THE DINING TABLE OF THE VICTORIA household in Barangay Batingan in Binangonan, Rizal has not seen a complete family for nine straight Noche Buenas and Media Noches.

For nearly a decade, mother Zenaida would buy the usual holiday fruits, cook the usual holiday dishes and serve the usual holiday desserts to her children. Then she would wait at exactly 12 a.m. on both occasions to either open a letter or receive a call from father Reyel, who was celebrating on his own, miles away from their home.

“What food have you got there? Please give me some,” he would jokingly tell her over the phone.

Reyel Victoria, 44, spent a huge portion of his life away from his family to work for a farm in Saudi Arabia and a machine company in Taiwan. He started out in 1992, back when their eldest child Janine was still learning how to take baby steps.

Out of the desire to earn a fortune for his growing family, he sought the help of a friend who was then a data encoder in Saudi Arabia. His friend helped him get his first job as an overseas Filipino worker.

Adjusting to prohibitions

But life in the Middle East was not as rewarding as he wished as a tractor operator for a wheat and barley farm almost 60 km away from the town.
There were only 11 Filipinos in the farm when he started working there.

He had difficulty in adjusting to the new culture with a Muslim employer in an Islamic country whose government forbids pork, liquor and public display of non-Islamic religious materials along with strict media censorship. Their employer prohibited even the playing of card games.

In public places, they always had to be careful with their actions, particularly in interactions with Muslim women, as they were constantly being observed by the mutawaa, the Islamic police force. The religious police ensure that everyone—Arabs and foreigners alike—complies with the ultra-conservative Sharia law enforced throughout the kingdom. The law is based in the Koran and the Sunna, two of the most important texts of the Islamic faith.

‘Prison without bars’

Being Christians who grew up in a democratic Philippines, no wonder Reyel and his fellow OFWs referred to the country as a “bilangguang walang rehas,” a prison without bars. But they had no choice but comply and respect the traditions of the foreign land.

“I was so homesick back then,” he said while recalling the first Christmas he spent away from his family. Christmas Eve passed with him lying on his bed, crying hard and thinking about home.

The only form of leisure he had back then was writing letters to his wife. Landline calls were costly and mobile phones were not yet available, so he wrote an average of five letters a week; it had become a habit after the day’s work. If they had free time, he and his friends played basketball or visited sand dunes around the area.

With only Friday as a day off, they would travel on Thursday nights to the nearest Filipino camps to watch television and share food and stories with each other. They would go back to their own camps the following evening.

Life in Taiwan

After finishing his contract in the farm, Reyel went home, then got his second job as a machine operator to a Taiwanese company that specializes in bobbin winders and cutting machines.

First times have always been difficult for him. His memory of his first Noche Buena in Taiwan was a silent night in his dormitory, sharing a serving of sardines with a fellow Filipino. “In the Philippines, when it’s Christmas, you wouldn’t eat sardines,” he said laughing.

But it didn’t take long for things to change. Soon he got acquainted with other Filipinos all over the island. They would organize groups and gather together on special occasions, especially Christmas and New Year. OFWs in Taiwan are estimated to be 100 000, a number numerous enough for them to form regional groups among themselves.

Kapampangans and Ilokanos, among others, would also organize Christmas and New Year parties of their own besides participating in the all-Filipino celebrations. When groups of OFWs gather to celebrate special occasions, they usually have food assignments for each group in a particular company. Sometimes they just contribute a certain amount of money and a pseudo-committee would take charge of the preparations.

The celebrations are not as festive as they could have been in the Philippines, where Christmas countdowns start as early as Sept. 1 and the celebrations extend until the first Sunday of the New Year, the Feast of the Three Kings. Taiwan, on the other hand, does not actually celebrate Christmas. Even Dec. 25 itself is a regular working day in the predominantly Buddhist country.

“Before you knew it, it’s already Christmas,” Reyel said, attributing the lack of sense of time to the work-oriented and busy-as-a-bee dispositions of Taiwanese businessmen. “You wouldn’t even see a clue,” he added.

But what he wasn’t able to do in Saudi, he made up for in Taiwan. He was able to cook any food he liked, drink occasionally and spend time in parks, beaches and night markets. Public practice of any religion is also allowed in the relatively tolerant country, which paved the way for him to become a part of the Amazing Grace Church, a Christian group led by pastors Louie and Merly Ong, Filipino-Chinese missionaries who conduct Bible studies, spiritual services and medical missions among OFWs in Taiwan and even in biennial missions in the Philippines.

Reyel took out a metal box from the bed drawer and showed a pile of pictures of his memorable moments with friends from the church. His memorabilia also included picture frames with caricatures of him reading the Bible on a podium, dedications from friends, and colorful pamphlets of church services, which he enthusiastically attended.

Memorable date

He took a blue pamphlet and pointed to a service program dated Dec. 16, 2007. He was assigned to the “Word of God” part, in which he gave a sermon to the group. It was a memorable date for him, because right before he delivered his religious talk, he made a call back home and learned his mother just died. He was calm as he recalled the experience, saying God helped him overcome the shock.

He continued participating in the activities of the Church and eventually spent the rest of his Christmases and New Years with them until he returned in the Philippines early this year. The revised Taiwanese law on OFWs decrees that they can stay in Taiwan for only nine years. Reyel had already filled the maximum. He went home every three years during his stay in Taiwan, but those arrivals never fell on either Christmas or New Year.

Now in the Philippines, he’s currently applying for jobs in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, eager to continue the support he has been giving to his family.

Well worth it

To sustain their lifestyle and the education of their three children, they set up a tiangge in the public market which Zenaida attends to every Sunday. The business may not be generating the same amount of money from Reyel’s remittances, but having him quite a long time, especially for the holidays was all worth the bargain.

With the skyrocketing prices of goods and less money to spend, Zenaida bought less holiday fruits, cooked less holiday dishes and served less holiday desserts last Christmas and New Year’s Eve. But she no longer had to wait for a letter or a phone call at midnight.

At the dinner table, with his three children and his wife was Reyel, the long-awaited pillar of the Victoria family.