⌛ Working as au-pair

Answer to dumaguetenia

Hi dumaguetenia

No of course not. There are no countries in the world, where women are treated like princesses. And yes, there are definitly filippinas, who have had some bad experiences, when they have went abroard. I am not denying that. All I say is that:

1) I certainly don`t think young filippinas who go abroard to work as au-pairs are treated worse in average than filippinas going abroard to work as maids, nurses or whatever.

2) Even if they were, it should still be up to the individual to make the decisision weather to go or not. This is not a matter for the government to decide, nor for you, based on presumably nothing more than a few stories, you have read in the newspapers. If the philippine government want to help people, it should do so by giving relevant information to potential au-pairs (like I did in this thread) and by cooperating with the governments of countries, that young filippinas travel to. Not by issuing a ban on certain kinds of travel.

3) What is the alternative anyway? If it is working as a maid in the Philippines, then the salary is around 1500 peso / month i.e. 1/10 of what an au-pair is paid in Denmark. And do rich philippino families treat their maids any better on average than danish or canadian families treat au-pairs? I frankly don`t think so. Health care is also a lot better in a developed country, and how many domestic maids in the Philippines are covered by a health insurance in the first place? Not many I guess, and then how are they going to pay for medical care out of their 1500 peso / month salary? It is just not possible.

"Who are you trying to help here ? it is truly the peasant or the pleasant ?

It's good to know, their a lot of you here in the forum , wanted to help our poor fellow filipino , but.., please don't promote and find fault in our government , just to serve the few."

I am not really sure, I get what you mean here. Why should I not "promote and find fault" in the Philippine government? You think it is a good government, that the philippine people can be satisfied to have?

In that case I can only say, that I totally disagree with you. In my opinion you need to go all to way to Africa to find a country, which has a worse government than the Philippines. Or maybe Burma can compete, but as most people know, Burma is an outright dictatorship, whereas the Philippines, at least on paper, is some kind of democracy.

The Philippine senate is filled with people, who have done time in jail, or who just have quite a few skeletons in their closet. I.e. the person, who was chief of the PNP at the time, where a whole truck full of prisoners reportedly tried to run away and were shot during the attempt, is now a member of the senate. Only problem is, the prisoners were all carrying chains around their feet, when their bodies where found. So apperently they were simply executed, presumably because they knew to much about some powerfull people.

In other countries, even if no signs could be found, that linked this crime to the chief of police, he would surely have to resign, and people would never dream of electing him for the senate or anything else afterwards. Unless perhaps, the people, who committed the crime, were cought, and the chief himself had clearly nothing to do with the matter.

The examples of events like these in the Phillippines are literally endless, and it is pointless to go on and on about it. So lets just say, that given that the country has, what must be one of the worst governments in the entire world, I will always defend the right of the individual citizen to do whatever he or she deems to be best for him or her, nomather what his or her government thinks about that.

Even if this includes to leave his or her country to go and live somewhere else. And lets be honost here. The Philippines is a great place to be, if you have money, but if you don`t, it is for sure one of the worst places in the world to be born.

How much do the pump attendants at Caltex or Petron in Dumaguete earn? 80 peso pr. day? Or the sales ladys in Super Lee Place? Proberly about the same. 80 peso pr. day is hardly enough to even pay for a simple room in a boarding house, much less to pay for food or other needs.

It is no wonder, for sure, that people want to try their luck somewhere else, as long as salaries are that appallingly low in the Philippines. One could argue, that it is bad for the country, if to many people choose to leave, but hey, why are salaries that low in the first place? Isn`t that because there is a huge surplus of labour and a huge shortage of jobs?

The solution therefore can not be to force people to stay in a country, where they can not live a decent life. The solution instead must be to create more and better jobs, and THEN more people will choose to stay completely voluntarily.

Best regards, Lars

 

Guys lets talk about facts, not wild speculation.
Lee plaza or caltex or any business in dumaguete pays the minimum plus SSS plus PH per hour. and as it seems you know everything you should know how much it is...
Ok-Rooms in boarding houses are available from 600 PHP.
It is also way easier for a philipino/a to go legally working abroad than it is for you working here. Coming here and try to make black money as a dive instructor is illegal... I know at least 5 recruters (1 from india, 2 from Europe 2 from the US) who are in Duma up to 10 times a year to find employees working abroad, and not a small number...
Look at the percentage of philippin citizen working legal outsid the PI compared to most other countries in the world, so don't tell here it is too hard. If the papers are ok, it will not take longer then 1 month,after the interview with the recruter.

Going abroad as a "black worker" is and should be a problem.
There is a cooking-school in Manila who can't deliver enough people for their clients. this school has a construction side in Dauin where the first class starts in May. They go to school 3 years, but will never do anything else than peeling potatoes or washing dishes. Why ??? easy... chaep workers with good english skills. This is the one and only reson. covering a chaep maid under the name "au-pair" is a joke... sorry. you are from Denmark, east europe is providing so many of them. To get a qualified philippino/a working europe, using a agency costs around 1.500 Euros plus the flight... and everything will be legal. I am sure you know what it costs to get a working permit here as a foreigner, and I don't talk about a business permit... yes there are ways to get it faster...

but talking about corruption, take you your time for some research. The eastimated number what went into black channels in the philippines in 2006 is less than SIEMENS spent under the table in 2006... no need to talk about all other big companies and governments in "our" world. I guess the parlaments in Europe would be very empty cause all the guys and girls would be in chail if they would face the same law as the "small" people do. there is no difference to Asia... In asian, the newspapers and TV channels are just publishing it, in "our" world they get paid not to do so....

decent life...? what is that. I see more happy faces here than in Europe, shining eyes of lolas, playing kids all over the places. Yes, they need to work hard, but they also know how to enjoy life. Western decent life is not comparable to decent life here. Just because "we" like it does not mean it is good for the PI. I invited my crew for a long good night out in town, they told me to forget about it.... "Save the money, we go to the beach, buy some long-neck, sing, play music and get drunk. only one example in 7 years philippines... 1000 more expieriences... They introduced me to decent life in their point of view and I respect and like it.... "We" can create jobs and work untill we drop down dead, but we have a nice house and garden... better don't work so much and ebjoy life, you only have one...
cheers

Rhoody

 

Hey, thanks rhoody! I was gonna answer his comments, but you took some of my words (right from my keyboard hehehe). Thank you and I salute you!

 

Hi, Thank you Rhoody ! your writing is a lot better than mine. Thanks , for saving our cute girl in Philippines. Tell you the truth , i rather see our young girls , marriage to a 50- 60 plus " joe " than to be an au-pair. You know why ? they will be better taken care of. They in the philippines and close to their family.
So girls, if you happened to read, this don't be shy, get better with grand pa , than being an au-pair.:D

Or..., This !
60,000 JOBS AVAILABLE FOR NURSES, OTHER YOUNG PROFESSIONALS - DOLE
MANILA, JANUARY 31, 2008 (STAR) By Mayen Jaymalin - Employment prospects seem to be getting brighter for young Filipino professionals.

Over 60,000 local jobs are now available for nurses and other young professionals, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Data from DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) showed a total of 60,250 job vacancies, but only 22,658 job applicants from various parts of the country.

The same data gathered by BLE revealed that professional nurses and call center agents are now the most in demand skilled workers among local employers.

A total of 600 jobs are available for professional nurses and 400 for call center agents followed by domestic helpers with 300 unfilled positions.

Others in the Top 10 list of most in demand workers are staff nurse, accounting clerk, engineering assistant, information technology specialist, production worker, accounting staff, human resource development specialist and mechanical engineer.

DOLE, however, reported numerous applicants for the posts of production worker, service crew, cashier, machine operator, data encoder and office clerk.

Meanwhile, on work overseas, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) warned yesterday Filipino applicants that there are no legal jobs available for foreign domestic helpers in Egypt.

The DFA warning came after the embassy reported that the Egyptian government issues working permits and visas only to foreign domestic helpers if employed by foreign diplomats accredited in Egypt.

“Filipinos who seek jobs in Egypt as domestic helpers are in danger of arrest by the Egyptian immigration authorities for lack of valid visas and working permits,” the DFA said.

Filipino domestic service workers in Egypt who have no pertinent documents do not enjoy labor protection and are vulnerable to abuse and maltreatment.

The embassy has found Filipino domestic helpers using the following modes to enter Egypt:

• Recruitment as domestic workers purportedly for a neighboring country like Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, but later brought to Egypt by their sponsors for delivery to their real employers;

• Recruitment as skilled workers (e.g., factory workers, nurses, hotel service staff, etc.) under a scheme that allows highly skilled foreigners to work in Egypt;

• Entry into Egypt as tourists and work as domestic helpers. Eventually, they overstay their tourist visas and are locked up in the homes of their employers to avoid trouble due to their illegal status.

The third-country approach is commonly used because Egyptian immigration laws allow foreign employers to bring with them their foreign domestic helpers when they vacation in Egypt.

In Lebanon, despite the growing tension there, a ranking Lebanese official yesterday assured the safety of Filipinos in the Middle Eastern country and dismissed the need for their immediate evacuation.

Honorary Consul-General Joseph Assad said the prevailing tension in Lebanon is expected to stabilize within a few days because of the scheduled presidential elections on Feb. 11.

“There is absolutely no need to evacuate overseas Filipino workers from Lebanon at the moment since the condition is only temporary,” Assad pointed out.

He also gave assurance that the Army is ready and able to contain any outbreaks of violence.

But as a precaution, Assad still urged Filipino workers to stay home during their rest day and refrain from going to public places like shopping malls, cinemas and churches for the meantime. – With Pia Lee-Brago

 

Wake up Rhoody

No they don`t. There are lots and lots of buisnesses in Dumaguete, who pay way below the official minimum wage. The salary for a waitress in Why Not was 60 peso pr. day a few years ago - don´t know what is it today, but hardly much more. For many years, this business also did not pay health insurance for its employes. Again, I have no idea, if that is still the case.

I know a person, who worked for one week as a pump attendent in Petron in Dumaguete back in 2005. Her total salary was practically nothing, since every single peso, that were lacking when the day was over, was substracted from her salary. After one week she had earned maybe 100 peso all in all, and then she gave up and found another job as domestic helper. I am not sure exactly what her official salary pr. day was, maybe it was not 80 but 90 or 100, but does that really matter? I am pretty sure it was not more than 100.

It is true, that it is not easy for a foreigner to get a work permit in the Philippines. But it is certainly not easy either for a foreigner to get a work permit in Denmark, so in this aspect the two countries are pretty much the same. Where they differ is in the aspect of leaving your own country. That is quite a lot easier, if you are born in Denmark, than if you are born in the Philippines.

For example, it took more than two years to get the papers of my fiancee fixed, so that she could even apply for a passport. It also cost us about 30.000 peso. How many filippinos could afford this on their own? Not many I guess. In Denmark it would have taken a few weeks, and the cost would have been maybe 10% of, what it was in the Philippines. As for corruption being as big a problem in the western world as in the Phillippines, all I can say is again: wake up. That is just simply not the case.

And a final one for Rhoody: Yes it is true, that many people seem to be very happy in the Philippines, and least if you do not dig to deep. And for sure stress is much less of a problem, than it is in the western world. But would you really like yourself to have to live for 80 or 150 peso pr. day and perhaps even support a family on this amount? Or would you like, that this was the future, that your kids were facing? I guess not. So again, it is a great place to be, if you or your parents have money, but otherwise it isn`t.

To Dumaguetenia: It is good for you, that you are so clever, that you know, what is best for other people. I still beleive, that people should have the right to make their own choises, so I guess we will just have to respectfully disagree on this matter.

As for marrying a 50-60 years old "Joe", yes, that might be ok, if he threat the girl with respect. Quite a few young filippinas do however hook up with the wrong "Joes", perhaps in the mistaken belief, that if they just find any "Joe", then their happyness is secured. Which it obviously isn`t, since "Joes" are as different as local men, i.e. some are good and some are bad.

One friend of my fiancee have an american boyfriend, who regularly beat her, and recently this resultet in a miscarriage of the child she was pregnant with. I honostly think, that she would have been quite a lot better off working as au-pair than letting herself support by this guy. Luckily they are not married, so she still have a decent chance to get away from him sooner or later.


Best regards, Lars

 

You guys have good points, but way too long discourse. Hard to follow.

 

I saw in Cine Totoo (documentary program) last night that GMA's official position is that Filipinos can live on 36pesos per day.
I think 60pesos per day pay rate is too rich, according to GMA?

 

Sorry Lars,
another one of your already famous post which just make me smile...

you postetd it again, I just use your words.... Again, you have NO idea, and to continue with two of my words ... AT ALL

Thats like in each western country, if money is missing it goes off the salery, why should a business owner pay for people who can't calculate or stealing. I don't say the person you know steals, but has obvously not enough mathematical skills or the ability of controlling things, so the person was wrong in that job

Domestic Helper, what a cute word, I guess you mean a maid without any working contract .... but again I use your words.... you are not sure...

I had temporary working permits in more than 10 different european countries including east europe and some nordic countries). I guess it comes down to the qualification of the person who applies. Sure for a cheap "domestic helper" paid under the table, there might be some problems.

Sorry to be very direct now, but than you did something horribly wrong.
My GF had no single paper with her real name and no baptism-cert or any valid paper and we had a 12 day trip from Puerto Galera (where I worked and lived before) to Manila (get papers from her family and office-stuff) to Tacloban (office-stuff, she was born there) back to manila (apply) back to PG. Back in PG i did 2 calls a week to follow up and 4 weeks after the application she had the passport ready to pick up. I do things like that by myself and personally.
Anyway you get a legal passport easily in Manila (illegally organised by a fixer) for 12.000 - 15.000 PHP. But you get it in 1 week and it is a legal official one, no fake or copy.

Take your time and read through my posts and you know who I am what I do and where I come from. That would avoid that you make this (and sorry the word) stupid speculations.

To make it short, I life and work here in the PI since 7 years, I did never spend one single Euro. I life from that money I am earning here. I have a simple, great life and live. Rent a old cheap house in a philippino community, would never move into a "western" subdevision or comunity. Than I can go back in the country i was born. My live with the lovely people of that country gave me more expierience and knowledge about the PI than any of the "Coco Amigos" and "WhyNot" happy-hour-chair-warmers ever will have.
Another example, I did the electric of my Philippino neighbor for free as I had the time. Whenever I need help they are here for me. When I am not in Dumaguete for some days, I don't need a Security for my house, I have my friends in the neighborhood. Neighbor-kids playing in my garden, I take them for a ride on my bike, or drive them somwhere if I see them walking on the street.

Sorry again, Lars you are the one telling people what is better for them, you even tried to tell me what I should want or do and guessing what I want for me my life and my kid...

Many statesments of this thread can be heard 20 times a day at the 2 locations I mentioned above from people who where the reason why I left Europe cause they always know what is better for others but don't get their own life sorted properly and/or do not accept that people can be happy with 100 Peso a day. Rice is cheap, fruits and vegetables growing in the backyard and fish is in the Ocean.

Yes I am happy here with my simple life
Rhoody

 

Lets end this

Rhoody I think it is quite useless to continue this discussion. You obviously think, that the Philippines is the best place in the world to live for everybody, and you can not tolerate any different opinion on that matter. So lets just leave it with that.

One thing I like to comment on though is the policy of Petron. Yes it is true, that no company would accept that an amount of money is missing every day, that is similar to the salary of the sales person. Unless she was able to rapidly improve her skills, she was therefore not the right person for the job. However, in a similar situation in Denmark, the person in question would be laid off, but would still receive his or her salary, unless he or she was directly cought stealing. That is just one example how civilized countries have laws, that protect workers, whereas the Philippines do not have any such laws, or at least they are not enforced.

As for the papers of my fiancee, the point was, that she needed a name-change, because her original birth certificate was in another name than the one, she have used since she was 5 years old. This was a problem, because the name on the birth certificate of our daugther and her other kids was then of course different from the name on her birth certificate, which would be impossible to explain to the danish embassy, if we wanted to apply for a turist visa for her and the kids to visit Denmark. It was this change of name, that took more than 2 years and cost 30.000 peso, because of the highly inefficient Philippine "system".

As for you living a simple life in the Philippines without bringing in money from "home". Well that is fine, and I am not saying that this is impossible. I would guess though, that your income has been quite a lot higher than the average filippino worker, because you have some unique skills, i.e. you are a dive instructor and now also a webmaster.

Finally then I have to say, that is it not me, who wants to determine, how others should live, but you. What I advocate is just, that people born in the Philippines should be able to do exactly, what you have done yourself, i.e. go to another country, if they do not like to stay in their native country.

I am not saying, that everybody should do this, only that they should be allowed to do so, if they wish.

Best regards, Lars

 

Final remark

As a final remark, this one I would like to appologize for. It was an unfounded and speculative remark. So sorry for that.

As for places to live, we also do not stay in a "foreign" community. We only have phillipine neighbours. Our security problem arises from the fact, that I am not always home, and then there are only girls in the house, which of course local criminals have now found out. The problem is then enhanced by the fact, that our house is the last in a compound, facing out against a plantation, which provide burglers with an easy entrance and getaway.

In the long run we will proberly solve the problem by either moving to another place, or by making it more difficult to climp the fence around our house. The existing fence already has broken glass on top of it, but apparently that is not enough to keep burglers out.