MANILA, Philippines?Sharon Cuneta?s latest starrer, ?Caregiver,? is harsh in its depiction of Filipino OFWs? challenging experiences abroad, but it pales in comparison to the real horrors experienced by the Filipinas whose horrendous sufferings were starkly shown in the recent ABS-CBN documentary, ?Runaways, Human Trafficking in Jordan.?

As we watched the detailed docu, we were stunned to hear one battered OFW after another weeping over the inhumane treatment they had been subjected to by their employers, some Jordanian officials, and even Philippine embassy workers.

Painful experiences

Each traumatic experience corroded the narrator-victim?s sense of self, and we are shocked even more when we learn that the OFWs endured all of their painful experiences for very little money?in fact, often not much more than they used to earn in their safe, ordinary jobs in the Philippines.

So, why do they do it? Why do they risk injury, rape or even death at the hands of cruel strangers?

No definite answer is forthcoming, but the documentary does go into some helpful specifics as it delves into the collusion between corrupt immigration officials, recruiters who renege on contractual agreements in terms of working conditions and salaries to be paid, and their Jordanian labor counterparts, who are often biased in favor of the complaining OFWs? employers.

Aside from the battered and abused domestics it featured, the documentary also zeroed in on a couple of young women who had turned play-for-pay girls, and outright street prostitutes. Now completely debased, they consoled themselves with the thought that they were making more money than their kitchen-drudge counterparts.

?Runaways? was a real eye-opener, but what official action will result from it? We urge labor department officials and NGOs to secure a copy of the documentary, make it available for others to view, and then come up with practicable plans of action to rescue our debased and enslaved countrymen abroad.

Speedy redress

Granted, some of their tales may be exaggerated for effect, but there are many real horror stories out there that cry out to heaven for justice and speedy redress.

Since millions of Filipinos are working as OFWs abroad to support their families (and save the Philippine economy from ending up as a basket case, to boot), our radio, TV and film producers should tell many more of their stories, both of sorrow and of triumph, for all the world to see and hear!