Accents
The OFWs in the Carnival Dream
What’s OFW? The question came from a fellow Pinoy in our Fil-Am gathering when we celebrated Philippine Independence Day here in South Carolina. Small talks on what’s-you-doing and what-is-and–what’s-not were thick when I mentioned about meeting several OFWs in our recent cruise sojourn. Obviously, the lady who popped the question is “outside the loop”—what people usually conclude when one is not-in-the-know. She’s just plain ignorant of what has become a by-word for the Pinoy wage-earner in Diaspora. Serve it then to the uninitiated: Overseas Filipino Workers.
Wikipedia says it best: “OFWs are Filipinos who are employed in foreign countries. They travel abroad to seek better opportunities in order to provide for the needs of their families in the Philippines. Their travel is a kind of adventure (pakikipagasapalaran) with many potential risks, such as high stress, loneliness and exploitation. They sacrifice to make a living and provide a better future for their families, who they are separated from for months or even years.” Ye gads, do I understand this clearly. Four of my close relatives are OFWs.
The men and women that comprise OFWs are the Philippines’ great economic booster. A recent release from the Central Bank stated that remittances of OFWs from January to April in 2010 totaled $5.9 billion, a bigger amount than what OFWs remitted into the country during the same period last year — hard-earned dollars that strongly prop up the country’s economy, keeping it afloat during these recession times. No wonder Pres. Fidel Ramos has proclaimed them “Bagong Bayani” with December as Month of Overseas Filipino Workers when the bread-winners come home in droves to spend the Christmas holidays with their families. They are a hodgepodge of Filipinos employed in various parts of the world whether through the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) or other officially registered agencies or through their own personal efforts.
Who are the OFWs in the cruise ship, Carnival Dream? There are about 200 of them we met in our cruise vacation to ports in Central America, May 29-June 5, 2010. You would think this number is way too large, but not when you read these figures summed up in one trip of the cruise ship: guests – 3,646 and crew – 1,367. These are figures printed on a Carnival T-shirt that my daughter Raileen bought at the Carnival ship.
Traces of the social cost of being away from home I saw in my interactions with some Pinoy personnel. Nostalgia was strong in bespectacled Emilio Tayhupon of Tigbauan who has been regularly going home in his 12 years with the Carnival especially now that he has two kids to come home to a 4- and a 1-year old. He’s a Team Waiter in The Gathering, the spacious dining place where most of the Pinoys were assigned to wait on a big crowd of guests. Emilio has finished two years of Marine Engineering. Also with two kids back home is Laguna’s Rommel Abigan who humbly said “vocational lang po ang natapos,” two years of Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM), the course that has become popular with young people who have their eyes on a job abroad.
One of those who waited lunch on us was William Ebba from Olongapo who has stayed longest, 23 years, sighing how much he wanted to retire. He said he’s just so tired and the only thing holding him is his son who is bent on pursuing medicine. Now in his fifties, William misses his apos. Also from Olongapo is Bar Tender Noel Paguia, who works at the Dream Bar together with a Filipina. I missed the Pinay’s name. Noel was in the food and beverage dept. at the Subic Base and when that closed, he got a job in the Carnival for 17 years now. His son, a nurse, is preparing for the NLEX while his daughter has just graduated from HRM.
We got to talk with two Pinays one breakfast time: Marnelli Mahor of Ilocos Norte and Lilibeth Natividad-Mahinay. Marnelli is an HRM graduate, still single, and has enjoyed working with the Carnival for 5 years already. Lilibeth, then a computer programmer back in Pandacan, Manila, has been with the ship for 4 years and is lucky that her husband JBJoey of Las Pinas, Rizal, is also employed in the Carnival. Their daughter has just graduated from high school.
We were helping ourselves with sushi at the Wasabi, the ship’s all-sushi counter, when we met two Pinays with the typical, modest Filipina smile: Maurine Santos of Nueva Ecija and Joan Pangan of Pampanga. Joan who finished HRM has been with the Carnival for 6 years now. How I’ve wanted to know more about them; however, with all the fun activities to take part, I was really short of time for more friendly conversations. But not with fellow Ilonggo Patrick Detoyato with whom we bumped into most of the time, he being our Room Steward. Patrick hails from Dumangas, and he embodies the employee who “exceeded our expectations,” service-wise. He finished BS in Marine Eng’g, has been with the cruise line for 11 years so much so that he accumulated some capital to put up a business back home in preparation for marriage with Maurine, the Pinay, that I’ve mentioned earlier.
Like Patrick and Maurine, Riche Garvilles of Guimbal and Jean Amigable of Janiuay are just too lucky to be employed together in the same cruise ship, for 7 and 3 years, respectively, and still going strong. They were married two years ago, no child as yet, and saving for a piece of land to build a dream on. Just as lucky are Marichel and Darwin Barraca, also employed together in the Carnival. An HRM graduate of Sagrado, she’s an Ilongga, hired just two months ago, regretting only that she won’t be around to take care of their baby she’s left under the care of her mother. Similarly situated are Maya Sergio, Bar Tender, and her husband Santi Reyes, a Casino Supervisor. The couple also left their child to Maya’s mother in Marikina. A full-fledged nurse, she worked for a year in Cubao, and is now on her 11th year with the Carnival.
Recently hired is young Richard Belgica of San Fernando, Camarines Sur whom we met several times while he was keeping the Dream Atrium spic and span. He said he holds a BSMT degree, not forgetting to mention his girlfriend Mary Grace Asido. From Paracale, Camarines Norte is Waiter Benjamin Villar. There were many more Filipino workers in the different service areas: the three Pinoys in the Lanai Bar, two in the Jackpot Casino, and the Wasabi chef, a Pinoy clad in Japanese attire. We just didn’t get acquainted much with them because of too many, too varied recreation numbers lumped in a weeklong sea vacation, vying for our time.
The Pinoy staff in the Carnival Dream are but a drop in the bucket, so to speak, of the millions of Filipinos holding jobs abroad – be they degree holders or undergraduates in white-collared or blue-collared or skilled and unskilled employment. OFWs, mga Bagong Bayani of the beloved country, mga kababayan trying to endure homesickness and loneliness so that families and relatives may enjoy the fruits of their toil. Modern-day heroes worthy of our respect, praise, and gratitude — dreaming and working hard, fervently hoping to transform those dreams into reality.
(Email: lagoc@hargray.com)
