CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mike Banos / 26 Jul) They sacrificed the comforts of home and family to bring home the bacon from a far-off land but instead, overseas Filipino workers Charina Flores-Buton and Maygelyn Lopez Taron-Enero came back hungry, penniless and frightened but thankfully in one piece from Lebanon.
Charina Flores-Buton, 29, of Mauswagon, a hamlet in Lugait town in Misamis Oriental province was taking B.S. Computer Science at the Iligan Capitol College, but had to stop schooling to work as a domestic helper overseas to augment the irregular income from intermittent jobs from construction projects of her husband, Nigel, 29.
She has worked previously in Kuwait and Hong Kong but was only 4 months and 16 days in Beirut when she ran away from her Muslim employer.
"I could not get along with their Ethiopian domestic helper and my employer was accusing me of theft," Flores-Buton said at a news conference Wednesday. "It was only when I sought help from the Phil. Embassy that I learned that war had broken out."
Maygelyn Lopez Taron-Enero, 29, is a LET under board Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (BSEEd) graduate from Cagayan de Oro College. She had also previously worked as a domestic helper in Dubai but only worked 12 days in Beirut before she ran away from her Christian employer.
"I ran away because of lack of food and maltreatment by my employer," she said in the vernacular. "There was a time when all they gave me to eat was one banana for the whole day."
When she sought refuge in the Philippine Embassy, she was fortunate to be given a part-time job screening the cases of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in trouble. But it soon became apparent she had jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
"The Embassy is just seven kilometers from the war zone but near the airport which is a high priority target," Taron-Enero said. "The first night was still okay but by the second day the bombing became very heavy around 3 p.m. It soon became clear we had to evacuate."
After considering various locations, they finally evacuated to Asra Faye but even that site was soon a combat zone due to its proximity to the port of Juni, another high profile target.
"You can see the Israeli bombers and you can be sure five minutes after those bombs were sure to fall somewhere nearby," she related. "I thought it was going to be my fate to die in Lebanon."
She also described how she found comfort and solace in the person of Ms. Teresita Bonghanoy, an OWWA (Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration) administrative staff assigned in Beirut who hails from Cagayan de Oro City.
"Food and other supplies became scarce, and even if you had money, all purchases were rationed," Taron-Enero said. "So when we had done buying our share, we simply queued up again to get another.
Finally, some 160 workers and staff were repatriated from the Embassy to Syria.
The trip to the border which usually took 3 ½ hours took 17-19 hrs because visibility varied from nil to zero because of the smoke of battle and smoke bombs the Israelis were scattering everywhere.
Five buses carrying Filipinos and flying a white flag of truce and the RP flag made it safely but another convoy which just used white flags were bombed.
Upon reaching Syria, the din of battle could still be heard and another problem arose: most of the OFWs had left behind their travel documents in Lebanon and it took another heroic effort by Philippine officials to finally extricate them from the Syrian red tape and aboard a plane home.
"Only 260 of the first batch were accommodated and another 62 of our fellow OFWs had to be left behind since the Jordan Airlines sent a smaller aircraft than the one originally contracted for," Taron-Enero said.
Both OFWs profusely thanked the OFW and other Philippine Embassy officials whom they said moved heaven and earth working tirelessly day and night just to bring their fellow countrymen home safely. However, while they arrived here safe and sound, they came home with nary a penny.
Taron-Enero's contract specified her monthly pay of US$200 but she only got US$150 of that and her first three months were all collected by the agency. Since she only worked 12 days, she technically still owes her agency for the three months.
Flores-Buton on the other hand, while already settling her three month obligation with her agency, just the same came home penniless and sans all her travel documents which are still in the possession of her employer. Her monthly pay in Lebanon was supposed to be US$150 or approximately PhP7, 800.
Maygelyn's husband Hirojim Enero, 30, works as a library staff in Pilgrim Christian College. He said he wasn't really worried about his wife since she was in the RP Embassy and they stayed in touch by text messaging and instant messaging.
There was an internet café just across the Embassy where Maygelyn would sometimes contact him by IM in between errands she was running outside with an embassy staff named Mario to rescue stranded OFWs.
Charina's husband Nigel said he wasn't aware war had broken out in Lebanon since Luga-it had a brownout when it happened and he only learned about it the next day when his wife called.
Although he was aware of the free calls offered by OWWA, he had to think twice about going to Cagayan de Oro because of the expensive bus fare and finally approached their mayor for assistance.
They Butons have two children, Abigail, 7, and Trisha, 5, who are in Grade 1 and pre-school, respectively, at the Luga-it Elementary School.
Due to the lack of opportunities in their respective localities and the economic needs of their families, both OFWs expressed a desire to return overseas for work.
"Ayaw lang sa (not in the) Middle East," both couples agreed.
Petrona Bergado, OWWA Region 10 Director said 3 out of 4 OFWs leaving for abroad are now women who are high risk because of the 3D's-dirty, difficult and dangerous, and for mainly working in the service industries.
She also confirmed that because of the culture shock and loneliness, many of these women OFWs often ran away from their employers or sought the ultimate escape as "Darna" (the colloquial OFW term for women who committed suicide by jumping from high buildings).
"I personally experienced this during my first foreign stint in Hong Kong where we had at one time 15 mentally disturbed OFWs ranging from professionals, young, old, there was no fixed profile for the victims of this malady," Bergado said. "Workers who stay at home alone for the first time in a foreign land find the culture too much to cope with on top of their loneliness, and other maltreatments like working non-stop for no pay."
Taron-Enero also confirmed seeing five mentally disturbed OFWs during her brief stay at the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, three of whom eventually recovered.
The inter-agency "Team Lebanon" with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Owwa, Dole, and Association of Recruitment Agencies still expect to bring in another 32 identified OFWs from Lebanon.
These include Anabelle Ral Emano, Purok 7, Binitinan, Balingasag; Jane Rose Pada Onipa, Upper Jasaan; Marilou Arquita Maglente, Poblacion, Lagonglong; Ann Ibale Macarandan, Upper Jasaan; Lydia Baquiro Agudo; Cecille Rose de la Peña Ortega, Villa Mila Subdivision, Aplaya, Jasaan; Mary Grace S. Salcedo from San Antonio Jasaan; Alma Lupian from Talisayan.
Maria Prilleta A. Pahunang from Purok Makiangayon, Villanueva; Yvonne Nahial from Mosangot, Binuangan; Isabelita Casiño from Poblacion, Tagoloan; Janeth Pagumpana from Purok 5, Kalamkam, Talisayan; Roslyn Lungay from Lagonglong; Clarisse Talipan from Talisayan; Genie E. Lucagbo from Phividec Relocation Site; Ma. Therese M. Tumulok from Sto. Niño Village Baluarte, Igpit, Opol.
And Jennilyn A. Damole from El Salvador; Juvy Vertudazo from San Antonio, Jasaan; Chery Abao from Kalanguhan, Lugait; Delia P. Zayas from Talisayan; Rosalie Babano from Amakan, Gingoog Misamis Oriental; Gemmo O. Barton from Talisayan; and Mary Jessica T. Collado from Talisayan.
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