OFWs, or Overseas Filipino Workers, are Filipinos who end up working abroad since the wages and benefits offered by the local industry are skewed to the point that the same job abroad offers twice and up to more than ten times the wages and benefits as opposed to if the person was to stay and work in the Philippines. Naturally the easiest thing to do for would-be OFWs in order to increase their income is to go and work abroad.
Most view this diaspora as a good thing. They argue that the income OFWs send back to their families drive up the economy and strengthen the Philippine peso. If this is truly the case, why are Filipinos who are living and earning locally don’t really feel the strength of the economy nor the strength of the Philippine peso? In fact, crimes are continuously running rampant and inflation is continuously acting its course like a flood on a monsoon typhoon. A tank of cooking gas now costs so much more than it was a year ago.
The main answer to this is because of the general spending, saving, investing and enterprising habits of the Filipinos.
Investing for the future
In fact, according to the survey the PSE (Philippine Stock Exchange) conducted, there are only 585,562 trading accounts (both online and traditional brokerage accounts) as of 2013. That’s a measly 0.6% of the Philippine population. To delve further into this topic requires more discussion so let’s get back to why a lot of OFWs are broke.
Here are the reasons and factors why a lot of OFWs are broke – or bankrupt. In fact, if you’re an OFW, you’ve probably seen these characteristics in some of your fellow OFWs. And if you possess some of these characteristics, it’s high time to restructure your lifestyle lest you end up broke as well.
1. Going out into the arena without a plan
This is a sad but real situation of most Filipinos who go out there and expose themselves to undue stress, loneliness and sometimes even abuse just so they could raise their families back home. They may be doing something ‘heroic’ for their family by venturing into new and strange places but going out there without a concrete plan of getting one’s family out of poverty and into wealth is like going to a battle without knowing where the enemy base is or what the main objective is.
So they sadly end up getting distracted by so many other stuff abroad that they think sending money to their loved ones in the Philippines will solve all their troubles – until these OFWs lose their jobs.
Then they’re back to step one.
2. Helping others to the point of sucking one’s finances dry
If you’re a Filipino, you’ve either experienced this firsthand or heard this happen to an OFW. They go and work abroad and send all their money back to their families in the Philippines. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that regardless how many years those OFWs spend abroad, nothing good will come out of their finances if everything they earn is spent – regardless whether or not if it’s to help out their families.
You just can’t expect to help others successfully if you yourself are standing on unsteady ground.
Juan goes to Europe with the ‘plan’ of sending money to his family so his parents have monthly allowance to live on and also in order for his younger brother to be able to finish college. Juan is funding his tuition, books, allowance. Basically Juan is funding everything.
Five years pass and Juan’s brother finally graduates college. Juan’s girlfriend of five years has been patiently waiting for Juan to finally propose. She gets so excited one evening when Juan invites her to have a candle-lit dinner in a nice restaurant.
“Juanita (Juan’s girlfriend), I brought you here co’z I’ve accomplished something major and I want to share the feeling with you. My younger brother has finally finished college.”
Juanita smiles, her eyes becoming bright since she knew Juan has been funding his brother’s schooling and now that that’s over, Juan can finally focus on starting his own family. She has waited long enough. She was hopeful.
“I have something important to tell you,” Juan continues.
Juanita could barely hold her excitement. “What is it?” She asks.
“At last I can now help my other brother, who has been out of school to get back and finish his degree since they all completely rely on me.”
“Also, can we share 50-50 for this dinner?”
3. ‘Living the life’ at the cost of their financial future
This phenomenon is not just limited to OFWs but this impacts OFWs greatly more than others.
OFWs move to another country in the hopes of being able to afford better lives for their families back home. In the process though, these OFWs end up getting absorbed by the idea that they’ve ‘made it’ so they end up ‘living the life’ by enjoying their hard-earned money. Besides, what’s wrong with enjoying the fruits of your labor?
Nothing really, as long as you’re enjoying it responsibly. However, more often than not, OFWs enjoy themselves and spend their months and years ‘living the life’ on credit.
Yes, credit cards. Lots of them.
And so years pass and not only do they fail to save and invest their incomes but they’ve also accumulated enough debt that some of them are wanted badly by debt collectors because of the tab they have stacked up.
4. ‘Extracurricular’ activities
Another sad but real situation OFWs get themselves into is getting caught up in distracting activities – some of them distracting enough that it ruins their families.
One notorious ‘extracurricular’ activity is extramarital affairs. Some OFWs, because of ‘loneliness,’ resort to having an affair abroad and even starting their own illegitimate families. The result is a dire neglect of their legitimate families back home which often results to broken marriages and children gone astray.
A less distasteful, but nevertheless distracting activity, is frequent group activity. We’re talking about weekend meet up with friends at the bar, fancy organizations, and some religious organizations wherein OFWs are required to attend weekly gatherings for the sake of OFW camaraderie and togetherness. This is fine.
What’s not fine is that these activities, upon close examination, rake up a huge percentage of a person’s income simply by frequently meeting up with their friends or other members in restaurants, picnic parks, and Starbucks (yes, Starbucks is a favorite hangout for some of these groups). If you’re earning just enough to send money to the Philippines and just enough have a place to live in, it wouldn’t be a smart idea to get yourself a lifestyle that requires frequent spending.
Regardless if its for camaraderie.
Otherwise, that’s one expensive way to keep yourself company.
If you’re a Filipino based in the Philippines or an OFW, you know that these instances are real and do happen. Sadly, a lot are so distracted by what’s going on around them that they lack the focus to reflect and really analyze what’s going on with their lives.
Please share this article that it may benefit OFWs and keep their primary mission (which is to live better lives and help their families live better lives as well) from being in vain.
And by then, may they be the modern heroes we all want them to be.
