Monday, November 3, 2008

Mail-order Brides, Prostitutes and DH

Trying to find interesting stories about Overseas Filipino Workers, I was able to stumble upon a particular post from bilingualpen dot com entitled "On the OFW Phenomenon, Mail-order Brides, Prostitutes, and More". The author presented very well on how the word Filipina would mean to different nationalities around the globe.

While to others it would mean as Mail-order Brides or Prostitutes or Domestic Helpers, comments from different foreign bloggers conveyed a message that a word Filipina doesn't sound that bad. Some were even thankful for having their sons found a perfect Filipina match.


Mail-order Bride may sound like an ordinary letter send via post and delivered by a post man in his bicycle. It may sound so easy as sending letter or perhaps email in todays form of communication. But maybe there's more to it, maybe a question perhaps on why are they choosing their brides to be Filipinas? Let's take away the other words and let's leave the word Bride, it means a soon-to-be wife, a lifetime partner and a future mother. Why are they choosing their lifetime partner to be Filipina if they don't believe the characteristics of a Filipina as a good wife? Why can't they just marry their own female race instead if they think Filipinas are lowly kind of person? Why do they want to be associated with a Filipina for the rest of their lives? We maybe raising our eye brows everytime we see a Filipina with a foreign partner walking in the malls in the Philippines or in different tourist spots around the country. We maybe judging them of just using the form of marriage to elevate the lives of their families from poverty. But why are we judging them when a term Mail-order Bride means someone is finding a Filipina bride? If I am the groom, I would definitely look for a bride who could stand with me for the rest of my life, I would definitely look for a wife that could take good care of my children, family centered and God fearing, the traits that only a true Filipina could give.

I will not be posting words to promote prostitution here, but I would just like to ask and appeal to everyone to look at them as human beings. They may be choosing the path of an easy money but let's just don't forget that they have their own reasons to end in a world where everyone wish to vanish. Yes you read it right, "Everyone", including themselves who continuosly hope that someday they would be living in a world that every woman is dreaming of. Some of them are mothers, sisters, daughters or even wives whose lives have been struck in poverty back in our own country. They can be the victims of the globalization. When the rest of the world are building their economic stability, our country seems to be doing the opposite and forcing our own countrymen to fight their own battles outside the country, even if it would mean working under the glowing lights of pubs and clubs.

Filipina Domestic Helpers have been around for ages now. Allow me to ask the following questions. Did you see a domestic helper from a first world country working in a third world country? Is it bad to work as a domestic helper? If your answer is both "no" then you should understand why we are the number one source of nannies around the globe. We should be supporting them of what they are doing. Rampant abuse of domestic helpers have been reported lately from different countries. But sad to hear that our government is extending very limited support to these individuals when it comes to protecting their rights. Not unless maybe if the media would be focusing all the lenses to the officials in the Philippine Administration. After all, presidential election is fast approaching.

Mail-order brides, prostitutes or domestic helpers, for me they are all just riding on the journey for survivality and plain victims of the greater problem that lies within our country, our beloved Philippines.