Marketing Dreams, Manufacturing Heroes: Filipino Migrant Workers (Chapter 3) PDF

Chapte r 3 Governing and (Dis)Empowering Filipino Migrants...

Chapte r 3 Governing and (Dis)Empowering Filipino Migrants We are proud of our overseas Filipino workers as our new heroes. They bravely chart international paths many of us have not dared venture in. They forge new courses of friendship and amity for the Philippines. They strengthen our economy and in many ways allow us to enjoy the fruits of their collective behavior. —Former senator Leticia Ramos Shahani, RA 8042: Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 In a room filled with about thirty-five women, an impassioned woman stands proud, shouting, “You are not yet heroes.You are just soldiers right now!”This woman is Mildred Yamzon, cofounder of the Women in Development Foundation (WIDF), an NGO authorized by Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. the Philippine state to provide pre-departure orientation seminars (PDOSs) to prospective domestic workers headed overseas. Alternating between the personas of a preacher delivering a sermon to her congrega- tion and an army commander explaining survival tactics to her battalion, Yamzon powerfully transforms these sessions into something more than simply a place where prospective workers can receive guidance on travel to their destination. Rather, it becomes a space where women workers, whom some view as an endangered species, are made clearly and bluntly aware of the potential dangers they face overseas.1 In partnership with the state, NGOs such as WIDF supply information to the women that is supposed to prepare and empower them, this information all narrated within the framework of giving meaning and tribute to their sacrifice in the name of their families and nation.Yamzon and her colleagues define their work as meeting the state’s so-called gender-sensitive criteria by empowering the 50 Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 51 women to see their “comparative advantage” as Filipino workers and to view themselves as more than workers, to see themselves as professionals, heroes, ambassadors of goodwill, and investors.2 Promoting empowerment to support the vulnerabilities of all Fil- ipino workers and elevate their social value in fact leads to their com- modification. The state’s framework for “managing labor migration” is built on this ideology of empowerment, which accords with the state’s neoliberal ethos of governing Filipino workers by fusing together Fil- ipino “moral” values of family and nationalism with Westernized notions of economic competitiveness.3 The Philippine state’s management of labor migration through the art of government is a means of ruling a population by influencing its conduct (Foucault 1991; Rose 1999; Rose and Miller 1992). It is a strategy that reflects a state that derives power and legitimacy from appearing less concerned about dominating its pop- ulation than about empowering its citizens to self-govern. While claim- ing not to promote labor migration but instead supporting the choices of its citizens, it governs from a distance by defining and enabling the very choices it purports to support. This form of empowerment derives from Western values of freedom, individualism, rationality, and self-accountability, combined with the neoliberal market rationality of economic competitiveness and entrepre- neurship. All these values contribute to the production of a market- oriented citizenship and the formation of a gendered and racialized Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. moral economy of the Filipino migrant based on what the state and its labor-brokering partners determine should be the obligations of migrants to their families and nation (Guevarra 2003). Ong (2006, 199) similarly discusses the “moral economy of the female migrant” to describe the system of “unequal relationships of exchange based on a morality of reciprocity, mutual obligation, and protection” and foregrounds the role of NGOs in this process. My conceptualization of the moral economy of the Filipino migrant not only highlights its gendered dynamic but also identifies its racialized aspects whereby its formation is influenced by norms both of femininity and masculinity and of particular Filipino cultural and social values. While this moral economy is about the actual value systems that inform Filipino migrants’ actions and the web of exploitative situations in which they are entangled, it is also about the disciplinary power of the state and Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  52 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s its partners, which seek to define their social conduct and sense of belonging to the nation.The gendered and racialized moral economy of the Filipino migrant underscores the cultural logic that governs how overseas Filipino workers are supposed to behave, as model Filipinos who can embody an ethic of responsibility toward their families, nation, and the representation of the Great Filipino Worker, while maintaining their commodification and submission to a neoliberal state. However, I do not suggest that workers do not respond to this power strategically. Following James Scott’s (1976) conceptualization of “moral economy” as the standards or values upon which peasants respond to their exploitation and acts of resistance, I argue that Filipino migrants also respond to the disciplinary power that governs their commodification in ways that mirror their moral economy, whether this may entail embodying or challenging this power. I address this thoroughly in chapters 6 and 7, through my interviews with nurses. In this chapter, I focus primarily on the Philippine state’s disciplinary power and highlight empowerment as the mechanism that enables this power in order to point out how the very moral economy that attempts to govern Filipino migrants by remaking them into being more than just workers may, in actuality, only contribute to their disempowerment and disenfranchisement. (Dis)Honori ng He roe s and Ambas sador s of Goodwill Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. More than two decades after Corazon Aquino’s official designation of overseas Filipino workers as the country’s modern-day heroes, the label bagong bayani thrives. In December 2005, it was highlighted at Mala- cañang Palace’s Rizal Hall, in a celebration of Filipino women and men working overseas who had earned the coveted Bagong Bayani Award (BBA).4 Since 1989, POEA has annually celebrated the BBA, a state- sponsored tribute to overseas Filipino workers. “The Bagong Bayani Awards,” went the announcement, “is a national search for the country’s outstanding and exemplary Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), as our ‘modern-day heroes.’The award seeks to recognize and pay tribute to our OFWs for their significant efforts in fostering goodwill among peoples of the world, enhancing and promoting the image of the Filipino as a competent, responsible and dignified worker, and for greatly contribut- ing to the socioeconomic development of their communities and our Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 53 country as a whole” (POEA, http://www.poea.gov.ph).This description demonstrates how the state defines the role of its migrant workers and rewards their contribution within Philippine society. They are the new “heroes” not only because of their remittances but also because they pro- mote amicable relations with foreign nations and enhance the image of the Philippines as a reputable source of labor. However, their heroism must also fall within the state’s predefined criteria (POEA, http://www.poea.gov.ph).5 For one, a BBA recipient can be a worker who demonstrates a unique work ethic and sense of loy- alty to the job by having “manifested love, concern for the company and his or her coworkers” or “performed a heroic act or deed, or saved life or property, the performance of which is beyond the normal call of duty.” A BBA recipient can also be a worker who displays a sense of community spirit, who has, perhaps, “selflessly offered his or her time, skills and/or resources, in collective or personal capacity to engage in such community services or activities that are beneficial to the people.” Or a BBA recipi- ent may be a worker who exudes a sense of nationalism and love for the Philippines by having “worked or been involved in the promotion, preservation, and development of Filipino culture and arts overseas” or has “excelled in his or her work as an artist abroad thereby earning recog- nition, adulation or honor for Filipino artistry and talent.”6 While the state is quick to label its migrant workers as heroes, those who are worthy of the BBA must do more than just sustain their family Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. and nation with remittances. The 2005 BBA winners, for example, included Leonor Mohammad Gile, who “worked with the Philippine consulate in Jeddah in solving the numerous problems of OFWs against their employers without expecting anything in return”; Zenaida Batil- lano, who was credited with “being the only Asian woman in her com- pany’s top management level who influenced the hiring of Filipinos for supervisory and management positions” and who “led the Filipino com- munity in managing the Iraqi crisis in 2004 and became its pillar of strength and courage”; or the Filipino crew of the MV Merino Express who kept “alive their cargo of 56,000 livestock while battling extreme heat and thirst during a stretched voyage of 86 days” (press release, December 2, 2005, http://www.gov.ph).7 The heroism that BBA show- cased here was that of individuals who encapsulated the “greatness” that the Philippine state advertises about Filipino workers. Meanwhile, the Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  54 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s BBA deflects attention from and appeases public criticism of the state’s inability to create an environment in which labor migration is no longer a necessity for economic survival. As former POEA director Ricardo Casco clarified, the BBA is supposed to recognize the “heroic deeds” of OFWs who “shine, giving [a good] name to the Philippines.”The BBA, he explained, is one way that the state recognizes how they are “suffering away from their families” while “unknowingly contributing to their coun- try’s economic recovery and in the process, encountering tragedies” (interview by the author, October 25, 2001; emphasis added). The BBA attempts to honor the social heroism of OFWs, their abil- ity to endure these hardships and “tragedies” without realizing that they are key contributors to keeping the economy afloat. The idea of social heroism is not new to the Philippines, but is a remnant of Spanish colo- nialism. It is deeply rooted in Catholic ideals of suffering, sacrifice, and martyrdom, the predominant cultural norms that structure the ways Fil- ipinos interpret their everyday lives in times of social despair and that imbue individuals who possess these ideals with a status of social respectability. Equally important, they are the same ideals that continue to play a part in defining Filipino nationalism and citizenship. Referring to OFWs as modern-day heroes is a practice that began with an important historical and cultural figure, the first national hero of the Philippines, José Rizal.8 As demonstrated by Filipino historians Rey- naldo Ileto (1979) and Vicente Rafael (1997) Filipino nationalism has Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. been historically articulated as beginning with Rizal, his life of suffering and sacrifice identified as its defining moment. Following Rizal’s tradi- tion, other Filipino (primarily male) heroes (Andres Bonifacio, Apoli- nario Mabini, and others) emerged and became symbols of sacrifice and courage after dying in the name of their country. Now, OFWs, who are disproportionately women, have become the Philippines’ modern-day heroes, enduring the exploitative conditions in which their dollar remit- tances are produced and funneled into the country and the rising social costs, such as family separation and isolation, of migration. As Rafael explains, “By encoding OCWs [overseas contract workers] as national heroes, Aquino and her successor, Fidel Ramos, have sought to contain the anxieties attendant upon the flow of migrant labor, including the emotional distress over the separation of families and the everyday exploitation of migrants by labor contractors, travel agents, and foreign Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 55 employers” (276).9 I add that by invoking Catholic ideals of sacrifice, suf- fering, and martyrdom through the bagong bayani, the state can make use of these cultural particularities by seemingly empowering workers and subsequently promoting its neoliberal mandate of generating responsible economic citizens in ways that make cultural sense to Filipinos. For Fil- ipinos, sacrifice and suffering are familiar and important values, so when the state invokes them, Filipinos understand and respond accordingly. While the notion of the bagong bayani has been popularly adopted for commercial use and is starkly visible in institutions—banks, travel agen- cies, real estate firms, and megamalls—throughout the Philippines gov- ernment officials insist on reformulating this cultural inscription. For instance, Casco argued that referring to OFWs as modern-day heroes does not empower workers but only commodifies them. He was adamant that this “exaggerated” and “overused” term only signifies that the work- ers’ only importance to the country lies in their earnings. He uttered dis- dain for the focus on their consumption power: “In reality, what should be done is to explain to the OFWs that instead of wasting [their] money with [buying] fake goods in Hong Kong or doing duty-free shopping, [they] should buy this educational plan, memorial [cemetery] plan” (interview by the author, October 25, 2001). Following his logic, if OFWs are going to be real heroes, they need to be ones who are endowed with certain responsibilities and obligations (buying an educa- tional plan instead of “unnecessary” material goods). As responsible citi- Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. zens, they must go beyond considering their role only as workers and contribution only in economic terms. Casco claimed that the state currently promotes a program of worker empowerment based on the idea that OFWs are not only heroes but also ambassadors of goodwill. In PDOSs, he described the message the state imparts to them. His statement is worth quoting at length: Ladies and gentlemen, you must remember that you are a Filipino citizen and you should help the country’s image.You are ambassadors of goodwill. How? If a domestic helper misbehaves and doesn’t follow instruction, she will be the measuring cup of the image of the Fil- ipino worker. You are an ambassador of goodwill because you are going to work in an international environment. If you think that you smell better than [foreign employers] or that your religious practices Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  56 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s are superior, you better not surface that.You should understand each other. There should be cultural exchange, understanding.You should showcase your skills.You should take care of your employer. Be con- cerned about their interests.... We don’t want [you] to be thrown into a situation where [you] stab [your] employers to death, do drug trafficking, steal or [commit] other crimes and ask the president to work for clemency. It is just so embarrassing.When [you] commit a crime, [you] are subject to the laws of the host country.You have to be jailed in the same manner that a foreigner in the Philippines would be if he [sic] commits a crime [here].We should not have a sit- uation where our president always works for clemency of criminals. [You] have to behave in proper decorum, [in] the way [you] dress, carry [yourselves].... [As] Filipino citizens, [you] should help in government programs—promoting tourism and investments, espe- cially those who are in the highest echelon. (Interview by the author, October 25, 2001; emphasis added). “Empowering” workers to see themselves as ambassadors of good- will is about creating a specific type of worker and citizen. First, Casco argued that if OFWs are going to avoid becoming “commodified” and overvalued in their economic worth, then they need to assume greater responsibilities.As Filipino cultural ambassadors, OFWs become partners in the Philippine state’s project of managing labor migration through Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. labor diplomacy by sharing in the responsibility of promoting good rela- tions with host nations and being “concerned about their interests” and promoting “cultural exchange and understanding” in ways that con- tribute to a positive image of the country. A “misbehaving” worker mars the global perception that foreign employers develop to “generalize” about Filipino workers. Second, he asserted that the status of ambassador does not afford overseas workers special privileges but instead should remind them of their need to be accountable for their actions. “That is why we try to exaggerate the awareness,” added Casco, as he justified this practice of referring to Filipino migrants as cultural ambassadors. In saying this, he admits that the state knowingly recognizes the “exaggeration” of this construct.Yet it persists in promoting it as a measure of protecting itself from its own presumption of Filipinos’ unruly tendencies or criminality. Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 57 In effect, the state shifts the burden of responsibility and protection from itself to the workers by implying that their best protection is empowerment—which they can achieve by becoming responsible and self-regulating.While these are fine virtues, this social labeling is discon- certing in that it is solely geared toward affecting the conduct of Filipino workers and not that of foreign employers or labor brokers. Another official from POEA’s Government Placement Branch dis- cussed the importance of this kind of empowerment and complained about the emergence of “overcoddled” workers who had grown depend- ent on the state for protection. Workers, she observed, were no longer told be self-reliant or self-sufficient. As a result, “when things happen to the worker, it is the fault of the government. When a particular worker gets raped, it is the fault of the government.” Although this official insisted that she is “pro-worker,” she called for the need to create a dif- ferent type of empowered worker.“When you empower the worker, you believe that when they get out into the field, they have the adequate bul- lets and when they [finish the battle], the first thing that [they] do is behave. And when you behave, you can’t go wrong. So I am looking at the empowerment of the worker as a true and responsible worker” (inter- view by the author, February 18, 2002; emphasis added). While I do not contest that this official genuinely cared for the liveli- hood of workers, the discourse of empowerment that she advocated is, nevertheless, disconcerting. First of all, she recognized the risks that work- Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. ers, especially women, experience overseas at the same time that she min- imized and normalized them by characterizing violence as a natural part of the overseas employment package and maintaining that empowerment is the instrument of protection and prevention. However, her very use of the word empowerment, while it intimates a minimizing of workers’ vul- nerabilities, also places the blame on them by attributing the violence they experience to their lack of discipline. This official’s dismay at the blame put on the government for the sexual violence that women experience and her subsequent mention of their misbehaving tendencies implies that women (or perhaps, any worker) provoke this violence and become vic- tims of their inability to control and manage their behavior—that, in fact, a worker who gets raped has no one else to blame but herself. Second, and equally disturbing, is the continued reference to Filipino workers as soldiers, who, if given “adequate bullets” can survive any Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  58 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s potential danger of working overseas because, as this official indicated, “when you behave, you can’t go wrong.” She assumed that the problems that overseas workers experience stem from their ignorance and ill pre- paredness for their eventual fate; she summoned workers to embrace the idea that their only source of protection is themselves. In this discourse of empowerment, the state casually retreats to the background and skirts around its very responsibility to the workers it reveres under the guise of promoting their individual autonomy and freedom. As Rose (1999) explains, however, promoting individual autonomy and freedom is often geared toward disciplining individuals to conduct themselves in ways that support the state’s nation-building projects. It is aimed at producing citizens who do not need to be governed by others but who can instead engage in “techniques of the self ” and self-govern through personal accountability and responsibility (Foucault 1979; Burchell 1996). In this case, it is to serve the state’s market interests.Thus, paying tribute to Filipino migrants as heroes or ambassadors of goodwill is fundamentally a means of disciplining their conduct at the same time that they are supposed to empower them.They are supposed to become more than just workers, to be almost mythical superheroes, who can act as autonomous subjects, able to embrace their responsibility to and sacri- fice their lives for their families and nation. (Re)Producing We ll-Informe d Worke r s Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. Empowering overseas Filipino workers to embody an ethic of per- sonal responsibility and accountability as a means of their protection stems from the state’s insistence on creating what they would call well- informed workers.This is at the heart of the dismay that the government official quoted above expressed about “overcoddled” workers. It reflects the state’s general sentiments about the need to recognize that overseas employment is the choice that workers make and is, therefore, their responsibility. State officials affirm this by constantly referring to their simply managing, not promoting, labor migration. In the case of contract negotiations, for example, Carmelita Dimzon, POEA deputy administra- tor of general administrative and support services, asserted that the Migrant Workers Act (RA 8042) very clearly asserted that overseas employment is a matter between workers and employers. The govern- ment has no say in this process. She stipulated, however, that “it is the role Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 59 of government to teach the worker and inform him [sic] of his rights and the consequences [of their agreement] if/when he signs the contract” (interview by the author, October 25, 2001). Her statement is a compelling indication of a neoliberal state that governs on the basis of an overvaluation of individual “freedom” and lib- erty (Rose 1999). If freedom can be regarded as a formula of power real- ized through its exercise over others, then Dimzon’s statement can be understood as one that reflects the state’s aim to manage its migrants’ conduct. Constructing neoliberal worker-citizens rests on recognizing and promoting individuals’ autonomy and their capacity to make edu- cated decisions. In her remarks, Dimzon presented a state that honors and respects the freedom of workers to make the final decision regarding their employment. Meanwhile, individual freedom allows the state to absolve itself from accountability to potential “welfare cases.”10 For example, in the case of contract negotiation, by limiting its responsibility to dispensing workers with information that the state deems is necessary for their preparedness and protection, the state can argue that any problems arising between employer and worker must be resolved between the two of them. However, their contracts are based solely on a minimum set of provisions (such as work hours, wages, and employment benefits) that foreign employers follow and that are set out in POEA’s master employment contract.Therefore, while the provisions of any final work contract may differ from those in the master employ- Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. ment contract, they have in essence been defined largely by the Philip- pine state. Further, the labor recruiters who serve as the official agents of foreign employers and workers fine-tune and negotiate the final contracts. The workers’ role in this process is minimal, if there is any, and workers rely on the mercy of recruiters and employers to construct a reasonable employment package. Nevertheless, the state insists on taking the approach that education is the best strategy of protection in order to generate these so-called well- informed workers. This outlook is evident in POEA’s preemployment orientation seminars (PEOSs), which were integral to President Arroyo’s human resource development projects.The seminars are part of POEA’s migrant worker education program, which provides practical informa- tion for prospective Filipino workers about overseas employment. The seminars cover the application process, the educational and psychological Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  60 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s preparation workers need to consider, and tips on how to avoid becom- ing victims of illegal recruitment. As Dimzon remarked, the thrust behind PEOS is the belief that “education is the best strategy for welfare” and that workers’ protection derives from their making “well-thought- out” decisions. It is also in these sessions that state officials respond to public discontent about the impact of migration on families, especially on the children whom migrants leave behind and who are viewed as casualties of overseas employment; migrants hear about the difficulties of family separation and the possible resulting strain on family relations. While the intention in constructing overseas employment as a fam- ily affair can be interpreted as a way to project an image of a state that responds to this discontent, I interpret it in terms of a state that seeks to ensure the productivity of its workers overseas.A former administrator of OWWA, attorney Wilhelm Soriano, would agree. As he himself remarked,“If migrant worker[s are] fully aware that the government and other sectors are looking after the welfare of their families back home, the more that [they are] able to concentrate on their respective jobs” (OWWA, press release, January 31, 2002). He echoed the state’s underly- ing concern about the need to manage transnational families in ways that would ease migrants’ preoccupation with their situation back home and their homesickness while ensuring that their performance met their employers’ standards. It also underscored how the state attempts to disci- pline migrants’ conduct as “responsible” individuals. Workers are Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. expected to take care not only of the country’s image but also of their family’s welfare, even if they do so from a distance.They, not the state, are responsible for ensuring that they are not only productive workers but also good spouses or parents who will make sure that their relationships with those back home are not strained by and do not suffer from their decision to pursue overseas employment.11 The focus on the family is specifically gendered, and as I explain below, women become specific tar- gets of the state’s disciplinary gaze (Foucault 1979), with the state’s power judging, dictating, and modifying acceptable behavior and actions.12 Dimzon added that the government seminars empower workers by raising their self-esteem about the meaning and importance of their work and getting them to change their “paradigm.” She explained the ways that the PEOSs inculcate in workers’ minds the idea that their employers need them as much as they need their jobs. She asked Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.. Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 61 domestic workers to consider the following:“You are domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Do you think that your employer can work without you?” Without such concepts, she feared, “they become very subservient... they just say yes, yes, yes” (interview by the author, October 25, 2001). While this may seem like sound advice, it does not account for the fact that there are limits and costs to this kind of empowerment, especially in light of how employers perceive the disposability of workers. For exam- ple, some labor brokers observed that Filipino workers were losing their “monopoly” on the market as ideal workers because with their education and English-language competency, employers perceived them to be more combative, more likely to “talk back,” than workers of other nationalities. This is on top of the fact that foreign employers can demand a free replacement from their agencies when they become dissatisfied with a worker’s performance. Therefore, the inability of the state to facilitate better working conditions for its workers guides the ways it wants work- ers to behave. Given the futility of lobbying for increased wages, the state redirects the responsibility to the workers by proposing that their self- assertiveness is a source of bargaining power; in reality, this strategy may be highly ineffective, placing workers at risk of losing their jobs. Although prospective applicants can obtain educational information by attending a PEOS, available nationwide, they can also tune in to their local radio and television programming for what one POEA official proudly referred to as “PEOS on air.”13 Through guest appearances on tel- Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. evision and radio shows, POEA officials advocate for the safety of migrant workers while they disseminate information about overseas employment. With PEOS on air, the task is the same—to “explain that people should have consciousness in preparing for jobs, livelihood, and lifelong learning” (Casco, interview by the author, October 25, 2001). In doing so, they develop a certain hyperawareness about the promise of overseas employ- ment. Through a ubiquitous media presence, overseas employment becomes even more ingrained in the everyday consciousness of Filipinos and further cultivates the country’s ethos of labor migration. The state runs a series called the Migrant Worker Education Program, whose goals are similar to those of PEOS; to introduce the notion of migration, specif- ically labor migration, in selected sites throughout the country. One program even targets elementary and high school institutions as strategic points to insert information about overseas employment. Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  62 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s This program began in response to mounting criticism about the short duration (six hours) of POEA’s PEOSs, which do not allow comprehensive coverage of essential matters that workers pursue in considering overseas employment. As a result, POEA and the Commission on Filipinos Over- seas (CFO) developed a set of lessons called Education Modules on Inter- national Migration and Development. CFO officials and Casco claimed that these modules recognize the inevitability of migration and seek to fur- ther assist potential migrants, not to mention school-aged youths, in mak- ing “informed” decisions about migration. However, the uniqueness of this program derives from the fact that the modules are geared toward elemen- tary and high-school students whose teachers are given training to incor- porate information about overseas employment into their curriculum. For example, Casco explained that instead of creating one course on migration, the program selectively incorporates elements of migration as they appear relevant within the existing curriculum (within social studies, geography, economics, and so on). He reasoned that this is how “PEOS in school” operates.Although these modules do not state that they target labor migra- tion per se, CFO and POEA officials admitted that they emphasize infor- mation about overseas employment. As Casco remarked, PEOS in school seeks to provide “that kind of education so that you are aware that eventu- ally, [when] you become desperate and you cannot find a job [in the Philippines], you will go abroad” (interview by the author, October 25, 2001). Furthermore, he explained that prior to developing these modules, Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. POEA already served as consultants to a significant number of elementary and high school teachers who incorporated aspects of overseas employ- ment in textbooks. As a result, this same official observed some notable changes in some elementary school textbooks where they mention over- seas workers such as Flor Contemplacion14 and depict them, rather than the usual Apolinario Mabini or José Rizal, as heroes of their generation.15 Although these modules and educational programs function as an information clearinghouse for potential migrants, they gloss over questions about the grim future they inculcate in the minds of Filipino youths. Although the state claims to simply support the inevitability of labor migra- tion as an outlet for people’s economic despair, in fact, they are manufactur- ing its inevitability through this type of early learning indoctrination.The state makes labor migration inevitable by strategically failing to provide the infrastructure for young people and the citizenry at large that would allow Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 63 them to see the Philippines as an economically viable country and local employment as a workable source of livelihood.16 Moreover, these mod- ules were created with no direct contribution from OFWs, thereby raising the question of the kinds of political and economic interests driving them. CFO officials have claimed that OFWs were not directly involved with the design of the modules but that their experiences, through existing research materials, were incorporated or guided the content and structure. Since the state depends on cash remittances from overseas employment and therefore is interested in generating citizens who understand the importance of this employment for national development and who will continue this tra- dition. Perhaps having the input of OFWs who might recount their fright- ening real-life experiences could discourage children and work against the state’s intention of promoting overseas employment. In addition to the PEOS and the Migrant Worker Education Pro- gram, PDOS is a mechanism for ensuring the deployment of “well- informed” workers. The institutions that provide these sessions vary according to the type of employment. Domestic workers who are recruited through private employment agencies must attend a mandatory one-day PDOS given by a state-designated NGOs in order to receive clearance for obtaining their overseas employment certificates.17 Any worker, whether a highly skilled professional or a service worker, processed by POEA must go through a POEA-sponsored PDOS or, if that is unavailable, to an NGO. For all workers (nurses, teachers, seafarers, Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. and so on) who go through private employment agencies, these agencies usually provide their own PDOS because many have received the requi- site training from POEA.18 Therefore, any PDOS given by agencies and NGOs follows the basic format outlined by POEA, whose framework revolves around “empowering” workers through instructive and morale- boosting education. They are intended to prepare workers about the country in which they will work and live, to describe the elements of the particular culture that they need to honor, and to offer them survival strategies that they can use when they encounter problems overseas. These sessions also give them practical information about airport travel tips and the documents they need to bring to make the immigration process go as smoothly as possible. The sessions remind workers of the image they must uphold. As I highlighted at the beginning of this chapter, the statement of the Women Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  64 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s in Development Foundation (WIDF) session leader, “You are not yet heroes. You are just soldiers right now,” is a good example. The metaphoric use of war to describe the position of overseas workers as sol- diers of the state seems especially poignant in supporting the notion that overseas workers are ambassadors of goodwill. As cultural ambassadors, they must act as good citizens by providing high-quality service to their employers because that will determine whether they deserve the respectable status afforded to national heroes. The session leader advised participants that even if they could not perform a certain task initially, they needed to endure and embody patience: “Kayanin ang trabaho” (Push yourself to do the work), she exhorted them.They were not sim- ply contract workers, she added, but Filipino workers, who are known for the three M’s: masipag (hardworking), matalino (intelligent), and may abili- dad (highly skilled). She reiterated that foreign employers seek out Fil- ipino workers because of the quality of their work and service, and this is the name and reputation they need to protect and uphold. With this approach, she empowered Filipino workers to view themselves as valu- able workers by naturalizing and racializing certain traits, making it appear as if Filipinos were naturally inclined to exhibit this behavior. Thus, their task was to realize this and draw from their natural abilities. Racializing these traits provided a space for socially repositioning Filipino workers as a superior to others performing the same job. It is a strategy of empowerment that this particular speaker presented skillfully, Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. to the extent that she generated a positive response to her statements even when they could have been offensive. For example, she scorned Fil- ipino workers who compromised their professional image by behaving inappropriately in public. Referring to domestic workers in Hong Kong, she stated that although domestic work is a respectable job, Filipinas threaten this respectability when they congregate in public and behave in a manner that she deemed inappropriate (talking too loud, selling food and various commodities, and consuming food in public) because of the public criticisms mounted by Chinese employers. Another speaker emphasized that “professionalism is an attitude,” and workers should reenvision themselves as “professional caregivers,” not as chimays (ser- vants). She encouraged them to see themselves as “managers” and as “export quality” as a way of modeling this professional attitude. Filipino workers must also know how to manage their finances effectively; this is a critical component of the PEOS. NGO instructors Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 65 teach overseas workers how to prioritize their finances and spend according to their means. One of the session leaders encouraged partici- pants to list the “dreams” they wanted to fulfill and those that inspired them to work overseas.These dreams included paying for the education of their children or siblings, owning a home, obtaining financial capital for starting a business, purchasing certain material goods (food, clothing, appliances), and establishing savings.Then, the speaker presented the stark reality of the actual take-home pay after personal expenses were deducted and showed that this amount was not necessarily sufficient to fulfill all of these dreams. For example, a domestic worker earning a total of 352,320 pesos for a two-year contract will take home only 188,920 pesos after deducting certain expenses (agency fees and other personal expenditures).The instructor pushed the idea of prioritizing finances and realistically budgeting the money that participants could spend on each of their dreams. She listed options such as having children attend public instead of private schools, providing smaller start-up capital for business ventures, spending less on food and clothing, and aiming for lower per- sonal savings over the two-year span. These sessions deliver a clear mes- sage that overseas employment can offer only minor economic relief and presents significant limitations on what workers can accomplish. Nevertheless, by modeling Filipinos as members of a workforce who possess all this knowledge about the kind of economic actors they are supposed to emulate for the benefit of a state that sees itself only as a Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. facilitator of their choice to work overseas, the state can accomplish a couple of things. First, it can parade them as model economic actors for the country and their families when they can conduct themselves as well-informed workers who behave as professionals, act as effective financial managers, and be capable of asserting their rights independently. Second, and more important, the state is relieved of any responsibility for their overall well-being, since these well-informed workers are already equipped with the knowledge needed for their protection. Up g radi ng and Prof e s s i onal i zi ng Ove r seas Fi l i p i no Worke r s As stated in the text of RA 8042, that overseas employment Magna Carta, the “ultimate protection to all migrant workers is the possession of skills.”This is a tenet that drives the state’s ongoing efforts to profes- sionalize the image of the Philippines’ export workforce by encouraging Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  66 M ar ket i ng D ream s , M anufac turi ng H e roe s workers to upgrade their skills, another mechanism of empowerment. The state’s rationale is that the abuse and maltreatment that workers receive from foreign employers result from the former’s lack of adequate preparation and competencies. The possession of specialized skills by Filipino workers should allow foreign employers to the workers as invaluable commodities for purchase. This was echoed in the PDOSs I attended and is also strikingly apparent in the content of promotional materials, such as the splashy marketing brochure titled Filipino Workers: Moving the World Today, that are made available to prospective for- eign employers. This particular brochure showcases four categories of workers encompassing business and management personnel, health care providers, operations and maintenance workers, hotel workers, and seafarers. Not only does the brochure specifically market a highly skilled and professional workforce, it does so in ways that respond to neoliberal demands of global markets by describing Filipino workers in the way they do. Workers, says the brochure, are highly educated, having received “extensive educational training,” with some having attained master’s and doctoral degrees in the Philippines. They are English proficient, making them “ideally suited in any multi-racial working environment.”They are malleable in that they have the “natural ability to adapt to different work cultures.” They are certainly highly skilled, given their engagement in “constant training and retraining.”They also have top work credentials, evi- Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. dent, for example, in “years of hotel training apprenticeship and actual work experience.”They also offer added bonus qualities such as “hospital- ity,” “charm and cheerful efficiency,” an “innovative spirit,” and a “strong desire to heal.” These descriptions are intended to create a professionalized image of Filipino workers and at the same time to direct their conduct in ways that fulfill what the state advertises as their natural traits. For example, empowering workers by motivating them to upgrade their work skills may be one way of boosting their global marketability but it is also a way of ensuring that what appears in these ads put out by the state are suffi- ciently fulfilled in reality. Although state officials and labor brokers argue that these are true, common, or even natural traits of Filipino workers, they have manufactured and socially constructed the traits to fit the neolib- eral demands of global markets for “high quality” labor commodities. Guevarra, A. R. (2009). Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes : The transnational labor brokering of filipino workers. Rutgers University Press. Created from uic on 2024-08-29 00:20:49.  Governing and (Dis)Empowering Migrants 67 The state has accomplished this by essentializing and racializing the traits as a way to fit Filipino workers into an international mold of flexible workers. The situation is slightly different for those, such as domestic workers, who fall outside the so-called professional category.The state, in response to the demand of foreign employers for “technically” trained domestic workers, allows private employment agencies to require the workers to undergo basic housework training through one of the state-accredited training centers. State officials affirm that upgrading work skills may also be employed as a means of lessening the vulnerability of workers to workplace violence and maltreatment. At the time of my fieldwork in 2001–2002, discussions about how to upgrade the “vulnerable” skills cat- egory, which encompasses domestic work, pervaded POEA. Proposals about categorizing it as “professional caregiving” include implementing changes that entailed improving workers’ technical skills such as provid- ing them expertise in first aid or proficiency in the host country’s lan- guage; reconceptualizing their work by eliminating live-in arrangements and replacing it with the hiring of workers on a daily basis and for a spe- cific amount of time; changing workers’ image by altering their social demeanor and the way they dress to summon a degree of respectability and reflect professionalism.19 Beginning in December 2006, part of this vision to professionalize domestic work was fulfilled through a series of policy reforms that Copyright © 2009. Rutgers University Press. All rights reserved. POEA instituted (www.poea.gov.ph).20 Three of these policy changes were supposed to be beneficial to workers. For one, the minimum salary that workers can earn overseas was increased from two hundred to four hundred dollars, a change that must be stipulated in the standard employ- ment contracts that foreign employers follow. In addition, agencies can no longer collect placement fees from workers via any means, whether prior to their departure or on site through salary deduction. Instead, the cost of hiring domestic workers must be shouldered by foreign employ- ers. Finally, foreign employment agencies, which serve as the counterpart agencies to Philippine-based agencies must now undergo a rigorous pre- qualification certification from the Philippine O