Philosophical 11

Heard yesterday, that gf sister-in-law was considering moving and working as an OFW. She has a 2 yr old son and both living with gf family. Her husband is working away and visits once or twice a month. He provides a couple of sacks of rice for up-keep I believe. She does not work and he earns a pittance. I find it difficult to understand how a mother can effectively abandon her young son and husband to earn better life for them. That is a big sacrifice. I could not allow it if I was in his shoes. But I guess its a cultural thing. I think she has given up the idea because she cannot afford the process of obtaining passports etc.

Which makes me wonder again about my gf. She has a good 8k allowance each month and spends it all on herself. Mainly jewellery and clothes. Oh, and 28k tv! I think she could do more to help her family monetary wise. But maybe she thinks its her turn to enjoy life now after sacrificing so much for so long.

She saw a motor bike a few days ago and asked again if we could have one. I said no. See no point....plenty of tricycles about here. Father said he could arrange a brand new car for us also. Again I said no. We only need to do a long journey every 2 months to renew the visa. He questioned the safety of the taxis and drivers. Again, I said no. I think it would be used as a family run-about.

Hate it when gf buys clothes and jewellery on-line. I have to check about 10 times a day to see if there was any change in the tracking details. Then fire off e.mails if they are a bit late.

Never mind.....

Stokkevn

Going overseas to work from the Philippines falls only just short of what the UN define as slavery ( i.e. bonds and fees equivalent to 1 years wages ). The agent collects from the prospective OFW fees for everything ( passport, training, country induction etc ) plus a bond of anything up to P100,000 which they only get back if they complete a contract, normally contract has no end date, i.e. contract never completed, bond not returned. I know some families here that have borrowed up to P175,000 to get a family member overseas. Their prospective earnings as a housemaid, cleaner etc is about $200-$250 a month, I will let you all work out the rest.

Over the last 35 years I have had experience using Filipino agents to provide workers, always a disaster both for us and the Filipino workers.

Gazza-d

And also it's common for the oversea employer to pay all the fees as well. If nurses come to the UK the NHS picks everything up but often the girls don't know this when the Philippine agency approaches them.

Stokkevn

I worked many years for offshore oil companies, we never used Filipino agencies, we interviewed in the Philippines, gave the ones we wanted a ticket to Singapore where our agency, owned by several major offshore companies, singed them up. This was set up because of the total dishonesty of the agents we had used prior to 1995.

Gazza-d

The trouble is that the Filipino agencies know this and when they find out that an overseas employer is in the country they will send girls along after charging a hefty finders fee. A bit like Springsteens father in law saying he can sourse a brand new car. Of course he can but springsteen doesn't see what finders fee the father in law would be getting, he's not doing it out of the kindness of his heart.

mikek1

Experience of my families overseas work extends to two cases. The first was taking our niece to the UK on a 'training' course for 3 years. Her work placement was with friends of ours that owns 2 care homes. The level of training offered by the UK training agency was best described as non existent. The actual fees paid to the so called recruitment agency in manila were PHP320,000 ! The owner of the agency could best be described as a shark. She was a real tough cookie, and obviously had done very well from ripping off young naïve Filipinos. In hindsight we could have arranged everything ourselves and saved all the inflated fees.


The second case was our other niece, who wanted to work in Hong Kong as a domestic. Last December we gave her the agency fees which amounted to PHP48,000. On top of this amount she had to borrow a further PHP30,000 for training courses, and medicals. Even though the work was for a domestic the interviews were very difficult. There were also a lot of training involved, which was classroom and 'on job' orientated. Each training module had to be passed, and that included learning some basic mandarin ! The point to both these cases is that the salaries that they had or are receiving were low in comparison to the agency fees. The first niece in the UK was on a salary of £950.a month (Nett). This sounds OK, however because she was living with us and had no expenses the reality of renting accommodation, food, transport , heating, electricity , etc.. etc., never entered the equation. Needless to say a lot her salary was sent home and she returned to the Philippines with very little. Hindsight is a good thing ! The second nieces salary is PHP23,000 a month. This is not to bad as it is a live in job and there are no household costs. The downside is that she has absolutely no privacy because her employers have only a small flat (Hong Kong property is mega expensive) so she shares a bedroom with the employers old mother. She is on call 18/19hours a day , gets very little sleep, and only gets one day a week off. The job could best be described as a sacrifice. Once again, at the moment the majority of her salary is sent to her family. I doubt after her 2 year contract is up she will go home with any meaningful amount of money. I would add that many of these Hong Kong domestics leave very quickly owing to the demands that their employers place on them. For a Filipino working abroad it is a sacrifice. Unfortunately, most of them (particularly those in menial occupations) are exploited and paid low salaries due to the fact that their employer can do exactly that. Pete's G/F states she was on a very good salary in Kuwait, I doubt this very much. On the numerous times we have travelled through the Middle East we have yet to meet an OFW that tells us they are earning well. Most have barely the money to get home. I would advice any Filipino seeking OFW work in a menial capacity to stay in the Philippines. The salary's abroad, the sacrifices, and the rip off agency fees are just not worth it.

Philosophical 11

Thanks again all for your info.

I must admit I was surprised at how low the wage was etc. I have seen old adverts stuck to building walls advertising for OFW's to work in various places overseas. Some advertise no fees etc. One advertised wages equivalent to 20k peso pm for domestics to work in Kuwait. I have no idea what my gf earned out there, but I know she came back with a fair bit of money which she spent mainly on her family. I know she was very happy out there which made it difficult for her to decide on what to do when her 4 yr contract expired. I know her employer wanted her back with a big increase and she is in daily fb contact with her c0-workers. They send her pictures of "her" baby most days and sometimes chat on Skype. Although I find this a bit uncomfortable, I can understand why she remains in contact.

Re the car and her father. Yes, I know there will be something in it for him...that's the way it works out here. When we arrived out here together, I had to pay 5k peso for the hire of a mini bus for one day which I paid directly to her father prior to arriving. I paid the same again two months later to renew my visa. It was originally just for me and gf with father driving. It ended up full with about 8 - 10 pax with family and friends who suddenly had the need to also go to Bacolod. No thank yous or contribution toward cost were offered. Since found out that the local taxi drivers hire the same vehicle for 2k peso per day. I don't mind people taking a small cut... but 3k cut is pure greed in my opinion. Unless taxi drivers can hire at a cheaper rate than me that is.....



Ps....should have mentioned the rate is exclusive of fuel. I reckon that to be an additional 1k peso for the return journey consisting of about 360 km. So cut would be about 2k peso for her father.

Stokkevn

When the family want to go to the beach I normally rent a jeepny, which including about a 50km round trip and 6-7 hrs at beach I pay P1,500, with about 75 bodies on each jeepny. If we go any further then the driver fills up with fuel before we leave and I fill it up when we return.

Stokkevn

I spoke to a guy who did the interviews for our company, he said that you had it right, the first time they had more agents any young girls running around than prospective employees basically turning it into a 3 ring circus. Ever since then they advertised the interview date, venue etc, demand that anyone who wants an interview to e-mail CV minimum 10 days before. They then contacted the ones they were interested in and set up new time and venue with them, the rest just got a dear john letter and original venue was cancelled.

Philosophical 11

Gf received a gold chain this afternoon which costs 8900 peso. Bearing in mind she gets 8k monthly I mentioned that it was a lot of money. She said it was cheap considering how much it weighed. Also, it was over 3 "gives". Bearing in mind she has other items on "gives" including this 28k tv which she bought last month, it will be interesting to see how long she runs out of her allowance pm bearing in mind she was 3k short this month which will be deducted in November.

Happy days.... :-)

scot47

It is all about status. You can see that in Third World Cultures, like the Philippines or Essex.

Gazza-d

Sorry to disagree with you but with third world countries it's more about portable wealth. Most of the jewelry in the Philippines is quite plane but high karat. You won't find any 9K bling, my wife wondered why we even bothered with it as it's just junk. It's all about being able to pawn it in the bad times and reaquire it in the good times.

scot47

The motorbike and the car that is never driven ? Hardly "portable wealth". It is about showing people that you are rich.

mikek1

Pete,

Next time you speak with the father in law could you ask him HOW you could obtain a new car? We went to the BDO bank and enquired about a loan for the purchase of a building that was used as dormitory for boarders. We would have used our house and lot as security and put down a deposit of PHP7m. When we had the meeting with the bank officials the paperwork we would have had to supply was 'mind boggling'. The paperwork required for this type of borrowing in the UK was a fraction of what they required. The interest on any loan was crippling high. Needless to say we did not go any further. I am at a complete loss as to how it is possible to get credit for a new car without the usual checks, employment, security, deposit, etc . Maybe your father in law has some shady connections in the bank !

Gazza-d

All foreigners are rich, the farther in law would naturally assume it would paid for with cash. Why would it be any other way.