By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Sometimes I think that there is an unwritten business strategy among the most powerful countries in the world. Bear in mind that the US, Russia and China are the biggest manufacturers of arms. If their economies are slowing down, all they have to do is declare or create a war or a revolution somewhere and their arms sales will sky rocket, ratcheting up their production of these.
There will be jobs and sources of humongous income for these countries and their people. It would be making money from the deaths of soldiers and civilians. Nothing can be more immoral than that.
Yet when powerful peoples’ ego or pride, they don’t care at all. They will justify it by saying that it is what happens in war.
For non-combatants and most of the civilian populations around the world, what they will get are untold sufferings, needlessly caused. Our editorial in this issue speaks about that. What was left out are the effects on OFWs, upon whom many Filipino families are so dependent for their survival.
While most progressive countries are short on laborers, we have a surplus and we are happy to fill up the void.
Though there will be products which will be in high demand when a widespread war occurs, the general effect would be economic slowdown. So many Filipino OFWs might be sent home. Will we have jobs waiting for them? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Does the government care? Our supposed leaders will again do what they have been doing ever since. They will be paying lip service to what the people need, but actually doing nothing about these.
Lucky would be those who were wise enough to have invested their money on lands or farms. At least they could farm these and they will not die due to hunger.
Very sad are the stories of OFWs who gambled whatever earnings they had. I know some Cordilleran workers who got involved in tunneling projects in Hongkong but came home empty handed after about three years. The reason was they got addicted at the casino in Macau and they practically lost all their money.
A Hongkong DH also had been addicted to the casinos there and she never sent any mount to her family back home. She ended up surviving in charity institutions and when the husband went to Macau to get her home, she even got angry as she had plans to stay longer to find a way to recoup all her losses. She finally came home, poorer than she used to be.
Not so different were the stories Cordillerans who made some money from businesses and then they discovered the joy of rolling the dice or the nice tingling sound of slot machines at Poro Point ins San Fernando, La Union. They ended up losing everything, even their houses and lots. For some, even their marriage.
Other OFW families lost their money by spending them on non-income generating assets like luxury items. They thought there was no end to the flow of dollars from abroad.
The only sadder story on family of OFWs is when the kids get spoiled and they only learned how to spend the money, without investing in themselves like learning income generating skills. Or without getting any education that will qualify them for jobs, which unfortunately during economic slowdowns will become rarer and rarer.
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