Move On or Bring It On?

Malu Fernandez apologized is it time to move on or bring it on? One of those blogs that's asking the same question is Rico of Bayanihan Blog and I quote:

Which means the discussion has become pointless, and that’s why I’m closing the comments on the original post. It’s time for the expression to stop and the action to begin. If you are really serious over your scorn for Malu Fernandez and her infamous People Asia article, then take Nick’s advice and take a more active role. Write the editors of The Manila Standard and People Asia and ask for her dismissal, resignation, or her apology. If that’s what you really want.

If not, it’s time to move on.

That is one of the steps one can take if indeed we are offended and take her insults in complicity with her publisher and editors then by all means bring it on.

Is the Malu Fernandez circus over or is this the start of something significant looming over the bloggers horizon? While there are some feeling superior Malu Fernandez derivatives (thinking & feeling elitist with their subconscious Malu mentality showing in their blogs) sees the outrage as a “mob” like reaction some see this phenomenon in a better light and recognition of the greatness of Filipinos in particular. I find Yan2’s take on Malu’s apology very refreshing to which I quote:

In the course of this controversy, we have all learned a valuable lesson. We, Filipinos, when attacked, are capable of fighting as one against a common enemy (no matter how insignificant). I am really impressed at the passion and energy invested in this campaign.

I can only hope that we can channel this same intensity into fighting the more pressing issues plaguing our country.

I hear you Yan2 there are more pressing issues suchs as this one raised by caffeine sparks that needs our attention but this is not to lessen the importance of the Malu Fernandez brouhaha because no matter how we look at it she has unwittingly and crudely highlighted the class antagonism and diametrically opposed interest of the rich and poor. A crude lesson in Marxist class struggle in her shallowness has become the unwilling target of mockery and derision while at the same time gave us a reason to reflect on the very core of the issues affecting Overseas Filipinos.

Yes there are more pressing issues that needs to be addressed and one that comes to mind is human trafficking that comes in many forms as shown in this article Migrante wants RP consul fired for alleged OFW trafficking. A case that involves the mother in law of San Francisco Consul Anthony Mandap pleading guilty of exploiting Arlene Gado, 23 by paying her a fraction of what she was promised and forbidding her from leaving the house without her employers.

Arlene Gado was originally brought to the US by the said consul to work as their nanny for US$8.00/hr and overtime pay of US$12.00/hr. but instead was flown to New Jersey to work for Angelita and Norberto Reyes of West Windsor - a suburban community bordering Princeton in central New Jersey. Mandap’s wife Maryann flew to New Jersey with Gado and told not to leave her parents residence without any of her relatives accompanying her or she will be arrested. Her passport was also taken away from Gado a scenario so common with exploited overseas Filipino workers. If our very own consular officials resort to this low down tactic of servitude is it any wonder why our government allows foreign employers to hold on to our compatriots passport? Do they exhibit the same Malu Fernandez mindset of nothing but contempt against our very own people that are now the new emerging middle class in a society that has been marginalized and impoverished by poverty due to government corruption and mismanagement?

How do we approach this problem and lack of respect or rather disrespect on a sector that has time and again prevented the sinking economy from collapsing? We need to realize that respect is earned and it cannot be demanded especially from people with false sense of superiority whose pre-occupation in life is to belittle and exploit their own people.

There is a need for an organized approach and there is a group of Overseas Filipinos forming a political party specifically to represent and empower the sector. They are called Partido ng Pangdaigdigang Pilipino (Party of Filipinos Worldwide) a small group of community leaders who wants to take action and level the political playing field, here is a short description which I quote from their yahoogroup site:

OUR MISSION

To love and serve the Filipino people with the highest degree of dignity and excellence by abiding strictly to the tenets of accountability, transparency, integrity, and credibility; and by seeking Divine Guidance in our manners and ethics.

OUR VISION

The OFW Party will be recognized worldwide as having a tradition of excellence in governance. It will be the Party of choice by all those who believe in the teachings, ideals, and principles of our forefathers and national heroes.

This Political Jaywalker believes that Overseas Filipinos will have to assert themselves in order not just to be recognized but their voices heard in how the nation is run. I believe that the leadership should come from the ranks of Migrant Contract Workers contrary to what others believe that the leadeship will come from the West composed of Filipino Americans or Canadians. For one the contract workers will be back to the Philippines and as such they are more "connected" to the Philippines than their counterparts in the west.

Overseas Filipinos malu fernandez modern day heroes human traffickingsexual slavery