DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Jan. 20, 2009) — Going home and staying ‘home’ was all 17-year-old Aliya (not her real name) wanted –even though her last home has been an evacuation center in Maguindanao, 160 kilometers southwest from here.
Having spent more than six months here as house help for a rich Filipino-Chinese family, Aliya has had enough.
"Hindi ko na makayanan ang bigat ng trabaho ko (I cannot bear my work anymore)," Aliya told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project
Aliya arrived in the city after a lady recruiter whom she identified as "Betty" took her out from an evacuation center in Bagoenged village in Pagalungan, Maguindanao last July.
She and her family have effectively been on the road, moving from one camp to another for the past nine years because of fighting and its effects. Having first lost their home, her father then lost his job as a fish trader and the family ended up relying on financial support from their relatives.
"Mahirap talaga ang buhay namin, ang lahat ng mga kapatid ko hindi nakapag-eskwela (Our lives were very miserable, all of my brothers and sisters dropped out of school),” recounted Aliya, the second of seven children.
Their cycle of hopelessness in one evacuation center after another made the offer to them by a visiting stranger called "Betty" very compelling. Betty told them she was a recruiting agent and Aliya was promised a job in Davao from where she could start to send money back ‘home’ and help her family get back on its feet at last.
Her monthly salary would be PhP 2,500 (55 USD). Social security benefits were promised on top.
Aliya says she only saw “Betty” once.
But first –as so often seems to be the case– Aliya’s family had to pay upfront. Her father gave “Betty” an envelope containing PhP 3,500 (USD 75) – a huge amount given their desperate circumstances.
Aliya little imagined that her life in Davao City would be worse than living at the evacuation center.
She spoke how she worked seven days a week, rarely got a day off and went to bed at 11 p.m. only to be awakened again four hours later. In the morning she would look after the personal needs of her employers and in the afternoon and evenings, after their children.
After her first month she was in tears to find her salary was only PhP 700 (USD 15).
She confronted her employer but was threatened with being made homeless yet again. Torn between going back to Maguindanao virtually penniless knowing her family had paid out so much to find her ‘work,’ she remained with the family in Davao another five months being paid the equivalent of less than half a dollar a day.
“Our lives are desperate in Maguindanao, we have no security and there is fighting always. We don’t know who we should be asking for help,” says Aliya.
One of her friends from the evacuation center was also promised a job by “Betty”. Suleika was luckier and managed to find a better job in Tagum City with more “caring employers.” But even then, Suleika only receives a meager PhP 1,000 (USD 21) a month.
“I envy Suleika,” says Aliya, “I wish too I could work in Tagum.” Tagum City is 55 kilometers north from here.
Conditions in the cramped evacuation centers which are neither policed nor protected have made them become attractive ‘fishing grounds’ for illegal recruiters according to the Mindanao Migrants Center for Empowering Actions, Inc. (MMCEAI), a non-government organization that promotes the welfare of migrant workers in southern Philippines.
"Hopeless situations in conflict areas push families to send off those family members who can work –and these then suffer abuse because employers often know there is nothing for these people to go back to," says Inorisa Sialana, its executive director.
According to Sialana, the level of undocumented migrant workers arriving in cities like Davao, General Santos, Digos, and Tagum soars every time there is fighting between the Philippine Armed Forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Most of these undocumented migrants come from the provinces of North Cotabato, Lanao Del Norte and Lanao Del Sur. They work mostly as domestic helpers or shop assistants, says Sialana.
Some come from as far as the island province of Sulu. Fatmawati Salapuddin, director of the Lupah' Sug (Land of the Tausug) Foundation, say she sees women leaving Sulu in the search for work given their futures at home remain so uncertain due to the ongoing military operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group.
"Many of these women, have either lost their husbands or their fathers and it forces them to go to Zamboanga or even Manila," Salapuddin says.
Salapuddin blames the lack of political willingness of many local government units in Sulu for their failure to provide any kind of security and protect women trapped in conflict zones.
"Despite the passage of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 which seeks to safeguard the safety of women in conflict affected areas, the government is still incapable of doing anything," she adds.
Back in Davao, City Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad, author of the first ever local Women Development Code, admits there are still "gray areas" which prevent full implementation of the local law when it comes to protecting the rights of women domestic helpers.
Passed in September 1997, the Women Development Code is considered a landmark local law for its protection of the rights of women.
But the problem remains its implementation. Librado-Trinidad complains that the authorities cannot act on reported abuses committed against poor migrant women workers since they are "undocumented."
Moreover, she says, "there are also no formal complaints being filed” before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
An official from the regional DOLE office, who spoke to the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project on condition of anonymity, admitted that it is difficult for them to keep track of such labor malpractice because of lack of records both from the employer and the employee.
That is of little help to the likes of Aliya, her family and to countless others who are victims twice –if not three or even four times over. They are being failed by a government that cannot care properly for its internally displaced people; failed by a bureaucracy that is unable to cope with the realities of migration –and failed by individuals and families –many of them rich - who believe it fair game to prey upon the hopeless and who probably consider themselves upstanding members of their community. (Rick R. Flores / Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. The author is a Davao City-based journalist and development sector researcher.)
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