MANY problematic overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including women, opt to remain and work in high-risk countries owing to the acute shortage of high-paying jobs in the country.

In fact, the sad reality is that many of these beleaguered migrant workers refuse to return to the Philippines. This, despite the fact that their foreign employers are heartless.

Nobody can blame these OFWs. “Magtitiis na lang kami doon (abroad) kesa mamatay naman sa gutom ang mga anak namin,” according to a vacationing construction worker.

This is the reason why some of our countrymen, including those in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and other Middle East (ME) countries, are reluctant to return home.

In some instances, OFWs even refuse to take advantage of the national government’s repatriation program.

“Mas gusto pa nilang malagay sa alanganin ang kani-kanilang kaligtasan kesa bumalik sa bansa,” according to the father of a female nurse now working in a troubled country.

One of the hindrances of the government is some foreign employers raise the pay of OFWs just to dissuade them from taking advantage of the government’s repatriation program.

With meager income, poor families, particularly those in the impoverished countryside, cannot send their children even to government-operated schools, colleges and universities.

Let’s then provide the Filipino people, notably our professionals, with enough stable and high-paying jobs if we are to convince our migrant workers to return home for good.

Kung hindi ay baka pati mga magsasaka at mangingisda ay maghahanap din ng trabaho sa labas ng bansa.

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