Overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong are not content with Malacañang’s explanation that President Benigno Aquino III, in his State of the Nation Address, never intended to insult OFWs when he praised workers who opted to stay in the Philippines.
The United Filipinos in Hong Kong said Mr. Aquino’s remarks were contemptuous of OFWs.
In his address to Congress, he had said: “Kung magkasakit ka at makita mo ang nars na nag-aruga sa iyo, sa halip na magserbisyo sa dayuhan kapalit ng mas malaking suweldo, pakisabi rin po, ‘salamat po.’ Bago ka umuwi galing eskuwela, lapitan mo ang guro mong piniling mamuhunan sa iyong kinabukasan kaysa unahin ang sariling ginhawa; sabihin mo, ‘salamat po.’”(If you get sick and you see the nurse who takes care of you, instead of serving foreigners for a higher salary, please say ‘thank you’. Before you go home from school, approach the teacher who chose to invest in your future instead of prioritizing her own welfare, and say ‘thank you.’”)
In a statement issued in Hong Kong, Dolores Balladares, Unifil chair, said: “Action is what counts and for the past year, the lack of action of the Aquino administration belies its professed intention respect OFWs.”
Balladares earlier described Aquino’s remarks as “contempt” for OFWs.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, however, said the other day that there was no attempt to discredit OFWs in the Sona, adding, “It was just to emphasize that we have people here [in the Philippines] who are also making sacrifices.” He added that the President was aware of the “social cost” to OFWs separated from their families.
But Balladares countered: “If he (Aquino) respects OFWs, he shouldn’t have said those words that project us as Filipinos who are only after our self-interests. If he respects Filipinos abroad who have been forced to leave the country due to his and his predecessor’s economic policies, he should have reported programs that are responsive to the needs of migrants. If he respects us, he should have acted on our demands that have been sitting on his desk for the past year.”