Poster at the OWWA Transit Lounge at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila showing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wishing contract workers a safe trip.
I've been an Overseas Contract Worker for almost a year. I got a job as an auditor in one of the companies here in Saipan.
Saipan is an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A US territory, it is the largest of the 3 major islands that comprise the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI).
I arrived in Saipan in February of 2006. The island is no different from a Class C province in the Philippines. The weather is tropical and except for the currency which was in US Dollars, it was being like home, or so I thought.
As I continued my stay and met fellow OFWs, I became aware of the peculiarity of this island specifically about relationships most OFWs here have.
Most OFWs here have families in the Philippines, but they also have another family here in Saipan. I've met them. I've known them. I've seen their faces. They've told me their stories.
"Wife" "Girlfriend" "Husband" "Boyfriend" "Fwend" are the terms used to introduce one another. It's easy to involve oneself in these kinds of relationships. The locals - Chamorros they are called - most often than not have multiple partners. With a population of just 70,000, exchanging partners is not uncommon. Most locals have 2 or 3 partners because divorce is allowed here. A husband is different from a boyfriend and a boyfriend is different from a lover. Having an affair is no big deal. It's pretty much the norm.
Having been raised in a conservative family and having been surrounded by friends who held on to their marriage vows in sacred reverence, I was shocked to come face to face with this sad fact.
Saipan is one lonely island for an OFW. The place is so tiny that you can go from end to end in just 3 hours. There are no shopping malls here and everybody knows each other. The place is ideal for romantic tryst. White sand beaches and clear blue waters by day and balmy, warm sea breeze with starlit sky at night.
Married people are more vulnerable to the deep loneliness of Saipan. I guess it's because married people are used to having someone around. Someone to do things with, someone to go to bed with or just someone to talk to. Being single and used to being alone and independent in Manila, I felt pressured in Saipan. I had a lot of time in my hands. I had nothing to do and I was lonely. Battling homesickness which really peaked on my 6th month here, I became scared of the possibility and the choices that laid before me. I had my own share of men who made a pass at me but I was lucky. I had badminton and writing to help me keep my focus.
I think of the others who failed to keep theirs. I knew them. They had faces. They were not just one-dimensional characters in gossip columns or films. They were ordinary people like me.
Having gone through the experience of deep loneliness and homesickness, I understand the "Le Affairs" of Saipan. The need to have a special someone regardless of whether one is married or not is a basic human need. Don't get me wrong, I am not justifying the affairs but I guess these are all part of the human struggle. The human condition. In fact one of the running jokes here in Saipan is, "Don't drink the rainwater of Saipan because if you do, you'll forget your family back home."
If Saipan OFWs are a microcosm of the OFW phenomenon, I am sure that these "Le Affairs" also happen in Singapore, in Hongkong, in Milan, in Barcelona, in Dubai and in all other places where there are OFWs. Different circumstances but the same stories. Different places but the same brown faces. Same loneliness. Same solution.
The Peso continues to appreciate due to the remittances of OFWs. In fact, the Peso is now pegged at P49.30 to a Dollar. Last year, it was more than P50 to a dollar. As of August 2006, total OFW remittances was $5B. We are the heroes of our economy. The price - emotional struggle. We endure loneliness. We silently cry ourselves to sleep. We drown ourselves in alcohol. We live in the fleeting happiness of affairs. We seek shelter in our psychotic belief of religion. We scrub our bathroom floors till our hands are raw. We stay until midnight in the office.
Movies are now being made to show our plight. Various NGOs have dedicated themselves to protect our interests. Various government agencies have been set-up to help (?) us in times of need. Certain products are marketed to us and even certain advertisements have defined us as target markets. We have become a force.
While on vacation in the Philippines last month, I was at the parlor to have my hair done. The hairdresser's (he was a guy and he said he was not gay) phone rang. He took the call and then told me, "Mama ko yun."
The way he said it, the mama didn't sound like he was talking about his mother. He continued his story by telling me that the "mama" is a married woman whose husband is an engineer in Malaysia.
Another fascinating story I heard was a comment of the wife who was in the Philippines. When she heard that her OFW husband was having an affair in Dubai, "OK lang iyon. At least may nag-aalaga sa kanya dun."
Is this the price the Philippines has to pay for the strength of the Peso?
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