10/11/2021
Dahil lahat tayo may kakilala, kaibigan, kamaganak o minsan ding naging OFW.
๐๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ | ๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฆ โ ๐ ๐ก๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ป'๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
After watching Dama de Noche during the Cinemalaya 16 digital exhibition last year, Marc Paredes took to social media his 10 realizations.
Dama de Noche, a short film centered in the death of a certain Daisy Resurreccion who worked in the Middle East as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) prompted questions in the mind of Paredes. In his post, he wrote: โhow did we end up exporting our citizens at such a grand scale?โ
The culture of migration in search for greener pasture in oil-rich regions started in the 1970s. The deployment prioritized male workers until in the 80s and 90s when more countries opened up to import female house helps, caregivers and factory workers. Hence, making the Philippines one of the largest exporter of labor force to more than 100 countries around the world. In fact, certain sectors are dominated by Filipino workers, including seafaring, domestic work and nursing. But as the number doubles and triples every year, more and more reports of abuses, maltreatment, labor issues and violence have been recorded.
Paredes believes that the same issues of abuses and maltreatment among our exported work force still happens to this day and that the main concern of the government is to heighten the protection of our citizens dubbed as โbagong bayaniโ (modern-day heroes).
For Paredes, Dama de Noche is the reflection of the โcruel realityโ that has befallen a number of Filipinos who once dreamt of having a better life but ended up otherwise in the hands of abusive employers โ a narrative that, for decades, has lost its shock value. โ๐๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ-๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ-๐ข๐ด๐ข ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ, ๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ข ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ขโ, (it is so sad to think that they left the country with high hopes and dreams, but all of it suddenly vanished) Paredes wrote.
Studio Onseโs Dama de Noche started streaming for free this week (November 9) via the official The Film Dream website. Click on this link https://www.thefilmdream.com/streaming to watch.
------------------------------------------------
Sources:
The Philippines Beyond Labor Migration | https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/philippines-beyond-labor-migration-toward-development-and-possibly-return
Philippines: A History of Migration | https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/philippines-history-migration
Where In The World Are Filipinos? | https://www.rappler.com/moveph/advocacies/filipinos-ofws-world-infographic