Migrante Netherlands strongly condemns the recent “warning” of Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac telling overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to follow host country laws and stop moonlighting. Ang dali sabihin mula sa isang komportableng posisyon sa gobyerno. Pero try niyo kaya mag-OFW, Secretary Cacdac? Try niyo kaya tumira sa isang maliit na kwarto na pinaghahatian ng tatlo o apat, habang nagbabayad ng mataas na renta at nagpapadala ng pera sa pamilya sa Pilipinas? Try working two or three jobs at once just to survive in a foreign land.
Look at the case of the 11 Filipino workers of Saints and Stars gym here in the Netherlands. They endured months of abuse and exploitation as victims of human trafficking, abandoned without support from the Philippine embassy (they only provided support when the case went public). Their employer promised “legal working permits” that never came, and now many of them are undocumented. And instead of protection, they face even harsher threats as new laws in the Netherlands seek to criminalize undocumented migrants. We dare you, Secretary Cacdac—tell it to the face of human trafficking victims. How dare the Philippine government scold OFWs who sacrifice everything, whose remittances make up a substantial portion of the country’s GDP, while abandoning them when they are most in need?
OFWs do not need a “serious warning.” We are NOT criminals who should be treated as lawbreakers to be jailed or deported. What we need is protection and genuine public service from the very offices and the very government sustained by the hard-earned remittances of Filipino migrants.
OFWs do not moonlight for fun. We do it because one job is not enough to cover our needs, because wages in host countries are shrinking while the cost of living is rising, and because our families back home are left with nothing in a country that has failed to provide jobs and livelihood. If the Philippine government were serious about addressing the plight of OFWs, it would first confront the question of why Filipinos are forced to leave the country in the first place.
Instead of decent and secure jobs, all we see are contractual and short-term employment schemes. Instead of a living wage, Marcos Jr. killed the bill to raise the national minimum wage, siding once again with the interests of big business over ordinary workers. Instead of genuine land reform, landless peasants are trapped in endless poverty while the government continues to prioritize the importation of cheap rice and other agricultural goods, killing local farming and abandoning Filipino producers.
This is the bitter fruit of the labor export policy that has long reduced OFWs to nothing but commodities and milking cows for their remittances. The government glorifies us as modern-day heroes, yet abandons us to exploitative host country policies, and now dares to scold us for trying to survive?
Migrante Netherlands reiterates our call: Trabaho sa Pinas, hindi sa labas! Jobs in the Philippines, not abroad. Until the Philippine government can provide decent work, a living wage, and land for the people, Cacdac has no right to tell OFWs to stop moonlighting. The government’s job is not to discipline migrants, but to ensure that Filipinos no longer have to leave their homeland just to live with dignity.
