Overseas Filipino workers seen this file photo. -Reuters.
MANILA: Love problems, aside from financial woes, have been identified as one of the reasons overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have taken their own lives.
This was according Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officials during the Senate committee on migrant workers’ consultative meeting on Wednesday on the many issues confronting Filipino workers abroad.
At the start of the meeting, committee chairman Sen Raffy Tulfo expressed alarm over reports of OFWs taking their own lives because of financial problems.
He cited the reported six suicide cases in 2023, five in 2024 and one as of April this year.
“That’s very alarming for me,” Tulfo said.
Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Hans Leo Cacdac pointed to unpaid debts and the harassments of collectors hired by shark loans as some of the reasons OFWs think of taking their own lives.
Cacdac also disclosed a bigger syndicate in a loan-related modus where OFWs are offered money in exchange for their ATM cards or bank account information.
“It turns out their accounts are being used for money laundering that is why some of our fellow Filipinos have been arrested for it,” he said in Filipino.
But love problems are also affecting OFWs, particularly in Hong Kong, according to OWWA Administrator Arnell Ignacio.
“One of the problems in Hong Kong is also related to love life. It has become an additional and serious problem for some” said Ignacio, who participated in the meeting online.
OWWA Deputy Administrator for Operations Mary Melanio Quino confirmed this, citing their own records.
“Aside from financial issues, one of the reasons why some take their own lives is love-related problems — specifically when they find out that their spouse in the Philippines has been unfaithful. The emotional pain becomes too much for them to bear. Some refuse to go home because they don’t want to face their spouse, and sadly, they end up taking their own lives,” Quino said.
And while OFWs can call OWWA’s 1348 hotline for help, some are not just comfortable to share their personal problems to people they don’t know, the OWWA official added. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
*** Those contemplating suicide can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935/ 014-322 3392); Talian Kasih (15999/ 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp); Jakim’s family, social and community care centre (011-1959 8214 on WhatsApp); or Befrienders Kuala Lumpur (03-7627 2929/ email sam@befrienders.org.my/ befrienders centres in malaysia).
