When you think of the Philippines, what comes to mind?
That's why I often hear the phrase "Did you know? The Philippines is a matriarchal society." Sometimes people say that Indonesia and Vietnam are matrilineal societies "because women are working to support their families."
This is, of course, a misuse of the concept of "matriarchal society", but it reflects a phenomenon in Southeast Asia, where a large number of women work outside the home and become an important source of income for their families.
In Southeast Asia, there are a large number of women who work outside the home
In fact, in addition to the golden sign of "Filipino maid", the Philippines also exports a large number of other laborers, who will enter labor-intensive industries such as manufacturing, construction, fishing, and agriculture. These "overseas Filipino migrant workers" have not only reduced the overall unemployment rate in the Philippines, but also contributed a lot to the Philippine economy.
Today, the Philippines is the fourth largest new industrial country in Southeast Asia, but the problem of wealth disparity, geographical and generational disparities within the country is still prominent. Therefore, many people still decide to work abroad even if they have a good educational background.
Where did you come from and where are you going?
Before the pandemic, the Philippines exported about 2 million workers overseas all year round. In 2020-2021, when the epidemic began, this number plummeted to 400,000, and in 2023, it rose to 2.33 million.
The Philippines' emergence as a "migrant country" is inextricably linked to its colonial history.
As early as the Spanish colonial period, Filipino laborers worked as crew members on distant-water fishing vessels. During the U.S. colonial period, the Philippines was once again a major source of foreign labor in Hawaii and the Pacific Coast. During World War II, the U.S. Navy recruited a large number of Filipino men, many of whom obtained U.S. citizenship after retiring from the military. In addition to this, the Philippines has also exported a large number of professional nursing staff to the United States. It can be said that the colonial system brought a large number of overseas jobs to the Philippines and laid the foundation for the export of manpower for the Philippines after independence.
The Philippines, which became independent the year after the end of World War II, inherited the complete industrial system of the American colonial era and was quite wealthy.
However, more than 20 years of authoritarian rule by Marcos have stalled the Philippine economy. In an effort to alleviate soaring unemployment at home, the Marcos administration launched a "labor export policy" in 1974 to encourage locals to work abroad – initially mainly in the Middle East, where oil-rich countries were short of engineers and construction workers, and by the mid-to-late 1980s, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong were increasingly the main influx of Filipino migrant workers.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos
The Philippines currently has a national population of over 117 million. There are about 12 million Filipinos (expatriates + migrant workers) living abroad for a long time, making it the third largest group of overseas migrants in the world. In the past, these people contributed about 10 percent of the Philippine economy with remittances from overseas alone.
Before the pandemic, the Philippines' economic growth rate remained above 6% for eight consecutive years, fell to minus 9.52% in 2020 due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, recovered to 5.7% in 2021, and as high as 7.6% in 2022, and fell back to 5.6% in 2023 due to high inflation and other constraints.
The pandemic has greatly constrained the outflow and interaction of Filipino migrant workers, and this factor no longer exists. In 2023, overseas Filipino remittances hit a record high of US$37.2 billion, up 3% year-on-year, accounting for 8.5% of the total economy and 7.7% of gross national income, the central bank said. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Philippines has begun to use titles such as "contemporary heroes" and "national heroes" to compliment overseas Filipino migrant workers.
"Working abroad" may seem like a dream, but there is a shadow on the back side of the "heroic" aura: overseas migrant workers often face problems such as unequal pay for equal work, overtime, unpaid wages, occupational disasters with nowhere to complain, and beatings and abuse from unscrupulous employers. Although working overseas has broadened Filipinos' international horizons, many (especially female domestic workers) have sacrificed time with their children and families to work outside the home for several years or even more than ten years.
Migrating "Moms"
Taipei's area along North Zhongshan Road, known as "Little Manila" – is limited to Sundays.
On Sundays when Filipino migrant workers are on holiday, the place takes on a different look: in the morning, the church of St. Tofo is full of praying people, at lunchtime, the smell wafts from Filipino snack shops, currency exchange offices, grocery stores, Filipino beauty salons, and all kinds of small vendors run by Filipinos are all happily and bustlingly spread out on this day, and from the evening onwards, everyone begins to drink, sing, and gather with friends or loved ones to relax their tired bodies and minds. By 9 p.m., the crowd had gradually dispersed.
The author met Sarah about 6 years ago, when she worked for a Canadian white-collar family working in Taiwan, taking care of 3 preschoolers, cooking, doing housework, etc. Sarah has a Sunday off and is paid more than the average caregiver.
Prior to coming to Taiwan, Sarah also worked in Singapore and the Middle East. Sarah said she prefers to work in East Asia, at least with more freedom to dress and kinder employers. But she also admits that Asian employers do not respect the value of housework itself as much as their European and American counterparts.
In fact, before the pandemic, Sarah was worried about the continuation of the contract because the employer had to transfer. After returning to the Philippines, Sarah was unable to work abroad due to the new crown epidemic, and worked in a relative's family factory for 3 years. It wasn't until 2023 that Sarah was able to go abroad again and go to Hong Kong, China to work as a domestic helper.
In Hong Kong, Filipino maids have a holiday dinner on the roadside
"Now I only have 6~7 hours of rest every day, I am very tired, but I can't help it, this is the life of overseas migrant workers. But working as a single mother like me, who didn't finish college, can be a huge help to my family, and for my country, we contribute a lot of foreign exchange. Sarah said.
In fact, many Filipino domestic workers have a similar background to Sarah: single mother, college dropout, and need to raise more than 2 children in the family alone. I wondered: Why do Filipino women have high rates of job-dropping and single parents?
Filipino women have a high rate of job-dropouts and single parents
Cynthia, a Filipino friend, told me: "Because when we are young, we fall in love, we get pregnant accidentally, and once we get pregnant, we get dropped out of school." "The Philippines is a Catholic country, abortions are not allowed, and women will have to marry because they are pregnant, and start their "fertility journey" until one day, the husband has another woman outside. In order to be self-reliant, women will foster their children and embark on a "journey" abroad alone. In the migrant worker community, such stories are everywhere.
"My husband was having an affair, so I went abroad to work. Now I'm happy, I raise my kids and save money to build my own house. On the other end of the line, Jenny laughed as she prepared dinner for her employer. She now sends NT$15,000 (about 3,300 yuan) back to her sister every month, who helps her take care of her two young children.
Of course, there are also stories of loving couples working together. Ann has been working abroad since 2009 and before that, she was a full-time housewife. Ann started working in the Middle East and moved to Taiwan in 2015 to work as a home care worker, caring for elderly elders. Ann's three children are studying in college in the Philippines, and she earns NT$25,000 a month and will remit NT$20,000 (about 4,500 yuan) back to serve as her children's tuition and living expenses. Ann's husband works as a personal bodyguard in the Philippines, with a monthly salary of 15,000 pesos (about 2,000 yuan), and her husband's salary is used to pay for the family's water, electricity, internet, food and other expenses.
If given the choice, these migratory "moms" prefer to stay in their hometowns and stay with their children. Unfortunately, there are few job opportunities and low salaries in the Philippines, and for "mothers" who have a family to take care of, working abroad is a "helpless but optimal" choice.
"If the salary in the Philippines were a little higher, I would like to stay and work in the Philippines so that I can take care of my children. Jenny affirmed.
Paradise is hard to find
News of Filipino migrant workers killed overseas is often in the news.
In 2021, Filipino migrant workers were unpaid and abused in Saudi Arabia, and the Philippine government halted applications for migrant workers to work in Saudi Arabia in November of that year. This ban was not lifted until November 2022.
In February 2018, Kuwaiti police received a report that a 29-year-old Filipino migrant worker had been found in the refrigerator of an empty house. When she was found, she had been stuffed in a freezer freezer for a year. After the incident, the Philippine government also immediately stopped the work applications of migrant workers to Kuwait, and then-President Duterte also urgently ordered the airline to bring back the "suffering" compatriots within 72 hours.
The remains of Filipino laborers who were brutally murdered in Kuwait returned home, and their relatives wept bitterly
In 1991, the hanging of Filipino domestic worker Flor Contemplacion in Singapore affected diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Singapore. Filipino domestic helper Flor was convicted of murdering another Filipino domestic helper and a 3-year-old boy in her care and sentenced to death by hanging. However, Filipinos believe that the whole incident lacks a fair trial and is riddled with loopholes.
Although such a case is extreme, it is only the tip of the iceberg, and what is hidden under the surface of the water is the bitter blood and tears of countless overseas Filipino migrant workers.
When I met Paul, he had just recovered from a minor work injury. He stretched out his right hand, and the middle finger of his right hand was noticeably shorter than the middle finger of his left. "I was cut by a machine last month, but luckily I was able to retract my hand quickly, otherwise my fingers would have been gone. "When I was video chatting with my mom, she said it was a 'cute finger.'" Presumably, the injury was not serious, and Paul did not receive any compensation.
When I met Paul, I also met his friend Alan. A few days later, Alan sent a photo of his hand covered in blood - the palm of his hand was cut by the spiral leaf of the machine, but fortunately it was only a flesh wound. The next day, his employer asked him to continue working, and he said he was depressed and exhausted.
Both Paul and Allen are from the beautiful island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, which is also an important province for the export of Filipino migrant workers. Paul studied hotel management, but after graduating from university, he was forced to work as a cleaner in a hotel. He said that many people can only start from the grassroots after graduating from university. Paul later worked many jobs in Manila, as a waiter, a cook's assistant, a cleaner, and so on, but all of them were contract laborers and paid low wages.
Manila, Philippines
Paul's mother had three husbands, the first husband (Paul's biological father) who left his wife and children and ran away from home, and the second husband did the same, so Paul's mother also embarked on a journey to work abroad after giving birth to a second daughter. It wasn't until she married her third husband that she settled down, and her gentle, hard-working stepfather helped Paul finish college.
Until one day, my stepfather was dying at home due to a heart attack. Before he died, his stepfather took Paul's hand and told him to work hard and go abroad to work when he had the opportunity. As the eldest son in the family, Paul decided to take on the burden of supporting his family, borrowed money from various places to raise the intermediary fee, and became a factory worker in the "army" of Filipino migrant workers.
Paul's dream was simple: when he earned money, he would return to his hometown to buy land, build a house, raise pigs, marry his lover, and have many, many children.
"What do you want your future children to do?" I asked Paul.
"If there are enough jobs in the Philippines, of course I want them to live in their own country. But if you can't, you can also go abroad as a migrant worker. Paul replied.
Becoming an overseas migrant worker seems to have long been an option for Filipinos in their future careers. However, if the country's economy is strong and its citizens can live and work in peace and contentment in their homeland, who wants to go abroad to survive?