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Houses inside Salam usually have three floors to accommodate prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Employment applicants receive accommodation, which includes food, water and electricity as they wait for their paper to be processed. All these they pay back as soon as they land a job abroad. Sorayda Ali had once tried to escape the poverty and the armed conflict that today continues to cripple the lives of Muslims and Christians in Mindanao. War drove Sorayda, now 48, to work as a seamstress in Saudi Arabia in the early 1990’s. But despite the secure income she was getting, Saudi Arabia reminded Sorayda of the war in her homeland – the first Gulf War broke out and bombings were taking place even if the war front was concentrated in Kuwait. Kuwait itself became her second country of work before deciding to return to the Philippines in 1998. Meanwhile, Aisa Ali, cousin of Sorayda’s husband, also worked as a domestic in Kuwait and, like Sorayda, returned home. Agents Back in Salam, both Sorayda and Aisa tried their luck as recruitment agents for fellow Muslims aspiring for a foreign job since the late 1990s. They have helped recruit Muslim women for jobs in the Middle East particularly in war-torn countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar. A source, who also works as agent, said that although OFWs are not deployed directly to Iraq, many of them cross over to this war-torn country for higher-paying mercenary jobs. Aisa’s three-story house inside Salam is good for 70 people at any time. She estimates that a sack of rice is consumed every two days. In all, the agent spends for one recruitment applicant P20,000 in two to three months of stay. She adds however that she processes papers longer - from three weeks to a month - as she deals with 15 employment agencies.
Being an agent or middleman is a good business. A source told Bulatlat that at least five agents at Salam have put up their own recruitment agencies, while the number of people doing agent work has reached over a hundred. Both Sorayda and Aisa said they would get two to three months of the OFWs’ salary for payment of their stay at Salam and for the processing of documents. Aisa deploys 50-70 OFWs a year. Usually, domestics receive a monthly pay of $150-$200. Aside from this, an agent also gets a commission from P2,000 to P5,000 from the agency for every OFW deployed. For those staying for several months or a year, like Maridas, Sorayda would usually ask for additional salary deduction. Only after three months when her salaries are taken by the agent and another three to six months when the agency takes her pay will the OFW be able to enjoy her salary and send some money to her family back in Mindanao. Leaving families Dreaming of a better life for their families in Mindanao, many Muslim women are forced to leave their loved ones to work overseas hoping for better wages. Sangkupan, who hails from Barrio Manaulanan, Pikit, North Cotabato can be considered a “veteran” OFW. She had actually been to several Middle East countries before but her sacrifice has not uplifted her family’s life. She says her husband’s income as a farmer could not support her big family of eight children. Now her eldest daughter also works in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia. Mother is praying she could go back again in some Gulf country for yet another work. Sangkupan insists however the whole family could stay put at Manaulanan but the long-drawn war between government and Muslim rebels has diminished opportunities for a stable life. “Sa totoo lang, kaya naming mabuhay sa pagsasaka lang kung walang gyera dun,” she says. Sangkupan recalled, “makita pa lang ng mga asawa namin ang mga sundalong papalapit sa kanila sa bukid, aalis na sila.” Soldiers arrest innocent civilians and fabricate charges against them she says. Sacks of rice are also looted by soldiers, she said. She also said that during the all-out war against Moro rebels and extremists under former President Joseph Estrada, one of their carabaos (water buffaloes) was killed during a bombing while another one was stolen by the soldiers. Sorayda also blamed the never-ending war in Mindanao, particularly in Cotabato where she used to live, as the reason behind their poverty. “Dahil sa gyera, hindi kami makapagtanim,” she said. “Kung tutuusin, sa pagtatanim, sobra-sobra pa sana dahil maayos naman ang ani.” She said the military also burned down their house. Meanwhile, Aisa at one time experienced difficulty in breathing when simultaneous aerial and land attacks were launched. “Kahit madaling araw ‘pag nakakita ng apoy ang militar, binobomba nila,” she recalled. “Kung maayos naman kami sa Mindanao, hindi naman kami pupunta dito,” said Aisa. Bulatlat
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© 2006 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Media Center Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
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