Editorial December 15, 2007 Issue

Pinoy’s Heroic Life
As Modern-day Heroes

By Kristy Anne Topacio–Manalaysay

In Imus, Cavite, a former seafarer Rolando Sarno is riding on a new wave: that of the daily realities of managing a business.
Using a scoop from galvanized iron, Sarno pours rice into a plastic bag, his fingers deftly tying a knot to seal the top and keep the grains from falling.
Another happy customer leaves his wholesale and retail business which he put up after leaving a job tying sheep-shank and other types of knots on a ship in 1989.
“I had some money saved. It grew after five years so I had to choose between staying on a ship or running my own ship,” Sarno, 54 said.
“I decided to stay in the country and started our business.” Sarno is just one of the many overseas Filipino workers-called modern-day heroes because of their remittances. He now lives a life called “ordinary” in Cavite.
Cavite is dashed into the center of commemoration rituals for the national heroes’ day every November 30, but most of its denizens aren’t aware of the international day of migrants in the week before Christmas or on December 19.
The municipal government even has no program “specifically intended for OFWs,” according to the Mayor. But former OFWs like Valentine Veleña doesn’t care.
“I’m not aware of [what] the [local] government [does]; I’m not that concerned [anyway],” Veleña, a seaman for two decades, said. “What I care about the most is myself and my family.”
That, for him, is being “heroic”: performing a daily duty to his loved ones.
Thus, reveals the heritage of Imus in the southern part of Cavite that is traced to its people’s defeat of Spanish colonial army and the unfurling of the Philippine flag. The latter signaled the birth of this Republic whose eight million citizens a century later are in 190 other countries.

Modern

Today, Filipinos like Veleña, who comman-dered a ship as captain before retiring seven (7) years ago, provided the bridge to that heritage amidst the boom propelled by money sent by their modern counterparts.
Imus hosts shopping centers, banks, industrial zone, and other icons of commerce side by side the property sector’s rush to sell themed – houses and real estate projects.
“Things are different now, especially with the present situation in the Philippines,” Veleña said. “Before, we could live off even a small amount of money. Now, that’s not possible. Our standard of living is unbelievably higher, but I think OFWs like me have learned to adapt.”
The Veleñas live in a subdivision in Imus, where they had their three-door apartment constructed. They also own a grocery store, which Veleña said is for “something to get us through.”
Like Veleña, Judy Constantino is also captain of a business born out of saving her husband’s income as a seaman since 1976.
“She has been thinking of setting up a business for years now,” Constantino said who agreed that having a business instead of letting her husband continue working abroad.
But with today’s ballooning unemployment rate and stiff market competition, Constantino could not help but think of the risks involved, especially now that they are paying their daughter’s way through college.
“If he continued with his job as a seaman, we would be assured financially, but he would be away for at least eight months a year,” said Constantino. Should her husband decide to venture into business, they could stay together as a family, but with no sense of security that the business will prosper.
“It’s quite risky to venture into business with today’s political and economic situation,” said Constantino.

Sanctuary

According to Saquilayan, Imus’s proximity to Manila is the main attraction for the municipality’s business environment.
“A lot of people have chosen to start their businesses in Imus due to the booming population, not to mention that a lot of Imuseños are highly qualified prospective employees,” Saquilayan said.
According to Saqui-layan, the local government is “open to help or assist them, just like what we are doing to other sectors of the society.”
Saquilayan is no stranger to the plight of OFWs. He left the country and his job as government employee in 1985 to work in Saudi Arabia. He returned after serving a two-year contract and worked as the municipal engineer for 10 years.
In the 2001 local elections, he was voted municipal mayor.
Former OFWs Rodolfo del Rosario worked as a mess man aboard international ships and Napoleon Monzon worked in construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The two were voted leaders in their respective barangays.
“Naliitan ako sa sweldo,” Monzon said. “I thought that it would be better for me to stay. Pareho lang naman [It’s just the same],” Monzon said of his decision to return in 1986.
The three consider Imus, once a battlefield for the country’s heroes in the 1896 Philippine Revolution, is now the sanctuary for “modern-day heroes” deeming reintegration, return, or retirement. “They are members of an estimated 93,620 OFW households in the province”, said Roberto de Vera, a researcher of Cavite.
This number constitutes some 9.5 percent of the overall global deployment of 981,677 in 2005, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Nature

Returning OFWs’ option to go into business rather than politics is seen as a natural path, surmised Antonio Valeriano, 68 who manages a small restaurant that has been operating for the last 24 years.
“I guess that business is becoming a path for OFWs, which is like a form of retirement,” said Valeriano who came home in 1982 to put up the restaurant after working as a secretary in Becthel Co. in Jubail out of the money he earned abroad.
Valeriano’s restaurant became famous when it was still situated at the Imus public market, which through the years, has undergone renovations under different municipal mayors.
Near Valeriano’s restaurant is Sarno’s stall. Sarno believes that he made the right decision and thinks that his present “job” is more rewarding than his work abroad in more ways than one. “I earn more and, at the same time, I am with my family,” he stressed.
Both credited their success in reintegration to themselves rather than to the absence or presence of an OFW-focused local government project.
Veleña added: “should the local government create programs for us, then that would be welcome, especially if it concerns medical assistance.”
Nonetheless, Veleña said OFWs should consider the timing whether they want to go into business or enter the highly – charged politics of Imus, Cavite. “Also, save first. That’s the most important thing.”
Indeed, according to them, saving is the most heroic thing they have done in their daily lives as migrant workers. /MP