The war from OUR front

As visitors here probably deduced, I am more pragmatic and even cynical when it comes to war--or issues that are close to home like poverty, Catholicism, and terrorism. I live in a country that either numbs you, makes you cynical, makes you indifferent, forces you to leave, or at the far and low end of the scale, keeps you hopeful. These issues are not just seen in our television or read in global headlines; these issues are in our local news, happening to our people, and not somewhere thousands of miles away. Welcome to the 3rd world.

Lets forget (as though its possible) the crisis in Israel and Lebanon right now and take a more up close and personal look on the crisis. How has this affected the Philippines, a country thousands of miles away, a predominantly Catholic country with a Muslim minority and barely any Jews (except probably those who work in the Israeli Embassy). Aside from economics (rising oil prices), what do Filipinos care about the war right?

Oh, we care a lot. Our main concern has no direct relation to the people involved in the war, but with our people who are in trapped or are fleeing Lebanon. Since our media does not have any political interest in creating a bias angle in delivering the news, Filipinos will read about the war in newspapers or watch it on TV without much of the drama that CNN, and especially BBC, like to show. The only thing close to emotional or fiery that I've seen so far in local TV is the debate between the Lebanese consul and Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines when they we guests in a news magazine show. Aside from that, the news are more focused on the overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

What stories do we hear from them? 1.) our incompetent government is at it again.
OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) and the Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon are slinging accusations against each other because of their inability to assist and bring home the overseas workers who are trapped in Lebanon and Syria. Where are the funds? Everyone is asking where is the money that is needed to help the OFWs? Last year there was a reported 10billion peso budget from OWWA, but recently, the official report states that it's actually 8billion. What happened to the 2billion pesos after just 1 year? And if they have all that money, why are the OFWs still stuck and starving in Lebanon and Syria? Why is the Philippine Ambassador in Lebanon saying that they are running out of funds and OWWA has not sent him the repatriation funds?
I think the OWWA officials would not have such a hard time searching for the funds if they just look for it in their personal bank accounts.

2.) OFW horror stories. When you're from a third world country, enerygy and sympathy for international issues seem distant or very specific because we don't have the time or inclination to think about other people's problem when ours is big enough to last a lifetime. What we read in our local newspapers and watch in our local channels are stories of abuse, harrassment and neglect our OFWs have experienced in the hands of their Lebanese employees. Rarely do we hear stories from our countrymen that say they were treated well, or atleast,decently.
Yes, bleeding hearts from first worlds like Europe can cry, "Look at the poor civilians being bombed to heaven's gate by evil Israel," but for us in our little 3rd world corner, we hear personal stories from thousands of our people who served and lived with these Lebanese civilians as househelps. They tell us stories of abuse, of being locked in a room, not given food, unpaid wages, rape, sleeping with the family dog,
and death even before and during the conflict. When the families of these thousands of OFWs hear their stories and then see the news international media presents on TV, I wonder how many of these families find sympathy for the Hezbollah militants, sympathizers, and adult Lebanese civilians. But I guess that situation wouldn't be possible because poor families don't have cable channels and they watch their news in local tv, which has no obvious sympathy for anyone except for their ratings.
Before anyone gets his panties bunched, I am not saying because thousands of Filipinos were abused by Lebanese civillains, we automatically dislike the Lebanese or we automatically sympathize with the Israelis. My point is, if you're poor, you don't have the luxury of analyzing an international political issue nor do you have the resources to research it. You just want to have a decent life and your opinons are mostly shaped by personal experience. I'm sure there are OFWs who were fortunate to have good employers, but because media is more interested in provocative news, what we see often on TV are the horror stories and tales of abuse, much like what CNN and BBC would like to dish out to the rich western countries-- nations that have the luxury and the resources to form opinons and implement global policies.

Are these reality, the unmitigated truth? No, but since that's all we see, we eventually accept it as such.