Maltreated Filipinas in Singapore and Malaysia

I have felt quite distressed after watching the news report on Filipinas being maltreated in Singapore and Malaysia. A lot of these Filipino girls are being recruited from the provinces of the Philippines and has never been out of the country before. The news said that as soon as their airpline lands, the girls’ recruiter informs them of the huge amount of dollar debt they owe the recruitment agency and that they have to pay them up as soon as possible. They are only given and opportunity to change their clothes and they are sent off to brothels to work as prostitutes. You could imagine the shock of these girls in finding themselves in these situations just an hour or so after they arrive in a foreign land. Most of these girls were made to believe that they will be employed as housemaids when they get to Singapore. But because they were oriented that Singapore is very strict, they become very afraid to escape and tell the Singaporean authorities about this. They are also unaware of the presence of the Philippine Embassy in Singapore because they are naive and uneducated. A lot of them cannot even speak English so it is understandable why there is so much fear in them. Their ordeal goes on and on until they are able to find clients who would take pity on their plight and aid them to escape or report to the police. It is very sad to know that because of the poverty in the Philippines, people dream of better lives and that the only solution most of them thinks is being able to work outside the country. There are people however who try and exploit the weakness of naive and uneducated Filipinas who desires nothing more than to help their families. As a Filipina who has lived in Singapore and Malaysia for awhile as an expatriate wife, I would say that I really feel sorry even for the average Filipina housemaids out there. In our condo unit, a lot of maids are being shouted at all the time by their employers. They are not afforded even decent clothing making them look even more pitiful. My husband, who is a British, would always say that he doesn’t understand the cold treatment of a lot of Chinese employers on their Filipina maids when most of these girls are nice, friendly and most of the time, they speak clearer English than the average Singaporeans. I do not understand either the bias that is around against Filipinas. Just because Filipinos come from a 3rd world country does not make them lesser mortals, does it? There was a couple of times when 1 Singaporean and 1 Malaysian (in 2 separate instances) tried to talk down on me thinking they can do it to every Filipina they see. Then when I started to open my mouth and retort back in a very angry way, that has put them in their places. I gave them an all-out dressing down because of their remark and they actually felt embarassed and frantically apologized. They were taken aback by my very forward and fearless attitude plus it was obvious that I do speak English a lot better than them which could only mean I am not what they think I am. I would say, it only takes assertiveness on us Filipinos to teach these people that they are no better than us. I would never let anyone even try to belittle me just because I’m a Filipina. But I understand it is a lot easier for me to do and say because I do not work there and am really not afraid of anything. I do know that I do not owe anyone there anything and I can definitely fight for myself. I can imagine other Filipinos who are afraid of losing their source of income and livelihood of their family so they choose to take the punches. I just don’t understand people who are like them and what’s worse is the fact that Filipino nationals themselves are in cahoots with these people in bringing misery to unsuspecting and naive Filipinas. It is disgusting! What do you say?