Anatomy of an Overseas Filipino Worker

We all know what Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's) have been through, they are the ones who work outside their home country for their families. It is for their survival, and good for the Philippine economy as well.

You have seen the news recently, that a former seaman killed his own family in Cebu. It is quite a shock indeed.
Upon reading the story, the man has suffered a head injury while at work. Due to this he cannot work again due to his medical condition.

Maybe he became crazy because of that accident. But there are others out there who became crazy because of extreme stress, i.e. isolation, poor/stressful working conditions, conflicts, debt, homesickness, sometimes even extreme weather conditions affect the OFW's personality.

There are lots of stories out there regarding OFW's, but I always tell these two stories to those who newly arrived in abroad. This will serve as a warning to them, to keep your sanity in times of crisis:

1). THE QUIET BUT DANGEROUS ENGINEER - There was this engineer in the Middle East who has a fat paycheck. Everytime he send almost all his earnings to his lovely wife in one the provinces in the Philippines. One day while working, he received a call from one of the wife's relative - that his wife has a relationship with another man. The engr. became silent, and still he continued his job. After he finished his contract, he did not tell everyone not even his relatives that he was going back to his home country.
Upon arrival, he went immediately to a machine shop and made a long steel tube with a sharp end.
At night, he has hidden himself in the bushes near his home. He waited for the other man to come to his home. The man came and he waited more until his wife and the man are copulating, he then went inside and stabbed them both with a long steel stake.
He surrendered himself to the authorities and everyone was shocked on what he did and his honest surrender. The mayor of that province saw the man's crime and he told him "just go away from here and never come back."

2) (to be continued...)

Philippines Airlines: A sign of Filipino management failure

Last Tuesday's wild cat strike by the employees of Philippine Airlines has been depressing and distressful to its passengers, foreigners and locals.

What happened here, what is going on?

Let us study PAL's history for a minute:

Philippine Airlines is one of oldest airlines in Asia, established in 1941. It is quite good in the early days. But due to the Asian Financial crisis in 1997, PAL almost hit rock bottom. Poor management, overspending, and frequent re-shuffling of its employees created huge losses amidst together with the Financial Crisis. One of the biggest well known strike were held in 1998 led PAL to shut down its operations. Foreign businesses, stakeholders, and investors wanted to save the airline but were turned off by this frequent labor disputes.

PAL has been looking for some strategic partners earlier up to now. Before, Cathay Pacific has shown interest, but the airline is still weak from its knees, and its management tried again to manage it itself, and acquired a big loan from SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission)  to continue its operations and hopefully make some profit. But there is a catch, this agreement (they call it 'receivership') will end on 2007. SEC is like the 'umbilical cord' to PAL. PAL rebounded and increased its routes to major airports around the world.

Year 2007 ended and now 'all hell broke loose.' Mismanagement, overspending is there again (PAL is buying a lot of airplanes wherein they are short of pilots, crew, and staff), and frequent disputes from its employees, in which they formed a union called PAL Employees Association (PALEA).

PALEA's demand are simple, better pay, good benefits and job security. But PAL cannot give these as it is trying to recover its losses earlier. It was a 'stale-mate.'

Frequent labor disputes are present from then on, and PAL has decided mass contractualization of its employees. In 2010, some of PAL pilots left their jobs permanently without any information.

Now we all know its story. As an ordinary passenger what we will do then? I think you know that already. By avoiding PAL at all costs to avoid any delays in your schedule. This will be a continuous cycle until a major revamp has been established. The company is in distress and it will take some time and effort to bring back its reputation. Other airlines offer cheaper fares anyway.

This is a sign that a Filipino cannot manage a company in its entirety. That is why other nationalities like Chinese, Europeans, Americans, even Indians are preferred in managing day to day operations of a business.
A major installation like an airport requires utmost care and precision. If someone could not do it - then leave. Better than making matters worse for thousands of passengers.