Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

350 SESSION V
most migrants, particularly women, keep these
problems to themselves in order to continue working
abroad. Many migrants confided that these feelings of
loneliness and separation were most intense when they
took care of the children and family of their employers.
This situation made them wonder who took care of
their own children and families at home. The long
separation and absence from their families also causes
many families to break up.
A study in 1996 by the Philippines Social Welfare
Department (Asian Migrant Year Book 1999) revealed
that 40% of migrants’ families faced problems such as
infidelity, early/unwanted pregnancy of the children,
drug abuse, delinquency/dropping out of school, etc.
Therefore the more serious of the longer migrants
(usually mother) is the family’s problem.
The motivations to return to the Philippines and settle
down permanently include feelings of isolation and
homesickness, the perception that they had stayed
long enough overseas and that they had sufficiently
fulfilled their family obligations, harsh treatment by
employers, old age, sickness, injury, and the realization
that remittances and savings at home were mismanaged
so that the sacrifices undergone were not valued by the
family. (International Catholic Migration Commission:
1998, v)
Returned OFWs considered that certain benefits derive
from an overseas job, including increased earnings and
a greater ability to save, opportunities for travel and
adventure, skills acquired from the job, the opportunity
to be exposed and to learn from another culture, personal
development (increased self-discipline, confidence,
patience, established their independence).
The increased income also suddenly changes the
economic status of the family. Migrant families
become the new middle class in their own country. In
the destination country, migrants also become the
captive market of brand-name goods. These artificial
and unsustainable lifestyles reinforce the migrants’
dependency on overseas work, resulting in cyclical
migration.
The Asian Migrant Center (AMC) defined migrant
reintegration as “the process where a migrant worker
returns to her/his home country to rejoin her/his family/
society and stay for good”. (Asian Migrants Year Book,
1999) Elena L. Samonte defined the “Reintegration
Program” for overseas Filipinos, as “[a] program …
designed to help those returning to reassume their
development role in nation building. The overall program
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows
includes sociocultural and economic reintegration,
focusing on skills upgrading and training, livelihood
generation activities, entrepreneurship programs, transfer
of technology, and cultural/educational immersion
programs.” (Elena 1995, 11) So how will the sending
governments handle the millions of Asian migrant
workers when they finally have to go back home?
1.2 Problems and Needs of Returned OFWs
Most returned migrants experience severe economic
reintegration problems. The migrants were especially
unable to find employment upon their return and unable
to adjust to the great differences in wages between the
foreign country of employment and the Philippines.
Returned migrants also underwent difficult social
reintegration because of the long separation from
families and communities. Many were unable to return
to social networks that might have been weakened by
the migration process, especially if the migration ended
with failure. Some also faced legal problem.
Common needs of returned OFWs were information
on the practicalities of every aspect of life, including
financial resources, legal aid and social welfare
services, legal services for returnees with experiences
of abuse and exploitation, financial advise or assistance
on how to invest their savings wisely, how to open a
business, how to become a member of a cooperative,
self–employment opportunities necessitating technical
assistance, entrepreneurial skills training, business
consultancy, credit or access to capital if savings are
insufficient, and local job placement in a position that
will allow the application of skills learned abroad and
will provide earnings equivalent to an overseas salary.
1.3 The Reintegration Response Programs 5
The Reintegration Programs are designed interventions
and are implemented by various agencies such as national
and local government, private institutions, churches,
and NGOs. The programs assist in psycho-social and
personal reintegration, education and training, legal
assistance, health services and economic reintegration.
The following are example of the Reintegration Program
in Philippines:
National and Local Government
The Philippines government has instituted various
measures to address the OFWs’ problems both at
pre-departure and upon the return of workers. 6 (Maruja
M.B. Asis: 2001, 25-26)