Migrants Center for Empowering Actions, Inc. estimates that there are around 8 illion OFW children who are left under the care of relatives. “We are among the 8 million Filipino children who are left behind by our parents who work temporarily and live permanently in the foreign countries,” Anak OFW revealed.
“While many of us children of migrant workers have enjoyed the basic needs such as good food, shelter and proper education, we deeply long the love and care of our parents especially of our mothers. While some of us have stayed with our grandparents, uncles, aunties, and relatives who provide the needed love and attention, many of us have become victims of abuses even from the closest people our parents entrusted us,” the group said.
They said that while their parents’ primary objective in working abroad is to “give us better life, many of our families also suffer from breaking down due to long communication gap and misunderstanding.” “Many of us have been separated and abandoned, many of us experienced discrimination, neglect and isolation,” they said.
The group also lament that they survive from insufficient and irregular remittances that have “deprived us to meet our daily basic needs and worst of all, have deprived us of our right to education because we have been forced to stop schooling.”
Anak OWF also stressed that government has the important role in providing jobs for their parents as a mechanism for protecting the Filipino family. (Rick Flores)
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