JEDDAH, 25 Agust 2007 — OFW rights advocates in Saudi Arabia yesterday reveled over the victorious campaign led by the Filipino community in Dubai that has forced a writer to apologize and resign from two Philippine publications for maligning migrant workers.
Ronnie Abeto, a senior leader of the Riyadh-based V-Team for Advocacy, said the Malu Fernandez controversy only shows the power OFWs have in shaping Philippine policies if they speak as one.
In a press statement on Thursday, Fernandez announced that she was resigning from People Asia magazine and Manila Standard Today following an outrage that she sparked for an article she wrote that disparaged OFWs.
In her article “From Boracay to Greece” that People Asia published in June, Fernandez told of her vacation to Greece, which she said was spoiled when she was given a seat in the economy class section of an Emirates flight, which was packed with OFWs.
She not only mocked the cheap perfumes of OFWs that diluted her expensive Jo Malone but showed her contempt on Filipinos working at Dubai’s duty-free shop.
“I forgot that the hub (of Emirates Airlines) was in Dubai and the majority of OFWs were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them,” she wrote in her column.
In a subsequent article in column in the Manila Standard Today, she said she was not being rude but only being true to herself.
In an unprecedented outburst, overseas Filipinos from all corners of the world joined hands to attack the writer, throwing every kind of insult against her.
Filipino media practitioners based in the United Arab Emirates also wrote the management of Manila Standard Today and People Asia, demanding action against their writer.
On Thursday, a “humbled” Fernandez issued a statement apologizing for her “insensitivity and the offensive manner in which this article was written.”
Moving Mountains
In an e-mail yesterday, Abeto of the V-Team commended the Filipino Press Club of Dubai and all OFWs “who voiced out in unison to protect us from maligning and belittling our ranks.”
“This is really a sign that if all OFWs would brace each other, we can move mountains,” he said. “With the same effort and support, I enjoin all OFWs to extend the same support to our campaign and let the government hear our voice. I request all of you to join us in our second wave of campaign that will be communicated to all of you in the next few days.”
Abeto was referring to a petition being circulated among overseas Filipinos seeking a special fixed foreign exchange rate for OFWs in view of the drastic drop of the US dollar vis-avis the Philippine peso.
He urged those who have not yet signed the petition to log on to http://petition.patnubay.com and add their signature so that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her advisers would listen.
