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when i came across this article of this HK writer, in an instant i was deeply angered....again  i reread the article and somehow made myself search for the reason what caused this writer to think so lowly of Filipino workers. That anger is natural since i  myself is an OFW (overseas filipino worker)....worker..but not  slave!

my search brought me to only one road...we are not respected by our own govrnment at home, naturally people with limited knowledge of Filipinos' professionalism would not respect us also.

this is not merely an accusation to our government...it's a well founded truth that millions of us OFW experiences whenever we get in touch with any govt agency tasked to provide documentations to OFW's.

In Marina, i never thought a day would come that when you apply for a seaman book, the answer you'll get is "WE don't have yet available printed seaman book". A nation who boasts of "exporting" majority of seaman for the world fleet runned out of of printed seaman book? 

I was about to depart and at the airport you have to have your OEC (Overseas Employment Contract) validated or stamped or whatever...my point is, this is almost a daily task so naturally a proper planning would solve the congestion problem being experienced daily. There were hundreds of us lined up for the "Holy Stamp" ...you know what?there were only TWO agency employee doing the work! as if deliverately delaying so that those other who are in line would resort to "under the table" ...which actually what happened! I saw it with my own eyes!

let me be clear about this..i am not justfying this Hong kong writer's ill comment...in fact if i see him personally, i might show him the "finger". but what  i would like to point out is that respect must first come from our home country so that  in foreign lands where we are going to work, we could truly say that WE ARE WORKERS FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND NOT SLAVES!