Filipinos Sacrifice Family to Achieve Dreams in Korea
By Jonathan M. Hicap
Korea Times Correspondent
SEOUL ― Overseas Filipino workers around the world are helping to keep the Philippine economy afloat with their remittance, sending a total of $16.4 billion in 2008.
But behind this staggering amount of money are stories of Filipinos - sacrifice and hard work just to achieve dreams for themselves and for their families. Some have also gone to great lengths of working illegally in other countries just to earn money.
Millions of Filipinos have gone overseas to work, leaving their families behind. The growing clamor for overseas employment among Filipinos is fueled mainly by the economic situation in the Philippines, where poverty is a problem and the minimum daily wage in Manila is 382 pesos (about $8) and even lower in the provinces.
Last year, 1.23 million Filipinos left the country to work overseas, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). This was almost 15 percent higher than in 2007.
In South Korea alone, there are 45,946 Filipinos holding different types of visa including those who are working, studying or visiting, according to lawyer Delmer Cruz, the Philippine labor attache of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in South Korea.
One of them is Carol, a 38-year-old mother of three, who has been working here for the last six years.
Carol told The Korea Times that her journey to South Korea started with a twist of fate back in Manila six years ago. She was working for a bank in Manila when the opportunity came up.
She accompanied a friend to an audition in Manila as a singer in South Korea. When they were at the talent agency, the Korean promoter needed to send 16 videos of the applicants to the employer in South Korea but there were only 15 girls who came. The promoter asked Carol to fill in the 16th slot.
As luck would have it, only six applicants passed the requirements of the employer and Carol was one of them. Unfortunately, her friend failed to pass the audition.
Although she had to leave her children behind, Carol made her journey to South Korea during the winter in 2003 without knowing what was in store for her.
Upon her arrival, she was shocked to learn that her job as a singer entailed dancing wearing bra and panties and entertaining American soldiers at a bar near Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, situated about 88 km from Seoul. She was appalled and told her promoter that she couldn't do the job. In order to escape, she ran under the freezing weather but her employer came after her.
She begged him to give her another job but he said she was unqualified since she didn't know how to speak Korean. She ended up teaching the English language to Korean students just so she could stay in Korea.
In the last six years, Carol has had several jobs: teacher, factory worker, caregiver, babysitter, secretary and singer. She had to endure homesickness and her longing for her children who are staying with her mother in the Philippines.
Today, she designs dog clothes that are exported to Japan. As a means to earn more, she sells phone cards to fellow Filipinos.
During the first few years, I was so lonely. But now, I've become used to it, she said.
With her earnings, Carol said she can send her children to school and help her mother with household expenses in the Philippines. She also sends her family boxes which contain anything including food and clothes.
In a house in the center of Seoul, Carol shares the rent with Marivic and Rose, natives of Davao City in the Philippines, who also came to Korea for jobs.
The living room is adorned with photos of Marivic and Rose's children, a reminder of their loved ones back in the Philippines. The two work as housecleaners of American expats in Seoul and are paid by the hour.
Today, there are 1.15 million foreigners in Korea, of which 958,377 have legal status while 200,489 are illegal, based on the 2008 statistics of the Korean Immigration Service under the Ministry of Justice.
Cruz said of the 45,946 Filipinos here, more than half of them ― 24,186 (or 52.64 percent) ― are working under the Employment Permit System (EPS), which allows Korean employers to hire foreign workers. Filipino artists and performers which include singers number 3,460 while residential visa (F-2) holders totaled 6,191.
The EPS is a government-to-government employment program that eliminates middlemen such as private recruitment agencies.
The Philippines was the first country with which South Korea signed an EPS agreement in 2004.
Besides the Philippines, South Korea has also signed EPS memoranda of understanding with Mongolia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.
Jobs under the EPS are called 3Ds: dangerous, dirty and difficult. According to Korea's Ministry of Labor, foreign workers under the EPS are allowed to work in five industries: manufacturing, construction, agriculture and stockbreeding (farm products cultivation, stockbreeding), fishing and services industry (refrigerated warehousing, restaurants, business support services, social welfare, sewage disposal, general repair services of motor vehicles, nursing, household services etc.) Cruz said EPS applicants must pass the Korea Language Test and undergo medical examination.
According to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center for Filipino Migrants, the monthly salary of EPS workers range from 838,000 won (or $700) to 904,000 won ($756) per month on 40-44 hours per week work schedule.
Like many migrant workers, Filipinos here have to endure physically demanding jobs, often rendering overtime work to earn more money. And many also face problems in the workplace.
The Philippine Embassy in Seoul, church-based organizations and migrant centers around South Korea assist Filipinos who encounter problems.
One of these is the Hyehwadong Filipino Catholic Community (HFCC), an association of Filipino migrant workers in South Korea. The organization reaches out to all Filipinos in Korea by assisting them in all kinds of problems and needs. Edison Pinlac, HFCC president, has been living in Korea for 14 years and is working in a garments factory.
He said the center usually receives calls from Filipino requesting assistance regarding unpaid salaries or about their illegal or undocumented status. Based on data, there are 12,166 illegal Filipinos in South Korea, or 26.77 percent of the total number of Filipinos in the country.
Ariel Epino of the center's labor relations committee said some of the problems Filipino workers face in South Korea include unpaid salaries, discrimination, and maltreatment in the form of verbal or physical abuse.
On the other hand, Cruz said common complaints by Filipino workers under the EPS include job substitution, where the job promised in the Philippines is not the real job when a Filipino lands in Korea. There is also the problem of lost in translation where the original job description in the Korean language becomes different when it is translated to English, causing confusion.
Some workers also complain of multitasking, where additional work is given outside the main job. Others also have overtime disputes, and complaints on delayed salaries and long working hours.
Cruz advises Filipinos who experience employment problems to go to the nearest labor office or migrant center where they can be assisted.
The Philippine labor office in Seoul has three main responsibilities: job market research, welfare protection and safeguard and welfare of Filipinos.
Cruz said the POLO assists Filipinos in various ways.
He prepares them socially and economically, he said. One approach is through financial education campaign where Filipinos in Korea are taught about money management.
How to save and where to put your savings, said Cruz.
He said they encourage Filipinos to be entrepreneurs and link them to Philippine agencies like the Department of Labor and Employment and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
The increase in the number of foreigners in Korea including Filipinos was prompted by Korea's booming economy, acute labor shortage and rapidly aging population.
As part of the minority, Filipinos have to cope with the different culture, laws, and the way of life in South Korea.
For one, Filipinos have found it hard to learn the Korean language--written and spoken, although the Korean government offers language classes to foreigners. As a result, you usually see Filipinos mingling with fellow Filipinos.
One example is the Filipino congregation during weekends at the Hyehwadong Catholic Church.
Every Sunday, the road leading to the church becomes a marketplace where Filipinos sell everything from canned goods and condiments imported from the Philippines, Filipino food, phone cards to clothes.
The Catholic Church becomes their center of salvation and support from fellow Filipinos. The day also becomes an event to swap stories and assist Filipinos who have problems.
Despite all these problems, Filipinos want to continue working in South Korea.
Carol says she is happy living in Korea.
Koreans are very kind,she says, adding that Koreans appreciate hardworking employees especially Filipinos.
But she says that she will keep working until she saves enough money to support her family in the Philippines.
I am really preparing for the future of my children, she said.
And despite the promising life South Korea has to offer, Carol is firm on her plan that once she gets old, she wants to retire in the Philippines.
There's no place like home, she said.