Getting face-to-face with the overseas Filipinos (OFs) in the UAE and realizing the magnitude of the problems besetting them has been an eye-opener for Social Welfare Attaché Isabel Sy Nillas, who ended her tour of duty on May 1 Labor Day with this advice: “Work abroad with legal documents.”
Nillas, whose first posting was the UAE, said her work, documenting cases affecting OFs, was very challenging, especially considering she was the sole person assigned to the job.
“My experience working as social welfare attaché gave me a realization about the magnitude of the problems of OFs here and the predicament they have to put up with,” Nillas told The Filipino Times in an email interview before she left for Manila.
“It was an eye-opener for me to see the actual social realities. It gave me a better realization of the sacrifices that OFs endure to support their families back in the Philippines,” she added.
Nillas advised those wanting to leave the Philippines for work elsewhere to do so with legal documents and not as tourists, or illegally recruited or trafficked persons. “This will prevent them from encountering the predicaments faced by those who had gone ahead of them,” she said.
To her replacement, Nillas has this to say: “Be equipped with the adequate knowledge, right attitude and skills in handling the various OF cases in the UAE.”
