Rhetoric vs common sense

So President Duterte thinks he can stop our overseas Filipino workers from slaving in Kuwait (“Duterte hits Kuwait ‘inaction,’ wants OFWs home,” 2/10/18)? What guarantees can he give our migrant workers that they will have proper jobs should they return home?

All this reminds me of the time back in 2007 when then President Benigno Aquino III faced the same problem with OFWs in Iraq. Many women
refused to leave Baghdad even though war was raging, showing the fatalism inherent in
Filipinos to gamble with their lives. As usual, the old bahala na attitude always prevails.

Over the years, especially during the dire period of Marcos dictatorship, countless Filipino women have been willing to leave home to work in often appalling conditions so as to support their families. It’s such a familiar story that it has
become a sad cliché.

If Mr. Duterte thinks he can dictate on our OFWs, how will all this affect the lives of our desperate ordinary folk, and the country’s economy and politics?

It’s a shame that mere rhetoric than common sense gets the upper hand whenever our leaders start grandstanding to show how “nationalistic” they are.

T. E. MANZANO,
[email protected]