At Large
Talking of migration
By Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:47:00 10/21/2008
Filed Under: Migration
An international alliance of migrant workers has called for overseas workers to take part in “Zero Remittance Day” on Oct. 29. The call for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) not to send money home on this day was issued to express the group’s opposition to the Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) to be held here from Oct. 27 to 30. [Read story]
On the surface, the GFMD seems like a big deal, indeed. No less than UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to attend, along with about 18 ministers and officials at the sub-ministerial level, and representatives of international and local agencies and NGOs. Around 800 are expected to take part in both the civil society meeting as well as the official proceedings. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver the opening keynote address and Vice President Noli de Castro will give the closing remarks.
But Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr., the main organizer of the event as undersecretary for migrant workers’ affairs, says he doesn’t foresee a “Manila Declaration” or even a “Statement” at the end of the four-day event. Instead, he says, they expect “practical outputs,” including a “compendium of best practices from around the world” that have to do with ensuring protection for migrant workers, from both their home governments as well as their host governments.
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Migration and migrants’ rights have always been a contentious issue among governments. Conejos believes that this is because, in a globalized world, “migration is the only remaining area where governments can assert their sovereignty,” since trade and diplomacy have increasingly become areas for regional cooperation.
The theme for this year’s GFMD is “Protecting and Empowering Migrants for Development,” although the International Migrants Alliance, the group behind “Zero Remittance Day,” disputes the very notion of linking migration to development.
As it is, the very agenda of the GFMD has had to accommodate present-day realities, particularly the financial meltdown that has assailed financial markets around the world and which promises unpleasant consequences even for developing countries like the Philippines.
There are implications on the scale and amounts of remittances from migrants and workers, as well as on labor policy, especially with the foreseen forced repatriation of low-skilled workers, particularly domestics. Measures will have to be taken or anticipated, on the part of governments, as well as of the private sector and of migrants/migrant workers and their families, to deal with the coming storm. Perhaps the GFMD offers space for talking about and planning these measures before the storm makes landfall on our shores.
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Walking into the “Pink Kitchen” Sunday evening was like walking into a crowded, noisy and bustling tea party. The interiors of the Rockwell Tent were all done in pink and white, with floral arrangements and topiaries standing in strategic corners, while table décor of green apples, white blossoms and artistically arranged twigs sat on runners of pink-and-white striped fabric.
It was at once tony and friendly, with many familiar faces glimpsed in the crowd. Now on its second year, “Pink Kitchen” has become the primary fund-raising activity of ICanServe, a breast cancer advocacy group that uses high-profile media activities to create awareness of breast cancer in the country. Proceeds from this year’s “Pink Kitchen” will go to “Ating Dibdibin” (Let’s take it to heart—or the chest, to be literal about it), a grassroots-based information and education campaign meant to raise awareness about the disease among community women, and channel those in need to diagnostic and treatment centers.
Some 50 chefs or their kitchen fare were featured in “Pink Kitchen,” and the response appears to have overwhelmed even the organizers. When I commented that the event seemed to have drawn a large crowd, Alice Orleans, executive director of ICanServe replied: “You should have been here yesterday, it was toxic!”
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Indeed, in a quick “tour” of the vendors’ outlets it was evident that almost every cuisine in the world, and almost all styles of cooking were represented. I settled for WynWyn Ong’s justly famous coconut soup, a Burmese dish served with crisp and soft noodles, although I later regretted requesting a “mild” version, thinking how a touch of chili would have enlivened it. I also chose sushi from Mariko Jacinto’s booth, and she threw in a salad with her sesame dressing for good measure. My husband raved over the chicken galantine from the San Miguel booth, not least because it also came at a very reasonable price.
Of course, knowing that all that eating was also for a good cause helped stimulate the appetite. Orleans, who has worked with communities in Marikina City, their pilot site, related stories of how, despite their offer of free mammograms and biopsy procedures to women with suspicious lumps in their breasts, many women still refused to go for further tests. “Many of them say that if it’s really cancer, then they’ll just wait to die, since they can’t afford treatment anyway,” she said. But she adds that their response to such fatalistic attitudes is: “You don’t have to die of breast cancer, there are many affordable treatments available, especially if the cancer is detected early. And you won’t die right away. Without treatment, the tumor could grow and ulcerate, leading to a long, agonizing death.”
It was a sobering exchange amid such a cheery atmosphere. But it felt good to know that despite the bad news about cancer, events like “Pink Kitchen” not just help lighten the situation, but promise funds and programs to address the problem directly. Congratulations to the organizers, the chefs and servers, as well as everyone who dropped by.
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