EXTENDING THE ASIAN MISSION

A Reflection of Migrant Experience in Brunei ...

I had another chance to be in Brunei for the Holy Week and Easter Octave from March 30 to April 16, 2007. I was invited by Bishop Cornelius Sim, D.D., to assist there on those beautiful celebrations of our faith in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. It was my fourth time since Year 2000 that I was invited to assist the Catholic Church there composed mainly of Filipino migrant workers (85% of the Catholic population). Once more, I experienced the hospitality and generosity of the local Church there led by Bishop Lim and his assistant, Fr. Robert Leong.

 The experience and reflections took a unique twist due to my new ministry to migrants and their families. Formerly, I was simply doing church and liturgical works with some lectures and recollection-giving in my first three trips there. With my openness and exposure to the ministry to migrants (OFW), I have developed a critical and objective eye to the migrants and their situation abroad. With my background on the situation of the families left behind and the extensive effects especially on children, I became more conscious and observant of the flight and life of the Filipinos working abroad.

 I continue to get impressed with the generous involvement of Filipinos in the Church, so overwhelming that when you are there ministering, you may think that you are serving the Filipino Church. With organizations that are so active as the Couple for Christ, Legion of Mary, Liwanag ni Kristo, San Lorenzo Ruiz and El Shaddai, you can conclude that Filipino OFWs are really becoming the new missionaries of our generation. They are in fact being encouraged and supported by the local ordinary and the priests of the Apostolic Vicariate of Brunei. It is so inspiring, that you can feel that the Filipinos’ faith is so alive even inside a Moslem country. These different groups continue to reach out to and to evangelize their Filipino Kababayans all the way to their work areas (garment factories and the like) and encourage them to join church activities.

 This wonderful picture is however clouded by serious issues and concerns that are affecting their human, moral and spiritual lives. I got first hand reports and experiences with some OFWs experiencing difficulties maintaining fidelities to their spouses in the Philippines. I heard stories of being maltreated and abused by their bosses and not allowed to join church activities. Many experienced low salaries. Some fell to loan sharks who abused them more. At its worst, some women are being lured to sell their bodies for the needed funds to send home. The saddest tragedy was when a very few women went as far as doing away with unborn babies from their wombs.

 We showed the movie INA…ANAK…PAMILYA seven times and around 1500 OFWs watched it. The emotions flowed freely and more sharing was expressed regarding their situation of being separated from their families especially their children. They mentioned how little choice they have, since life in the Philippines is very difficult and jobs and good salaries are not easily accessible and available for them to raise a good family. They made wrong and immoral choices even if they had the right intentions for doing such for the sake of their families.

 It is nice and encouraging that the local church in Brunei was very supportive of this migrant ministry. Bishop Cornelius Sim, D.D. is also the Chairman of the Bishops Conference of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People. He supported all our activities and gave inspiring insights every time we showed the movie. The Philippine Ambassador, Virginia Buenavides, also supported our cause. The leaders of the Parish Pastoral Council, Joselito Santiago was very active in all our endeavors for the OFW.

 The Church cannot keep a blind eye on the situation of migrants. Family, moral and spiritual values are sometimes being compromised. The government and even business institutions are not concerned regarding these areas of life. Their attentions are mostly limited to remittances, livelihood programs and marketability of these migrants. The church must sound off its voice to evangelize and promote the family, moral and spiritual values to these migrants and the families they leave behind. The stories of these OFWs and their families continue to flow even in newsprints and on television. We cannot stop the phenomenon of migration as long as we continue to live in poverty and we continue to lack job opportunities and enough salary to maintain a decent family.

 As a church, this is one of our real missions. We have to bring the story of Jesus come alive in the lives of migrants and their families. We cannot allow many of them to fall prey to excessive materialism and consumerism, to distorted family values and to compromise their moral and spiritual principles. We may be waiting for heroes but we are actually welcoming victims. Such a dark situation requires that we heed Christ’s invitation for all of us to bring the light of the Good News of salvation to all and concretely to the migrant Filipinos and their families.  When they experience Christ in their lives, they in turn will reach out to others and be the new Storytellers of the Gospel of Christ.

 There is so much hope that migration offers in terms of a better financial life. It also gives hope to the Church by having new “missionaries” in this generation. But we have to take care of them pastorally. Otherwise, we may be losing them to a degradation of life and family, and to loose moral and spiritual values. In the long run, we either see a bright future ahead of us because of the positive results of migration or we may suffer cultural and societal setbacks difficult for us to recover from. The Holy Week continued to the Easter celebration. We can hope and dream that there will soon be redemption and resurrection for all migrants and their families. But we have to share our hand of Mission and Pastoral care for them.