Radio programme thrives on helping distressed OFWs

Nine people wait patiently at a receiving area adjacent to a radio broadcast booth at the Radio Mindanao Network's (RMN) station in Pasig City, eastern Manila. They have their own story to tell, such as their troubles while they or their relatives worked abroad.

"My employer terminated my services after only a week in the job and now we do not know where to find the P50,000 ($1,000) we had borrowed to pay for my application," recounts Soledad Mariano, 34, when she got her turn at the microphone inside the radio booth.

As she finishes narrating her tale of woe, the show's anchor, Susan Katindig, popularly known as "Susan K.", dials the number of the recruiter given to her by Mariano. Susan K has a quick aired-over-the-radio chat with the recruiter who agrees to look into Mariano's case and return her application fee.

With just a phone call, another case is solved, another overseas Filipino worker given justice.

For six years now, Pilipinas Online: Bantay OCW (overseas contract workers' vanguard) which is aired over radio station dzXL of the Radio Mindanao Network, has been the "court of last resort" for many a Filipino migrant worker who fails to get redress from government agencies.

On average, the daily show hosts at least six OFWs who go directly on air with their complaints.

"Most of them come to us after they have already complained to government offices such as the OWWA (Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration), POEA (Philippine Overseas Employ-ment Agency) and the labour department, but failed to get a positive response," Susan K said.

The grievances range from the illegal termination of their services by their employers and contract violations to wives back in the Philippines complaining about not getting any support from their husbands who left for overseas jobs.

"No problem of overseas Filipino worker is too small for us," says Susan K. who has hosted the show from the start. She explains that the mere airing of grievances by OFWs through the radio programme provides a release from the burden they carry.

"Apart from directly helping the OFWs, the radio programme helps them release pent up rage and cope with their problems," she notes.

The radio show started as an initiative of Romeo Candazo who, as head of the House of Representatives' Committee on Overseas Filipino Workers in 1996, provided funds for the programme.

"We used to host the show together but now I am on my own. But what Candazo did was plant the seed of something good for the OFWs," she tells Gulf News.

The show started out as a weekend programme but after three months, because of the huge number of OFWs coming to the programme to air their complaints, the station had to format it as a daily show that is now aired from 11 am to 12 noon.

The show was such a big hit and a big help to OFWs that it has scooped recognition from prestigious local award-giving bodies.

In 1999, the show won the Philippine Broadcasters' Association Golden Dove Awards.

Two years in a row, from 2000 onwards, it was adjudged "Best Drama Programme by the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA)"; and as recently as October 21, it was given recognition by the CMMA as the Best Counselling and Public Service Programme for 2002 - its most prestigious award yet.

Asked to cite the most difficult problem she encountered concerning an OFW, she tells the story of a Filipina maid who was raped by four brothers who are soldiers.

"She got pregnant after she was raped and fled back to the Philippines. Her big problem was how she would break it to her Filipino husband. Congressman Candazo and I offered to adopt her child, but eventually she decided to keep the baby and reconciled with her spouse," she reveals.

Eventually, Pilipinas Online: Bantay OCW plans to go international. "I am presently looking at buying air time on a Filipino TV network that airs its programmes overseas to boost the show's presence and covers more parts of the world where OFWs are employed," she says.

The job as anchorwoman of the most popular show for OFWs does not come without its hazards. "I have already encountered death threats from recruiters whom I have confronted in my programme," she recounts.

From her radio booth in Pasig City, Susan K. helps Filipino migrant workers get justice from unscrupulous recruiters and erring foreign employers.