Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
by
Stephen J. Sills
May 2004
ABSTRACT
Starting from the point of view of the migrant, this study attempts to document the
everyday experience of labor migrants and to analyze the transition that the laborers
experience in their self-concept as a result of the migration process. As one of the key
sending countries, the Philippines is an important case in the discussion of economic based
destination for Southeast Asian labor migrants, offers a difficult receiving context where
economic benefits are meager, and opportunity for social integration is almost nonexistent.
This dissertation considers the various social, cultural, political, and economic aspects of
Taiwan as a receiving context and analyzes the lack of incorporation of Filipino migrants,
especially those working in the manufacturing sectors, into Taiwanese society and the
including videotaped face-to-face interviews with participants and those familiar with their
everyday lives, a comprehensive survey of 389 laborers, interviews with migrant NGO
reports, and reports provided by participating NGOs. Narratives of exit from the homeland,
exclusion from the host society, search for a sense of community, and, finally, the
and
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As quickly as possible
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to acknowledge and thank a number of people for their support and help
throughout this work. My committee chair, Dr. Victor Agadjanian, who has now
overseen both my thesis and dissertation projects and has pushed me to be academically
rigorous and to set high goals for myself. Dr. Karen Miller-Loessi, whose course on
theoretical perspectives. Dr. Jennifer Glick, who has reminded me of the role of structure
and demographics in shaping culture. I would especially like to thank all of the
participants who volunteered their time and life stories for the goal of improving the
conditions for employment of future labor migrants in Taiwan. Special among them was
Jenny who helped to transcribe, photograph, video, and even do a few interviews in
Tagalog. Also, thanks to Virginia for transcription and lending her beautiful voice and
guitar playing to the documentary and “Cassandra” for helping with transcription and
sharing her difficult story. I would like to thank Fr. Bruno Ciceri, and his committed
assistants Tessa and Angela at the Stella Maris International Service Center, for their
24/7 dedication to helping all migrant laborers in Taiwan, regardless of the personal cost.
Finally, to my parents who taught me to use my skills to serve others, and to my wife
Hui-Jung. She has helped me with so many elements: from translating documents to
the issues. She has also been there for me as I have struggled to define my work and has
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................xiv
LIST OF IMAGES...............................................................................................xvii
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................1
Factory Workers...............................................................12
Overview of Document................................................................17
Cumulative Causation..................................................................21
Transnationalism..........................................................................23
Assimilation .................................................................................25
CHAPTER Page
Interpretivist Paradigm.............................................................................37
3 METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................43
Analysis........................................................................................46
Interviews.........................................................................47
Twenty Statements...........................................................48
Survey Respondents.....................................................................54
CHAPTER Page
CHAPTER Page
Coordinators.................................................................................100
CHAPTER Page
Conclusions..................................................................................148
Conclusions..................................................................................184
8
CHAPTER Page
Social Ties....................................................................................196
Conclusions..................................................................................199
Xenophobia in Taiwan.................................................................204
Conclusions..................................................................................231
CHAPTER Page
Media ...............................................................................240
Conclusions..................................................................................247
Conclusions..................................................................................262
Other Statements..........................................................................270
CHAPTER Page
Policy Recommendations.............................................................292
APPENDIX
C INFORMED CONSENT...................................................................334
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE Page
2-2 The Mechanisms of the Migration Experience and Revised Self Concept ...34
FIGURE Page
11-5 Taiwan Mechanisms of the Migration and Revised Self Concept ...........280
14
LIST OF IMAGES
IMAGE Page
1 An especially well-attended service St. Joseph the Worker parish Nan Tze....14
11 Cleaning the equipment after mixing chemicals used in ceramic circuit board
components ......................................................................................................64
15 Roland, AKA “Rod” completing the TST at the dorm (Chi Chin Island)......96
16 William shows the local NGOs advertised in the church bulletin ..................100
19 Pastora Tessa (or as she prefers Ate Tessa [elder sister or auntie Tessa])......129
22 Factory worker loading machines used for mixing ceramic materials ...........166
37 Original 1950s building of St. Joseph and outside seating area ....................256
CONSIDERATIONS
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
English in the burgeoning and lucrative market for native English-speaking teachers in
the many Taiwanese bushibans (補習班)1. Unlike the workers described in this
dissertation, I was treated, for the most part, as a privileged guest. I was paid a salary that
was more than twice that of local teachers, provided with a housing stipend, and given
yearly travel funds for returning to the US. Initially recruited in the States, all the paper-
work for visas, work permits, and travel were arranged by representatives of the school
contrast to what wai lao2 workers from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and other
It was during my first stay that I began to read about the plight of Filipino
laborers in the Kabayan!3 section of the English weekly Taiwan News (財經。文化周刊). I
was surprised by the disparity in treatment between those of us from Western nations and
the workers from developing countries. The Filipino domestic and factory workers, I
were paid about half the salary of local workers. Moreover, I learned that they had to pay
excessive fees for the opportunity to work in Taiwan. Awareness of this inequality led
1 Bushibans, or cram schools, are private supplementary schools providing general preparation for high school
and college entrance exams or subject-oriented courses such as math, sciences, English, etc. For more see:
http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/q&a/page_13.htm Retrieved April 12, 2004.
2外勞, Usually used to refer to foreign workers from developing countries
3 This section appears online now at: http://www.etaiwannews.com/Kabayan/
2
me to want to know more about labor migration, immigrant incorporation and exclusion,
The process of the globalization of capitalism has lead to the creation of many
international networks of labor migrants (Fawcett 1989; Martin 1993; Stalker 1994;
Zlotnik 1998; Stalker 2000; Chiswick and Hatton 2001). As one of the key sending
especially remittance of funds earned in the exterior (Martin 1993) has been instrumental
in continuing a culture of migration. As Philip Martin notes, this circular labor migration
is both sizeable and historically rooted in the colonial history of the Philippines:
The economic impact of the more than $5.4 billion US in annual remittances (National
Statistics Office, Republic of the Philippines 2002)4 has been significant in the domestic
economy and is estimated as accounting for approximately 10% of the Gross Domestic
4 Estimated using the figures in the 2001 Survey of OFW at 55 billion pesos for the six month period from
April to September x 2 divided by the April 2001 exchange rate of 1 USD = 49.369905 PHP from the
Historical Currency Converter at http://fxtop.com/en/historates.php3 accessed on June 28, 2002.
3
While the majority of the total permanent emigration from the Philippines is
destined for the United States,5 there is an almost equally sizable flow of temporary
workers to the Middle East and Asia (Martin 1993). In 2001, 88% of all Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFWs) were employed in East and Southeast Asia (National Statistics
(OWWA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and governed by the Migrant Workers and
Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.6 Martin explains the economics of contract work and the
Filipino workers are screened and then go abroad with special contract
worker passports. Private Filipino recruiters go abroad to find jobs for
Filipinos to fill, get the Philippine government to approve the contract,
and then find Filipino workers to go abroad. But these recruitment
activities and protections come at a cost, which is typically borne by the
worker. Since most Filipinos go abroad legally, they cannot escape these
costs. However, as labor exports shift to Asia – where salaries are lower
and employee-paid recruitment fees are higher-the wedge between gross
and net foreign earnings widens to the disadvantage of the worker.
(Martin 1993: 643)
This gap is exacerbated by the decrease in wages following the Asian economic
crisis of 1996, which resulted in more than a 20% decrease in the value of the Taiwan
dollar relative to the American dollar.7 As a result of this “economic crisis” the minimum
5 According to Martin (1993) the US accounted for 1.3 million migrants or 93% of those in core receiving
countries in the early 1990s.
6 See full text of the 1995 Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act at :
http://www.gov.ph/cat_labor/ra8042.asp
7 27 NTD to 1 USD Jan 1996 compared with 35 NTD to 1 USD Jan 2002 http://www.x-rates.com/cgi-
bin/hlookup.cgi
4
wage for foreign workers has remained the same for over six years. At one point,
according to reporter Belinda Olivares-Cunanan (2001), there was even talk that the
minimum contract wage in Taiwan for OFWs would be decreased by as much as a third.
There is historic president for wage cuts and paying workers less than the
minimum. Many employers imposed monetary penalties and restriction that result in
salaries far below the minimum contracted wage. One can see an example of the
restrictive conditions under which a Filipino worker is held in a typical labor contract
(Appendix A). Under the terms of this general contract, workers may be penalized three
days wages for missing one day, or fined up to 20% of their salary (3,000 NT, or roughly
US $85) for breaking any of the company rules. According to worker contracts, OFWs
have may be fined or deported for attempting to form unions or engage in strikes. For
example, in 1994, 14 OFWs were deported for striking when the factory they were
working for “changed the way it re-paid wage deductions” (Migration News 1995). A
February 2002 Migration News brief, details other conditions that liken labor contracts to
indentured servitude:
working there quite slim, there is still strong significance placed by the Filipino
government on the workers it sends there. OFWs are repeatedly seen as “modern day
heroes” for the economic support they give their nation and select workers are annually
given an award from the POEA presented by the Philippine president (Department of
Labor and Employment 2003). In 2002, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo addressed
OFWs in Taiwan specifically. The purposive construction of strong ties between sending
transnational labor migration (Borjas 1988; Sassen 1988 Borjas 1990; Stalker 1994;
Stalker 2000; Valenzuela 2000; Chiswick and Hatton 2001; UN 2002; Castles 2003;
Taran and Geronimi 2003). Likewise, there are many who look specifically at Filipino
labor migration as the Philippines has historically been one of the leading sending
countries (Abella 1993; Martin 1993; Tigno 1994; Saith 1997; Groves and Chang 1999;
Aguilar 2000; Barber 2000; Parreñas 2001; Tan 2001; Asis 2002; Lindio-McGovern
2002; Tyner 2002; Arnado 2003Weekley 2003; Young 2004). Yet, though Taiwan
presently has over 300,000 imported laborers, few academic studies have been conducted
6
on the country as a receiving context. Little is known then of the social incorporation of
these migrants into Taiwanese society. Currently, the majority of those studies that are
being conducted focus only on domestic workers (Cheng 1996; Lin 1999; Cheng 2003;
Lan 2000a; Lan 2000b; Lan 2002; Lan 2003a; Lan 2003b; Lan 2003c; Lan 2003c;
date, only a couple of articles are available regarding contract factory work in Taiwan
(Tseng and Lee 2001; Tierney 2002). Also of interest to researchers of migration to
Taiwan are the growing number of foreign brides, primarily from Vietnam and Mainland
China, but also in significant numbers from Indonesia, Singapore Thailand and the
Philippines (Hsia 1997; Wang and Chang 2002). Though the number of brides has
growing from under 13,000 in 1994 to over 34,000 in 2000 (Wang and Chang 2002),
there are again few studies that compare this class of migrant to labor migrants who have
A number of reviews have been conducted on the historical and structural factors
that have lead to Taiwan as a destination for labor migration. Factors that have been
changes that have allowed the importation of migrant labor, and the development of the
placement-broker system (Selaya 1992; Tsay 1992; Tigno 1994; Baum 1995; Lee and
Wang 1996; Chan 1999; Lu 2000). Roger Selaya (1992) documented the early stages of
transition from an illegal labor migration in Taiwan to that of a limited, but legal,
importation of workers. Jorge Tigno (1994), of the Department of Political Science at the
result of the rapid development and healthy economic conditions in Taiwan during the
early 1990s. Similarly, Raymond Chan (1999) observed the change in social and
economic conditions as Taiwan recover from its rule under martial law. He claimed that
first for major infrastructural projects and later to augment the general labor pool. Further
review of the demographic, historical, economic and policy changes that have led to
Domestic Workers
Accounting for over half of all migrants, the study of domestic workers in
Taiwan has presented the greatest number of academic writings. Central issues in these
writings include the rights of workers, the conditions of their employment, abuse of
transnationalization of families, gender, culture, and ethnic identity (Cheng 1996; Lin
1999; Cheng 2003; Lan 2000; Lan 2002; Lan 2003a; Lan 2003b; Lan 2003c; Lan
2003d).
In 1997, Chin-ju Lin, while in the Master’s program at the University of Essex,
conducted a study of Filipina domestic workers in the Taipei area. Using a mixed
method, ethnographic approach, she drew upon media reports, and governmental
documents as well as “twenty six interviews with Filipina and domestic workers,
8
employers, brokers, NGOs, Taiwanese maids, and a government official” (1999). Her
work was descriptive in nature and discusses the narrow social space in which the
domestic worker must labor caught between employer, the social system and the
demands of those in the homeland. She detailed “their resistance and strategies for
survival in a gendered, racialized role as a Filipina maid in Taiwan” and offered advice
professionals (following the advice of Dr. Mary Romero from her 1992 book Maid in the
U.S.A ).
Dr. Shu-Ju Cheng, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and currently
research on the role of the state in the globalization of domestic labor using Taiwan as a
(again in Taipei). Like Chin-ju Lin, she drew on a variety of macro and micro level
Domestics, State Control, and the Politics of Identity in Taiwan” in Gender & Society,
explored the inequalities of globalized domestic labor. She specifically noted the role of
the state, via the employer and broker, in reinforcing these inequalities while maintaining
Taiwan is perhaps Pei-Chia Lan. She graduated in 2000 from the doctoral program at
her dissertation and conference papers, she has authored more than six published
academic articles on Filipina domestic workers in Taiwan9 Her articles are based on one-
services migrant laborer, she conducted 58 interviews with Filipina domestic workers
In her 2000 article “Remapping Identities across Borders and at Home: Filipina
Migrant Domestic Workers and Taiwanese Employers” presented at the Fifth Annual
Conference on the History and Culture of Taiwan,10 Lan discussed how domestic
workers and their employers negotiated concepts of class and ethnicity in constructing
Similarly, Lan’s 2003 work “Negotiating Social Boundaries and Private Zones:
delineated the boundary between worker and employee and defined the identity of the
10 A similar argument is presented in Lan, Pei-Chia. 2003d. "‘They Have More Money but I Speak Better
English!’ Transnational Encounters between Filipina Domestics and Taiwanese Employers " Identities: Global
Studies in Culture and Power online at http://www.social.ntu.edu.tw/~pclan/html/word/Englishfinal.pdf
11
As her research looks not only at the Filipina domestic worker, but also at the
household in which she works, Pei-Chia Lan has been able to document the transitions in
roles of filial piety and much proscribed gender-roles and domestic duties, Lan notes that
the importation of domestic work has adapted to fit the cultural needs of the household
structure. Kinship ties determine this structure and responsibilities for which the
The first is “filial kin work,” which I define as care work to maintain
intergenerational ties in the patrilineal line. The filial duty of serving
aging parents is transferred first from the son to the daughter-in-law
(gender transfer) and later outsourced to migrant care workers (market
transfer). The second is “kin labor,” which is labor provided by extended
kin to sustain their ties to other kin members, such as unpaid domestic
labor offered by enabled parents to their adult children. Modern
daughters-in-law prefer migrant workers to the kin labor offered by their
mothers-in-law in order to safeguard the conjugal family from the
intervention of extended kin. The third is “fictive kin,” which describes
how non-family migrant workers provide family-like care for their elderly
clients in lieu of the filial kin work of adult children (Lan 2001).
In the 2003 article, “Maid or Madam? Filipina Migrant Workers and the
Continuity of Domestic Labor” in Gender & Society, Lan observed that domestic
of the migration process. She noted that, “taking on domestic work, a feminized
occupation in both the local and global labor market, migrant women become
transnational breadwinners but remain burdened by their gendered duties as mothers and
wives back home.” This international role, moreover, bridges the boundary of public vs.
private work and helps to define the identity of the Filipina domestic worker in the global
context.
12
In the 2003 article “Political and Social Geography of Marginal Insiders: Migrant
Migration Journal, Pei-Chia Lan provided an overview of the Taiwanese labor system
and, similar to Shu-Ju Cheng explained how government surveillance and control work
to marginalize the workers. Based on additional research she conducted in 2002, she
ethnic/national lines and occupying separate geographic spaces within the city of Taipei.
Much as I have found in Kaohsiung, she found a “weekend enclave with vibrant business
activity” focused around St. Christopher’s Church. The setting around the church is
reminiscent of what I found in the Nan Tze EPZ: “The surrounding area, called
Chongshan among migrant workers, has acquired nicknames like “little Manila” and
“Filipino town” among Taiwanese. Tagalog characters are seen on many signboards of
Filipino grocery stores, delicatessens, karaoke clubs, and remittance and cargo services.”
Factory Workers
Very little has been published in the academic press on the more than 150,000
article emerges - Winston Tseng and Meng-Fen Lee (2001) “Transnational Migration,
Social Conditions and Foreign Labor Workers: Filipino and Thai Food Processing
was limited to eight ethnographic interviews with Thai and Filipino factory workers. It
well as some of the limited social and cultural impact that resulted from migration.
of institutions serving migrant workers. This may be due to the time period in which they
were conducting fieldwork (one month in 2000) or the location (a rural “agricultural and
livestock company”):
In addition to lacking support infrastructure and a sense of community, Tseng and Lee’s
study found the workers to be isolated from the Taiwanese population, experiencing
friction with their employers as well as maintaining regular ties with the homeland via
OVERVIEW OF PROJECT
I set out then, in this project, to understand the process of labor migration beginning from
the point of view of the migrant. I wanted to understand their every-day lives and how
understand their narratives of exit from the homeland, exclusion from the host society
search for a sense of community, and finally the reinterpretation self and identity that
11There may be other academic writing that are either forthcoming or in the local Taiwanese journals, but in
computerized searches of literally thousands of journals using periodical indexes of leading publishers
14
Image 1 An especially well-attended service at St. Joseph the Worker parish in Nan Tze
they experience. To truly comprehend this progression, then, I decided upon a research
plan that involved immersion in the context of reception, participation within the
community, face-to-face interviews with Filipino migrants and those familiar with their
circumstances, and visual documentation of their everyday lives. Thus, while this
framework essentially utilizes what Miller-Loessi and Parker (2003) call an etic 12
approach by looking for general principals within the particular individual cases of
migrants’ daily lives, it does contain many of the elements of an emic study, as its
evidence comes from essentially relative and highly interpretive narratives and
12“The emic approach involves studying behavior from within the system, examining only one culture at a
time, discovering rather than imposing structure, and using criteria relative to internal characteristics. The etic
approach involves studying behavior from a position outside the system, examining two or more cultures and
comparing them, imposing a structure created by the analyst, and using criteria that are considered absolute or
universal (Berry 1969). The emic approach has traditionally been used by anthropologists, in their quest for
understanding what is unique to each culture. On the other hand, the thrust of both sociology and psychology
15
reflections from the individuals themselves. The intent was to include the subject as a
participant in the research as much as possible and therefore provide both a depiction of
the general process of identity transition among labor migrants, while not ignoring the
community has been labeled Assimilation Theory. Application of assimilation theory has
concentrated on the transition of migrants from the linguistic, social and cultural
practices of the home country to those of the receiving context (Park and Burgess 1921;
Gordon 1964; Gans 1979; Portes and Zhou 1993.). Traditionally it has been studied at
the group level (Waters 1995; Kosic 2002), within the life course of individual migrants
(Das Gupta 1997; Min and Kim 2000), and more commonly from a multigenerational
perspective (Rogler et al. 1980; Rumbaut 1980; Waters 1994; Brubaker 2001). Yet, it
was my assertion that the simple contact between any migrant and the host society will
result in a shift within the identity of the individual. Social Psychological studies have
noted that the process of acculturation “concerns the changes that result in both people
and in groups of people as a result of contact among people of different cultures” (Smith
and Bond 1998). Smith and Bond identify three outcomes of cross-cultural contact at the
individual level:
as disciplines has generally been etic , i.e., to search for general relationships that transcend particular
circumstances” (Miller-Loessi & Parker 2003).
16
Likewise, my previous research into the nature of economic, social, familial, and
and individuals would circulate (Kivisto 2001; Portes; 1999; Faist 2000a; Faist 200b).
The study of these networks of multinational ties has been termed transnationalism and
has been seen in some cases to reinforce the immigrant identity through cultural retention
(see Faist 2000b). In other scenarios, they provide greater resources to the immigrant,
allowing them more easily integrate or assimilate into the receiving society.
organizations within the community was carried out over the course of my stay.
Armed then with a series of “guiding questions,” and some broad assumptions on
the way in which the nature of reception would affect the shift in self-concept among
labor migrants (See Fig. 2-1), I set out to document and explore this phenomenon. In late
January of 2003, my family and I moved to Kaohsiung, Taiwan for what would be seven
months of data collection. After contacting local relief agencies in Kaohsiung, I was
introduced to the community of factory workers in the Nan Tze Economic Processing
Zone (or NEPZ) in February and made almost daily trips to the area for the next six
months. Over that period, I conducted more than sixty hours of taped interviews with 38
cultural performances. I was allowed the opportunity to conduct a survey with a large
number of Filipino workers, allowing me to look for more universal experiences. than
the smaller sample of interviewees and focus group members would allow. Finally, as a
peripheral member of the community, I was allowed to participate, for a short time, in
the every-day social life of the workers having many frank conversations about their
experiences in Taiwan.
OVERVIEW OF DOCUMENT
transnationalism, assimilation, acculturation, and the nature of the self are presented
(Chapter 2). Likewise, a detailed methodology (Chapter 3), will explain the techniques
used to gather data as well as the procedures used for analysis. The following section,
gives short biographies on each of the research participants (Chapter 4), details the
history of labor migration to Taiwan (Chapter 5), and outlines problems with the current
Part III involves analysis based on the first person narratives of thirty-six Filipino
participants, nine focus group members, and the exhaustive survey of 389 laborers. It
focuses first on individual motivations for labor migration and the process of leaving the
Philippines from the viewpoint of the migrant (Chapter 7). Next, I recount the
proposed that this rejection leads to an ambivalent attitude toward Taiwanese and simply
ethnic identity, building solidarity, and creating community (Chapter 10). After that , the
focus shifts to the transitions in self-concept and identity that have occurred as a result of
migration experiences (Chapter 11). The conclusions (Chapter 12) summarize overall
findings, fitting the findings to the broader discourse on transnationalism and immigrant
incorporation and finally present policy recommendations for NGOs, churches, and the
Taiwanese government.
Image 2 “Brain Twister” competition at St. Joseph the Worker
Parish Image 3 William showing his personal space
Image 4 Sinulog dancers at St. Joseph the Worker Parish Image 5 Checking the equipment at an electronics factory
CHAPTER 2
This project borrows from the language of a broad range of theoretical traditions.
cultural, and social factors which increase migration flows over time - is used to explain
the flow of labor migrants from developing nations to more industrialized countries
(Massey 1988; Massey et al. 1993, Massey et al. 1994). Immigrant assimilation, defined
here as the process by which an immigrant is incorporated into the host society, is
borrowed from a long history of assimilation theories (Alba and Nee 1997; Portes and
Zhou 1993; Portes and Rumbaut 1996; Rumbaut 1994; Waters 1994). Unlike most of
those theories, this project focuses not on the phenomenon as it occurs over the course of
their reception by the host society. Transnationalism is used to identify the forces that
orient the migrant toward the homeland and toward the host community, as well as the
social space that they created while living in their new land (Portes 1999, Faist 2000a;
Faist 2000b). While assimilation sees migrant incorporations (via straight, bumpy,
transnationalism is much more dependent upon the nature of exit and reception of the
migrant. Importantly this project is situated within the conceptual landscape of Symbolic
Interaction - principally, Social Identity Theory (as reformulated by Burke and Stets)
21
that occur at the micro-level, while Interpretive Ethnography, as the method of analysis
and mode of presenting the findings, is more a multi-voiced narrative reflecting the
CUMULATIVE CAUSATION
The influence of contact between peoples has widely been discussed in the
literature. Cumulative Causation Theory (Massey 1988; Massey et al. 1993, Massey et
al. 1994), a comprehensive approach to explaining the many types of migrations and the
migration systems from early short-term labor migrants to long-term settlers. Causation
explains that earlier migration experiences create the potential for future migrations by
the establishment of strong ties between sending and receiving regions. Massey argues
that this process begins at the individual level and extends to the level of the community.
adoption of consumer practices and development of tastes for the goods and services of
the “advanced” consumer host society, arguing that migrants who were initially
sojourners may in fact become settlers as they develop preference for these cultural
remittances (thus affording them the ability to purchase new goods) and by returning
with these new tastes and imparting them upon others. Culture, in this sense the material
culture of the host society, is experienced by individual actors on a daily basis, thus
observation of the daily lives of short-term labor migrants should result in evidence of
the cultural shift as it is occurring. As Massey et al. indicate this cultural shift begins
evidence early on in the migration experience as the migrant is exposed to the new
culture. Most importantly this shift in material culture leads to an eventual change in the
cultural values and practices (i.e. nonmaterial culture) of individual migrants and whole
communities. Massey and his co-authors note that one of the possible outcomes of this
One final avenue of cumulative causation that has been discussed in the
theoretical literature is culture. According to postmodern theorists, the
circulation of people, goods, and ideas creates a new transnational culture
that combines values, behaviors, and attitudes from sending and receiving
societies to create a new, largely autonomous social space that transcends
national boundaries (Georges 1990; Rouse 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992;
Goldring 1992a, 1992b). This transnationalization of culture changes the
context within which migration decisions are made (Massey et al. 1994).
23
TRANSNATIONALISM
transnationalism as a unique and new social space distinct from both sending and
receiving cultures, while others view it simply as one of the possible expressions of
concepts of cultural blends and hybrids (Glick-Schiller et al.1995) and includes elements
trans-local solidarity), as well as social, political, and economic practices that are
transacted by migrant networks across national boundaries (Portes et al. 1999; Vertovec
earlier project) chooses to treat it as a midpoint between the culture of the homeland and
adoption of the socio-cultural characteristics of the host society (or some segment
the case of the migrant or migrant community that is in some way marginalized by the
society, we may find evidence of material and non-material culture of both communities,
but little in the way of integration into the host society and even possible exclusion from
the society of the homeland (thus, what Smith and Bond called the marginalized
migrant). Another possible outcome occurs when the individual recognizes the different
social spaces in which they operate and then selects from a palette of cultural practices as
determined by the social setting. This especially situated form of transnationalism may
multiple expressions of self and, dependent upon setting, demonstrates unique cultural
24
practices of the immigrant and host communities. Finally, there is evidence as well of
“new” expressions of culture that are not entirely that of the immigrant community nor
(Glick-Schiller et al.1995) or even a new form of culture (Popkin 1999; Nagengast and
Kearney 1990; Kearney 1991; Smith and Guarnizo 1998). Thus, cultural outcomes in the
context of reception have been treated as a continuum with transnationalism as one of the
possible outcomes.
Thomas Faist (2000b) explains that transnational activities create distinct social
transnational social spaces based on the kind of social relation and types of activities in
which migrants may be engaged: transnational kinship groups, transnational circuits and
and familial responsibility for the sending of remittances to members in the home
country and the mutual support networks provided to family members newly arrived
migrant in the destination country. Transnational circuits also rely on social obligations
among co-nationals (based on common language and cultural practices), but may result
in the exploitation of the newly arrived by the more established and experienced
activities that offer goods and services for the consumption of co-nationals and may
provide them with potential employment (similar to the ethnic enclaves of Portes 1990
and Massey et al. 1994). Transnational communities, on the other hand, are characterized
by a collective solidarity in which shared “ideas, beliefs, evaluations and symbols” are
demonstrated in a common collective identity. In the US context, this solidarity may take
25
the form of what has alternately been called ‘resilient ethnicity,’ ‘reactive formation’ and
‘reactive ethnicity’ (Portes and Rumbaut 1996; Popkin 1999) as well as a mobilization of
resources and individuals around abstract symbolic ties to the home country such as
coincide with any or all or the overlapping social spaces outlined by Faist. However, I
anticipate that the size of the co-ethnic community, the formal regulation of that
institutionalization and more formal organizations) will play a large role in the
Likewise, identities expressed within these structures may be distinct. For example, a
similar to that of their pre-migration experience or, if she also has regular contact with
individuals from the mainstream, she may exhibit a degree of orthogonal biculturalism.
All of these expressions of ethnic identity, then, fit within a continuum (or perhaps even
reception and the kind of transnational space and activities available to the migrant.
ASSIMILATION
In the article “Rethinking assimilation theory for a new era of migration”, Alba
and Nee (1997) undertake to detail the history of assimilation theory and how it has been
26
revised to accommodate recent migrant flows to the US context. They explain that many
social scientists view assimilation theory as “ethnocentric and patronizing” (826) and do
admit that early formulations of the theory did view the dominant culture as superior.
However, they assert that assimilation theory is still the best way of understanding the
process by which immigrants become part of the host society. Yet, there is some
confusion within the literature as to whether assimilation is the process of becoming like
the dominant culture (or some subculture within the society) or whether it is simply the
In the general and abstract sense, the core meaning is increasing similarity
or likeness. Not identity, but similarity. To assimilate means to become
similar (when the word is used intransitively) or to make similar or treat
as similar (when it is used transitively). Assimilation is thus the process of
becoming similar, or of making similar or treating as similar. In the
specific and organic sense, the root meaning is transitive. To assimilate
something is to ‘convert {it} into a substance of its own nature, as the
bodily organs convert food into blood, and thence into animal tissue . . . to
absorb into the system, {to} incorporate’ (Oxford English Dictionary).
Assimilation in this sense implies complete absorption. In the general,
abstract sense, the accent is on the process, not on some .final state, and
assimilation is a matter of degree. Assimilation designates a direction of
change, not a particular degree of similarity. In the specific, organic
sense, by contrast, the accent is on the end state, and assimilation is a
matter of either/or, not of degree. (Brubaker 2001).
According to Alba and Nee (1997) assimilation theory had its roots in the early
Chicago school with Robert E. Park and W.I. Thomas. In 1921, Park and Burgess created
a formulation of assimilation theory that looked at the social process of becoming part of
13 For more on context of reception see Portes, Alejandro and Jozsef Böröcz. 1989. “Contemporary
the mainstream in a very linear and “irreversible” fashion beginning with the initial
contact between groups and ending with the minority group becoming assimilated into
the mainstream. In the 1960s, Milton Gordon applied assimilation to the micro-level in
distinction between acculturation and structural assimilation. As Alba and Nee explain,
‘cultural patterns’ of the host society, [which] typically comes first and is inevitable.” A
distinction was made between intrinsic and extrinsic traits of cultural identity. Gordon
explained that while intrinsic traits (“vital to group identity” such as religion, musical
tastes, etc.) do not readily change, extrinsic characteristics such as language, dress, and
outward presentation of self do shift as a result of contact with host culture. I would note
here that my own research of the Mexican Community in the Phoenix area showed little
distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic traits in this way. Some interviewees showed
preference for American mainstream music and food, and joined protestant evangelical
movements, while maintaining language and national identity of the homeland, thus
blurring Gordon’s distinctions between intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics (Sills 2000).
Structural assimilation, on the other hand, was defined by Gordon as the entrance
of the immigrant group into the social groups of the host society. Daily interaction leads
Once structural assimilation had occurred, Gordon hypothesized that the other
dimensions of assimilation would naturally follow in this linear process (Alba and Nee
1997).
28
Alba and Nee point out that it was unclear whether this process of assimilation
and acculturation occurred at the group level or individual level. The do, however, show
that the formulations to follow (Gans 1973; Sandberg 1973; Lieberson 1973, as cited in
Alba and Nee 1997) saw assimilation as a “straight line” process in which “generations
are the motor for ethnic change, not just the time frame within which assimilation takes
place.” Assimilation itself was broken down and studied in its constituent parts
amalgamation, etc. Criticism over the deterministic and rigid “straight line” theories lead
to revisions to accommodate ethnic groups that did not assimilate or did not fit the linear
pattern (“bumpy line assimilation” of Gans 1992, as cited in Alba and Nee 1997).
It was soon realized, however, that there were very great differences between past
migration flows (pre-1965) and those of today. There is greater diversity in the ethnic
and cultural origins of those who migrate today. Likewise, today’s population movement
is a perpetual feature of the international system whereas previous flows were short lived
historic events. Accordingly, “there are likely to be strong incentives to keep ethnic
affiliations alive even for the third generation” (Alba and Nee 1997). In addition to
maintaining cultures, researchers noted that immigrant groups may not assimilate only
toward the dominate culture but also to sub-cultures within a society. As Roger Brubaker
(2001) explains:
migrant groups toward the dominate culture or toward some subculture within a society.
Most of these theories agree that the process of assimilation occurs over the period of
generations and with the exception of Gordon, look for evidence at the group level. The
Brubaker (2001) definition given previously indicates that the theories of assimilation are
focused not on identification with the target culture, but either the process by which a
people becomes similar to another or the end product of that process. However, Waters
(1994) and Portes and Zhou (1993) found that various social factors including social,
cultural and human capital, original social class, existence of social networks, and
also found that second generation immigrants adopted one of three different ethnic
identities or orientations: that of the host society; that of a hyphenated home-host identity
identification may in fact begin with the first generation migrant. I would argue that the
culture and the designation of “other” within the destination country. Moreover, I believe
30
that it is here in the first generation that we will see evidence of the process of
assimilation beginning, perhaps not on the level of integration into the institutions of the
social structure so much as that of identification with the culture or a sub-culture of the
host community.
general theory of self as proposed by Burke and Stets. Burke and Stets (2000), in their
reformulation of Henri Tajfel’s theory, stress that individuals define themselves in terms
of their group memberships. They assume that the self is reflexive and involved in the
methodology employed in this project, as much of the data comes from reflective and
introspective interviews.
William James (1890) introduced the concept of the individual self as directly
influenced by society and thus helped to define identity for the perspective later known
as Social Psychology. As he explained, “a man has as many social selves as there are
individuals who carry an image of him in their mind… he has as many different social
selves as there are distinct groups of persons about whose opinion he cares.” James
relationships, group membership, the social interpretation of symbols and objects and he
Building upon James, George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer, and subsequent
Symbolic Interactionist further refined and enhanced the concept of identity. In addition
describing the self as active and creative, rather than a passive entity shaped by the social
following diagram (Fig. 2-1) in which he shows that society influences the individual by
imposing norms, values, roles and statuses that are interpreted by the individual in a
of symbols, and self reflexivity) are of importance in discussion of the concept of self
throughout the process of migration. For example, as the individual changes geographic
place she enters a different social space in which new interpersonal ties are established,
group membership is renegotiated, and new symbols and objects are encountered.
Self
NORMS Interaction
VALUES
STATUS
Figure 2-1 Influence of Society on the Concept of Self as Reflexive Process (Based on Fig 5-1:
Blumer’s View of the Individual, Wallace and Wolf )
32
Likewise, self must be reconsidered in a reflexive process as the migrant encounters the
cultural norms and values of the receiving country and undergoes a shift in role
expectations and status involved with being defined as the alien or “other.”
and Social Identity Theory discussed by Jan Stets and Peter Burke (2000) of Washington
State University. They state, “in social psychology, we need to establish a general theory
of the self, which can attend to both macro and micro processes, and which avoids the
they focus on combining the fundamental aspects of several of the leading theories of
self including: bases of identity (social group vs. individual role), identity salience vs.
activation, and cognitive vs. motivational processes of identity. This project specifically
Stets and Burke identify two principal bases for the formation of identity within
the theories: group membership and social roles. These bases, in this arrangement, act
together in a reflexive process. They point out that, “although the basis of self-
both traditions recognize that individuals view themselves in terms of meaning imparted
by a structured society.”
33
attitudes, beliefs, norms, language, use of symbols, etc. Inversely, out-groups are those
with significant differences and are seen as negative for the individual’s self-esteem and
self-concept. Stets and Burke emphasize that groups operate in relation to one another
within a structured society. Thus, the relative status of the group with which one
Identity Theory, on the other hand, looks at self as occupying a role. Identity is
derived from the internalization of role expectations and the performance of that role.
Whereas self is defined by similarity to the group in the previous theory, self and other
social objects are defined in relation to the social role in Identity Theory. This then is a
micro-level mechanism which helps to shape the identity internally. Social hierarchy and
position do also have importance as the roles may be determined by the level of control
the role one assumes and the relative control of resources inherent in that role.
social place has undergone significant change from both micro and macro forces. Firstly,
one’s expected social role as the migrant is transformed from that experienced when
living in the homeland. As the “foreigner,” the “outsider,” and the “other,” in the
34
receiving context, the individual is forced, even in very similar cultural settings, to
For her, the generalized other of Mead has to be adapted and changed so that she
may see herself as the foreign presence. This mechanism of identity construction, though
heavily influenced by the social structure of the receiving context, involves review and
Meanwhile, group membership and the naming of in-group versus out-group, also goes
through a reinterpretation. The migrant may experience this as an initial loss of self-
esteem (as they become the minority out-group) and a process of re-building sense of
Notably this loyalty to the group does not stop in the first generation migrant, but may
HOMELAND SOCIETY
CONCEPT OF SELF
REVISED SELF
CO C
Figure 2-2 The Mechanisms of the Migration Experience and Revised Self Concept
35
the social landscape. Portes and Rumbaut (1996) and Rumbaut (1996) call this
“opposition identity”) and explain that it is highly dependent upon such factors as social
and human capital, relative size of the migrant population, and the nature of reception in
migrant group may be seen, at least for heuristic purposes, as a continuum from greater
receptivity to greater rejection. Along this line, individual migrants must contend with
expected roles (such as stereotypical occupations, abilities, access to resources, etc.) and
out-group definitions (often pejorative) imposed on them by the receiving society. If that
reception is more inclusive, assimilation and acculturation of the migrant self to the
majority culture may be expected. The eventual self-concept that develops among those
who are most similar in social characteristics and culture to the receiving population, and
therefore the most welcomed, will be logically most like that of the host citizens. For
evidence we may look to early 20th century European migrants (Irish, Italians, and
European Jews) in America who in a little less than a generation were incorporated into
who are least welcome maintain a sense of otherness” that is pervades their concept of
self both in their expected social role and their group membership. This exclusion and
rejection may lead to return migration, onward (step) migration, or the formation of an
14 One may also look to “invisible” migrants such as Mainland Chinese in Taiwan, Canadians in the US, etc.
36
ethnic enclave. It may also lead the migrant to develop a negative self-concept and an
For example, Rosa a middle-aged woman who has lived in the US since she was
a teen and married a non-Hispanic white man, says she has purposively discarded many
Mexican. Firstly, I was born in Mexico and have family and ancestors in Mexico. My
blood is Mexican…my language, more than anything my language…is I have tried to get
rid of Mexican traditions a little. If I compare myself with my mother and my sisters [in
Mexico] I am completely different.” (Sills 2000). Between these poles of acceptance and
rejection lies a social space that includes such possibilities as segmented assimilation or
like biculturalism, blended or hybridized cultures, or even the formation of new cultural
identities. In these cases, the migrant may have various ‘situated’ selves that are
dependent upon the social place that she occupies.When among co-nationals she may
37
have one sense of identity, while among the majority population she may present another
entirely separate self. This situational nature of identity is very apparent in an interview
with one Mexican migrant in which he says, “I believe I have no real identification... I
situation and who the people are that I am talking to. Actually, I have been able to take
INTERPRETIVIST PARADIGM
In dealing with cultural beliefs and values at the level of the individual, I felt that
the Interpretivist paradigm would provide the best approach for analysis. Within this
paradigm, meanings are treated as situated and socially constructed, culture is viewed of
as an abstract built by social interactions and reflection, and evidence of such is found in
LeCompte and Schensul (1999) explain Volume One of The Ethnographer’s Toolkit :
This definition recognizes the importance of the social structure (as explained in
the previous sections) as well as the characteristics of the individuals as they interact:
“shared meanings and constructs are “situated” “that is they are located in or affected by
the social, political, cultural, economic, ethnic, age, gender, and other contextual
characteristics of those who espouse them.” LeCompte and Schensul (1999) identify the
Figure 2-3 Identity Outcomes by Mode of Reception
NATURE OF RECEPTION
GREATER GREATER
INCLUSION EXCLUSION
questions even the researchers place within the construction of knowledge. His “critical
the other’s experiences. Those we study have their own understanding of how they want
the “outsiders” perspective in this process of interpretation. Jay Ruby explains that in
The move to give greater voice and authority to the subject has now
reached a logical, but extreme point. There is an unspoken assumption
about the validity of interviews, particularly with those outside the
mainstream. These films seem to suggest that what subjects say about
themselves and their situation is to be taken at face value. While it is clear
that the balance needs redressing and the victims of Western oppression
should represent themselves, it should not be assumed that any one group
has a privileged insight into its own history. People seldom understand
their own motivation. No particular group of people has the corner on
being self-serving or adjusting the past to fit the needs of the present. To
assume otherwise denies the role of the unconsciousness. What people say
about themselves are data to be interpreted, not the truth. (Ruby 1991)
LeCompte and Schensul clearly outline the tasks and roles of researcher and
• Definition - participant
• Description - participant
• Classification/ codification - researcher with checks by participant
• Enumeration/ correlation/ association/ interpretation - researcher in
conjunction with participant
While LeCompte and Schensul demarcate the roles and responsibilities of the
ethnographer and participants, Denzin (1997) clearly defines the text or document that
may result from such an undertaking. He explains that it would be somewhere between
the “messy text” of the ethnographer acting as “scribe for the other” and a moral
document in which the researcher acts as “coauthor with the other, producing a joint
document, which has long been the tradition in critical, participatory research.”
Explaining further the polyvocal nature of these writing Denzin notes that they “are often
grounded in the study of epiphanal moments in people’s lives” and that “they attempt to
reflexively map multiple discourses that occur in a given social space… they are always
multivoiced….”
41
As part of the “text” that this project seeks to produce is a documentary of the
experiences. The Interpretivist paradigm, therefore, is a good fit for this type of visual
and direct application of this approach in film.15 Denzin notes, that Interpretivist films
are unique from more positivistic documentaries as they recognize the nature of film as a
simulacrum that is often mistaken as reality: Citing Trinh T. Minh-Ha (1991), Denzin
explains that traditional documentary style: “like ethnography, starts with the real world:
statements (images) about the world…. These aesthetic strategies define the
documentary style, allowing the filmmaker to create a text that gives the viewer the
positivistic view is false as it is equally constructed and manipulated through the lens of
audiotapes the authentic, original voices heard, seen, and felt in the field setting” yet fail
as they are filtered and reconstructed by the situated viewpoint of the ethnographer.
Thus, he explains that “firm claims about truth, knowledge, consequences, causes, and
effects can no longer be made.” Rather, by incorporating the subject and researcher as
participants and writing a pluralistic text that disregards the boundaries between subject
15 See for example Richard Chaflen in Crawford & Turton 1992; Chapters 5 & 8 in Loizos 1993; “reflexive”
film in Barbash and Taylor 1997; Trinh T. Minh-Ha 1991 in Denzin 1997; Chapter 3 in MacDougall 1998; and
finally Chapters 8 & 9 of Ruby 2000
42
and object we arrive a situated truth more akin to a journalistic storytelling. Denzin
METHODOLOGY
were utilized to facilitate data collection. From social psychology, the Twenty
Statements Test was employed to document the migrants’ shift in self-identities. Follow-
up interviews which discussed the respondent’s statements in great detail allowed for an
migration. Qualitative survey research (LeCompte and Schensul 1999) was employed to
factory workers. A comprehensive survey of laborers was conducted in May at the St.
Joseph the Worker parish. On this occasion 389 surveys were distributed with 355
protestant and non-religious groups (N=34) were conducted thereafter. This survey
and the economic of labor migration (placement fees, broker fees, incentives and
document the everyday life experiences of the labor migrant and form the bulk of the
peripheral group member, formal and informal interviews with participants as well as
focus group of nine women, meetings with migrant NGO activists and government
officials were videotaped, transcribed, and coded (using Atlas.ti). Additional information
came from an all-day meeting of the Second Annual Diocesan Coordinators Meeting at
and Schensul (1999) that are common to such projects.16 First, the research is carried out
multiple data sources and multiple methods of collection. It frames the phenomena of
this project focuses on culture as evidenced in the everyday lives of the participants. As
LeCompte and Schensul explain: “all ethnographers begin -an end- their work with a
16 See also Agar, Michael. 1986. Speaking of Ethnography. Sage Publications, Newbury Park p. 11-13.
45
focus on these patterns and traits that, lumped together, constitute a people’s culture.
that requires the participation of the ethnographer in the process of discovery. Jay Ruby
It is used here to imply both a process and product. I wish to behave like
an ethnographer. I plan to participate and observe within the culture for
extended periods of time in order to produce an ethnographic account of
the relationship of visual communication to culture. Ethnography is a
thick description (Geertz 1973). The theory constructs descriptive
categories and cannot be separated from the description. Since participant/
observation is the primary method of data generation, the "instrument" is
the researcher. (Ruby 1981).
This is not only a characteristic of ethnography, but also of a basic premise of the
tests. I do not know what to expect in the field, nor the specifics of the data to be
46
Blumer. I do employ a theoretical lens that gives focus to the issue to be investigated.
The nature of the research and the Interpretivist paradigm fit well with the
collaborative, yet also reflects my own role in the very social process of creation of a
cultural product. 17 I did not attempt to hide my role as ethnographer and interviewer by
extracting from the research my own participation. Jay Ruby further explains the
ANALYSIS
to the information gathered in the field. I feel that by blending methods, I am better able
17 “Oral histories are not merely accounts elicited by a researcher with a tape recorder; historyspeaking is a big
part of an ongoing social process which creates communities out of groups of individuals…. the term reflexive
describes a different role for the investigator who recognizes that they are working within society and history.”
(Margolis 1994)
47
to provide the thick description and deep meanings contained within the ethnographic
Survey Analysis
Results from the survey of Nan Tze area workers were keyed into a database
using Microsoft Excel. Matching identification codes on the paper survey and in the
electronic database allowed for continual surveillance of improper entries and data
reliability. This data set was then ported to SPSS 11.0 for descriptive analysis.
laborers in Taiwan. These statistics also provided a metric for comparing ethnography
thorough analysis was then completed using bivariate and multivariate regression
procedures.
Interviews
Audio and videotaped interviews were transcribed and entered into Atlas.ti for
coding. Primary documents, the transcriptions and observation notes, were marked
following a preliminary coding scheme was devised using the program’s “code in vivo”
and “free coding” systems. The “Autocoding” procedure, used to keyword search the
entire database of transcripts and notes, was also employed to generate quotations
expanded as needed refining the concepts and categories that later became the dominant
48
themes presented in this text. The “QueryTool” subroutine allowed for retrieval of
quotations within these themes. Atlas.ti allowed also for the exploration of the
Twenty Statements
Interviewees were provided with a form on which the instructions were provided.
They were given an opportunity to fill out this form before beginning the first interview.
The form was used later in the interview to elicit discussion on the theme of changes that
There are ten numbered blanks on the page below. Please write ten
answers to the simple question “Who am I?” in the blanks. Just give ten
different answers to this question. Answer as if you are giving the answers
to yourself, not to someone else. Write the answers in the order that they
occur to you. Don’t worry about logic or “importance.” Go along fairly
quickly for time is limited.
Now, answer the same question, but reflect back to when you were living
in the Philippines. Who were you then? How were you similar/different to
who you are today?
18 Four of the respondents misinterpreted the directions, writing instead a short autobiography rather than
statements beginning with “I am” and “I was.”
Personality traits were judged to be positive, negative, or neutral. They included
such statements as: “I am... independent,” “I am... a hardworking type of person, ”or “I
was... very lazy.” Social Roles were categorized by those roles that emerged in the
religious declarations like, “I am... a member of the family of God,” to relational roles as,
“I am... a mother of two kids.” Physical Descriptions included a single case of physical
condition in which the participant declared, “I was... not healthy.” Other categories,
included age or birth date, name, time spent in Taiwan, work related statements (e.g. “we
don't have any O.T.”), and existential statements (e.g. “I am... nobody”). In all, there
Kaohsiung city, and the surrounding area in Southern Taiwan, is among the
leading heavy industry and manufacturing districts in Asia. Kaohsiung is the second
largest city in Taiwan and its harbor is the third largest container port in the world.19 In
nearly 12,000 migrant laborers from other Southeast Asian countries.20 These workers
domestic servants, caretakers, and nurses. Between January and August of 2003, I lived
in this Southern city interviewing and surveying Filipino workers whom I met through
churches, relief agencies, and through casual contact. The majority of participants were
factory workers from the Nan Tze Economic Processing Zone and attended St. Joseph
PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
Participants in this study were interviewed and surveyed from early February to
late July 2003. Initial contact was made through migrant NGOs and churches with large
Specifically, interviews, observations, and surveys were conducted in Kang Shan, Nan
Tze, Tang Gang, and Kaohsiung City. Over the course of the months of fieldwork, I
attended church services, cultural celebrations, and social functions in these communities
becoming familiar with many of the participants first through informal communications
Test. Statements made on the test were clarified and expanded during the in-depth semi-
structured interview which followed. The videotaped interviews were later transcribed,
coded, and analyzed. Likewise, they were used in the production of the videos that
Interviews lasted from one to two hours and covered the participant’s educational
and economic background, labor history, family structure, migration history (including
family member’s migrations), labor and social experiences in Taiwan, and plans for the
future. Just over a third of the participants were provided a film or digital camera to
photographically document their lives. Participants were provided the simple directions
to “shoot pictures of that which is most important” in the their lives. In all, over 350
images were captured and appear in a Hypertext document found on CD#1 (Jacket
Insert). Short follow-up interviews were conducted with the participants involved in
themselves were used to elicit more detailed accounts of their lives in Taiwan. Five
participants were recruited to carry out additional video data collection, detailing their
living conditions, daily events, and special holiday celebrations. Finally, two
Tagalog by one of the participants in migrants. The purpose of these interviews was to
explore differences, if any, between non-church going women in the Nan Tze area and
appendix for full-text) was administered between May and July of 2003 with the
the El Shaddai group)22 at the St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Nan Tze, Taiwan.
Respondents from the other churches and dorms were conducted for comparative
355 members of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Nan Tze (representing an overall
the Higher Ground Free Methodist Church in Nan Tze (women’s Bible study group), 10
from Jesus is Lord Fellowship in Kang Shan, 14 non-church members from Green House
women’s dormitory.
Survey Respondents
As the survey was conducted near the Nan Tze Economic Processing Zone
(EPZ), almost all of respondents (98%) were factory workers. There was a very small
Nan Tze’s EPZ hires mainly women as they are considered best for the delicate work of
electronics manufacturing. Thus, most respondents were female (90%). The small
minority of males in the dataset were mostly engineers in the Nan Tze factories, workers
from nearby Kang Shan (where there are more heavy industrial manufacturers), ship
builders and factory workers from Kaohsiung city (including Chi Chin Island), and the
targeted sample of members of the Jesus is Lord church in Kang Shan. While
sexes, this survey does provide a clear image of the Filipino population in Nan Tze from
The average age among respondents was 28 years with a range of 19 to 44 in the
sample. Two-thirds of respondents were never married. While 19% of all respondents
had children, 22% of those with children were single parents. Most respondents were on
their first (47%) or second (42%) trip to Taiwan. 13% have had experience working in
other countries; Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and Japan being the most frequent. Most
(89%) have greater than a high school/vocational school degree (i.e. some college,
university or graduate school) indicating the highly selective labor hiring process. One-
forth indicated that advertisements for positions in Taiwan, placed by labor recruiters in
the Philippines, influenced the choice to go to Taiwan. Another one-fifth said that friends
in Taiwan influenced their decision to migrate, while 13% indicated multiple reasons
including family and friends either in Taiwan or having returned from Taiwan.
60%
50.5%
50%
40%
35.0%
30%
20%
10% 8.6%
2.9%
1.6%
0.5% 0.8%
0%
Primary Academic High Vocational High College University (BA/BS) Grad School Other
school School
Ethnography Participants
Most ethnography participants were drawn from the population of workers in the
Nan Tze Economic Processing Zone. In an attempt to balance the 17 individual female
participants and nine female focus group participants from this area, contacts were made
with groups of male workers from the nearby town of Kang Shan and later from the ship
builders at Kaohsiung harbor’s Chi Chin Island. Nine additional males were recruited in
these areas.
(52% of all workers in Taiwan), efforts were made to interview domestic workers and
caretakers as well. These interviews were conducted exclusively at the shelter for
migrants at Stella Maris International Service Center and included five women who were
employment problems. Attempts were also made to interview workers via contact with
Taiwanese employers, nevertheless all were refused by employers who did not wish their
interviews do not reflect the positive relationship between some employers and their
domestic workers. However, most studies by other researchers do cover these domestic
relations. What's more, I feel these cases are still useful in underscoring the extreme
conditions that many workers do face. As “escapees” from harsh working conditions, I
feel they are more likely to represent a greater number of workers who are confined by
the families for whom they work and thus concealed from researchers. These five, then,
are the more fortunate minority who have chosen to bear the financial penalty of early
Agriculture (Crewmen)
1%
Manufacturing
52%
Construction
7%
Figure 4-3 Migrant Workers by Industry (derived from Table 11-3 Alien Workers in Taiwan-Fukien Area by
Industry Employment and Vocational Training Administration, CLA.)
58
Image 8 Virginia in a sea of bicycles (migrants are not allowed to own scooters or cars)
migration in Taiwan. These interviews included multiple sessions with leaders of local
system, interviews were conducted with Philippine coordinators who, though assigned to
the human resources departments of factories in Nan Tze, in reality work directly for
brokers to oversee the factory workers. Similarly, interviews were conducted with a
vicinity of the Nan Tze Economic Processing Zone often referred to simply as “NEPZ.” I
59
was first introduced to these workers by Fr. Bruno Ciceri who, among many other duties,
overseas the Stella Maris International Services Center (in Kaohsiung) as well as looks
after pastoral care of the St. Joseph the Worker parish (in Nan Tze). Almost all of the
workers in this area were female; the majority employed in electronics. The Taiwanese
“patience.” Male workers are not perceived of as having these traits. Moreover, educated
Filipinas are especially desired for this industry as many of the readouts, instruction
manuals, and control panels for machinery require a knowledge of English. From early
March until the end of my stay in August, I frequented church services and social events
at the parish. The focus group interview and many of the one-
45
41
40
35
30
25
20 19
15
15
10 9
5
5 4 4 4
3
2
1 1
0
Related Industry
Metal Products
Industrial Products
Other industries
Transshipment
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Precision Machinery
Chemical Products
International Tradings
Electronic Appliances
Information Services
Manufacturing
Warehousing
establishment
Instruments
approved for
Machinery
Garments
Manufacturing
Miscellaneous
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Electricity &
Figure 4-4 Industries in the Nan Tze EPZ (derived from EPZA Statistics on Enterprises by Category)23
on-one interviews were conducted on the tree covered grounds of the parish. However,
for much of June and July, church attendance was greatly diminished as a result of
curfews imposed on workers to limit the spread of SARs. During this period, much of
my data gathering shifted to interviewing male workers, who incidentally were not under
quarantine, in nearby Kang Shan and on Chi Chin Island in Kaohsiung harbor.
The focus group interview with nine members of the Legion of Mary at St.
Joseph’s parish, was videotaped and transcribed, yielding over 1100 lines of transcript
text (roughly thirty pages). The participants were all regular church goers who also
helped in conducting the daily services. Most were also members of the choir, liturgy, El
Shaddai, or other religious and social groups within the church community. They ranged
in ages from 22 to 37 and had worked previously in the Philippines as secretaries, sales
clerks, factory workers, and full-time students. All had post-secondary educations, but,
due to limited opportunities in the Philippines, chose to work in Taiwan where they made
as much as three times their previous salaries. The discussion was unstructured, but
costs, salaries, and remittances), everyday life in the dorms, and difficulties with cultural
I was introduced to Jenny early in the research process. She was one of the first
videotape church events, assisting in transcription and survey data entry, and also
conducted two interviews in Tagalog. Jenny, 26 yrs old, was only recently married and
had a one-year old son. She and her husband had met on her first trip to Taiwan (1999 to
2001). She was forced to return to the Philippines at that time due to pregnancy (until
Therapy, but failed her board exam. As she explains she, “got frustrated and I thought I
might as well go to another place.” She finds that working in Taiwan is “degrading
because this is not my line of work. And I get a, I get, a very small salary that’s not, it’s
not, the job is really hard and very tiresome, very heavy.” Forced to live with her sister-
in-law after having her baby, she said life was difficult. “We have little money in the
bank, but most of the time, we have a little money in the bank but we don’t have a very
One result of her experiences abroad has been greater self confidence. She
attributed this confidence to the difficulties of living on her own and coping with the
Stephen: You said that you were stronger here then you’ve ever being before.
Jenny: Emotionally.
Stephen: Emotionally?
Jenny: Emotionally, I feel that I am stronger now because, before, because before
when I came here to Taiwan before, I often cry and miss home. I don’t now. But
now I could say that I am stronger because when things go wrong, you know,
when things go wrong I would always say that it happens because it has a
purpose. It’s meant to happen to me and there is always solution. I always say
that to myself.
Money she was earning in Taiwan was being sent home and saved for a family
business: “I'm saving for a business and I'm gonna build my own house. Yes, I have a
husband and baby back home and we'll have money to build our home and have a little
bit like a restaurant. Just a small restaurant. I was planning on having a restaurant near
the school or just something like, just a burger station, like that…”
I met Ellen on the same day as Jenny. They both took me for a partial tour of
“yellow house,” one of the dorms near NEPZ. It was there that we had our first sit-down
interview. Ellen, also 26 yrs old, was unmarried though she shyly admitted to having a
school “friend” in the Philippines to who she has plans of marrying: “He wanted to get
married, but I don’t like because I still have to help my family.” Though she received a
compute science degree, she said there were no jobs and she needed to find a way to help
her five sisters and one brother. “I heard rumor of Taiwan, once you work in Taiwan you
will be having a salary like that and overtime, and lots of money... So, it’s a fortune for
me because lots of my sisters are studying, so I can help them more, especially financial
support.” When I met her, she was already into her second contract in Taiwan, having
worker the first three years and recently returned. She too participated in the photo-
documentation portion of the project. Her photos reflect the two central themes in her life
as an OFW: work and church. She explains, “I go home [from work]at almost 4:00 [am].
So, my day shift is in the church. My second shift, I am sleeping. And the third shift is
work, the schedule is like that.” Like Jenny, Ellen hopes to convert her savings into a
Bea (March 2)
room of the dorm while touring “yellow house.” She was one month away from
completing her second contract and ready to head back to the Philippines. Though in her
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late 30s, she looked younger than most workers I had met. She explained that, especially
on her first trip to Taiwan, she found communication with managers and Chinese co-
workers to be problematic. To ease the problems during training she said novices are
assigned to the experienced Filipino workers to learn the machines: “Sometimes, the first
time, it's very difficult for me especially in communication. So, when there's an old
operator in the production, they give the Filipino to the Filipino to teach, especially in a
production. They [Taiwanese] also teach us ,but it's very difficult for them, we have to
Soon to return, she says money has been a difficulty. While earnings were high
on her first contract, due to a great number of over-time hours, it has been tighter since
the economic down. “We don't have any savings. No money for ourselves, only for our
food and for our, to pay our debts in the Philippines.” Bea goes on to explain that
placement fees are lower today, but earnings are down as well as a result of having to
Image 11 Cleaning the equipment after mixing chemicals used in ceramic circuit board components
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For Caroline, 26 years old, Taiwan was a big change, socially, occupationally and
religiously. When I interviewed her, she had only been there for seven months. While
she described herself as being agnostic and irresponsible before, she said now she is a
member of the choir and a responsible, friendly person. She told me that she came to
Taiwan, six years after graduating from college with a BA in History and a minor in
Anthropology, because she had problems maintaining a job and had little money: “...in
first place the pay there, the salary, it’s very low. And then, aside from that, if I stay
there, I have so many friends and I’m easily tempted. You know, instead of going to
work, I just said okay, let’s go, drink or have fun.” Now, working in the quality control
lab doing failure analysis of circuit board, she says she is much more responsible. She
also says she’s lucky that she got the position in the lab: “We were forty in my batch.
Forty, And the, our HR representative there, the person there interviewed us first. Then
he chose only ten, and after that, the boss at the head of the lab, interview the ten again.
And then, fortunately three was chosen. I was among the three.... the work there is
lighter, very much lighter if compared with the production.” She was also fortunate not
to owe placement fees as she paid cash in the Philippines. She says she intends to invest
the money she earns in Taiwan, or possibly travel to Ireland and then Canada:
Stephen: So, you’re hoping that after, after you finish here in Taiwan, you would
go then to Canada?
Caroline: Ireland, I think. Ireland first, because it’s easier, you know.
Stephen: Okay, do you intend on staying in Canada later? Settling there or...?
Caroline: Yeah, if I can.
Stephen: If you can. Why?
Caroline: Better living conditions....That’s what I’ve heard, and I’ve read, I
researched. And then the services there also. And ,you know the economic, there
is an economic crises in the Philippines. So, I really want to go away from the
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Philippines. ‘Cause, I think in Canada, it’s very much better than in the
Philippines. Not just Canada, Ireland or other European countries.
Marivel (April 7)
Less than a year after graduating with a BS in Psychology Marivel, 22 years old,
went to Taiwan at the urging of her college friend. Originally from Cebu, she explains
she graduated in March, worked as a cashier for a short while, then in October made the
trek to Manila to begin the application and placement process. She also wanted to go to
Canada, but the placement fees were too high. Her classmate from college was coming
and her cousin had already worked in Taiwan, so she decided to give it a try. As she
explains, she had to sacrifice herself for the benefit of her six other siblings (aged 11 to
26): “I sacrifice for my family...I'm suffering for them. I sacrifice for them, in order for ,
for my younger brothers to, to, especially, ah, enroll in school. Especially in college,
because college is very high in tuition fees there.” On a monthly basis, she remits about
4,400NT, almost a third of her salary, by a door-to-door courier service to help support
her family. Like many Filipinos, she explains that her extended kin are also living around
the world and sending money back. She has aunts in Canada and England, and cousins in
Ana was finishing her third year in Taiwan when I interviewed her at St.
Joseph’s. While she had also worked in a semi-conductor factory in the Philippines she
was originally trained as a nutritionist in a vocational school. Her family didn’t have
enough resources for her to attend the academic university, so she had attained only a
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vocational degree. She was sending about 5,000 NT home monthly to help with the
education of her younger siblings. Like Marivel, she had family in many countries
around the world. Her brother was working in Oman, and she had aunts, uncles, and
onward migration, she feels there are yet few opportunities for her in the Philippines:
“Maybe, I want to return, because the economics of the Philippines. I don’t know if I
have chance to go back here, because I’m not expecting to make another three years for a
contract. But it’s okay. I’ll just find another job. My aunty is abroad. She told me if you
want to go here. I’m telling her that I want to go with them. They’re in Spain.” She
admits though that it will be difficult to get the tourist visa for Spain. Already, for this
trip she had to borrow nearly US $1,000 from her brother for the placement fees and she
has not been able to save. She does hope, one-day, to emigrate to Toronto. As she says,
Melanie, aged 23, tells me, “My friends call me Lani,” inviting me to do the
same. She is the youngest of five and describes herself as having been naughty, secretive,
and “attached with material things” when she was still in the Philippines. She graduated
with a major in Mass Communications in Broadcasting: “but I’m not good in this… I
wan to do interviewing, and then I also want the filmmaking. We do the MTVs, but I’m
just, you know, a location designer. Just like doing the back round. I’m not on the
camera. I’m not the interviewer. I’m just the one who sets the place.” She was out of
work, or “vacant” as she puts it, for a year after graduating. During that time she took
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care of her parents who are now in their sixties. She explains that through a neighbor she
...just an accident that my neighbor told about Taiwan. She worked here
for three years, the same company. At that time, the company is good.
The salary is very high. So, that’s why I was convinced to go here. But,
then when I arrived here, unfortunately, the company is getting worse and
worse. And then, the salary is, you know, the salary decreases and then
even the benefits were cut.”
Growing up on a farm in the provinces she says she was not “able to be in touch
with church activities before.” Now, she is involved in many of the church activities and
has even taken a leadership role in the El Shaddai movement. She explains that though
she was planning to return at the end of her two year contract, she signed on for another
Lani, also explained the difficulties of relationships in Taiwan. While there are
few men in Nan Tze, they come from factories in nearby Kang Shan and other parts, to
attend church or visit the eateries and shops that cater to Filipinos:
Lani: ...For me, I had a boyfriend here for three months, and then, I also invited
him to be, to participate here in the church activities, but he, but he already went
back.
Stephen: Do you maintain contact with him?
Lani: (laughin) Oh, too personal! Ah, as of now, we don’t have communication. I
found out that I am also one of the victims. You know that I can…
Stephen: Is he married or does he have other girlfriends?
Lani: What he told me, he has no girlfriend, of course. This is one of the things
the man is telling to a woman. Yeah, but then, but I also felt the care, the love and
the sincerity when we were together of course. But then, when he went back,
that’s the time when…
Stephen: Do you think that’s common for women here if they’re dating someone
and then they find out, they hear that he’s married or has a girlfriend?
Lani: Pardon? Pardon?
Stephen: Do you think it’s common or typical?
Lani: Yeah, because here, it’s very hard to trace someone. But then, because
we’re here, their excuse is that we’re here alone, very far from our families. So,
many of us are longing for someone that will take care of us. But then I think it’s
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just a temporary, hum, aspiration, that we have somebody that will take care of
us. I think. But, when you go back to the Philippines, I think that’s the real life.
Maria Fe, or MaFe - also just “Fe,” was a 34 year old mother of one. She had
earned a “Bachelor of Science in commerce, major in Accounting,” but only found work
as a sales clerk in her native Mindanao. After some time she was able to secure a
production specialist, and later line-leader, position in a Texas Instruments factory. She
stayed there for eight years, met her husband, and had a son (now aged three). Benefits at
her job were getting worse and many people were being laid off. When offered the
possibility of a severance bonus, she left the company. However, as her husband was
also unemployed at that time she explains that she ended up in Taiwan: “You know, the
reason behind when I, the reason behind when I decided to go here because, when I was
in the Philippines, I looked for a job and nobody will hire me. I decided to go abroad.” It
took over three months to get a placement and she was very much in debt. Her husband
supported the decision for her to work abroad: “he told me that he is not capable to go
here because he is, his educational attainment is not suit for going here. And he accept
that. And, he thinks that I am capable and we have so many accounts.” Once she came to
Taiwan she borrowed money to help pay back debts and help her husband start a small
business in the Philippines. However, she had to surrender her ATM card to the
Taiwanese loan sharks and has to pay back the money plus eight percent interest a
month. She became tearful as she explains that the business ( a motorcycle side-car taxi)
failed, their debts back home remained unsettled, and over the course of three months
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she paid back almost 39000NT on a 30000NT loan in addition to paying on the debt for
her placement fee. She explains that these loan sharks sometimes get rough if they are
Fe ...the gossip spread out that the lending people want to shoot my friend if they
about to, caught, catch her.
Stephen: Do you think that's why she ran away?
Fe: She ran away because the lending people forced her. She, she didn't know
what to do. She ,but she is, she worked a lot. She worked every time when there
are overtime, to pay for it. But sometimes, she also borrow money from Filipinos.
I met “Cassandra” through ‘Pastora’ Tessa, one of the essential Taiwanese staff at
Stella Maris International Center and minister (along with Filipino husband Pastor Chris
Marzo) of the Higher Ground Free Methodist Church in Nan Tze. Though participating
use her real name in the video in part due to the loss of status she feels as a result of her
work in the factory. After teaching general sciences for several years in the academic
high schools, she became dissatisfied with the low teacher’s salaries and decided to try
more lucrative college positions: “In the province. I became a college teacher for one
year. Chemistry. I handled the chemistry subject. Then, I became a librarian for six
months. So, but, you know I am not contented financially.” Facing a separation from her
husband, who had gone with another woman to live in the United States, and needing to
provide for her younger brothers as well as being sole parent for her ten-year-old
24 46% of survey respondents indicated having taken a loan from Taiwanese loan sharks or other Filipinos.
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Cassandra: ...in 1999 I came to Taiwan for three years. Then, I went back to the
Philippines. I decided to go back to school.
Stephen: Right.
Cassandra: But, it seems that, I cannot, I cannot. The salary is not, is not that
high. I cannot, I cannot be contented with it. Especially, I have two college
brothers. They're studying in college. Luckily my, my brother, one of my brothers
already graduated last March. And the other one will be next March. So...
Stephen: So, were you financially helping them out? Were you supporting them
or...?
Cassandra: Yeah. I am supporting them...
Stephen: Was your daughter living with you in the Philippines?
Cassandra: Yeah.
Stephen: Okay.
Cassandra: My daughter is in, at my mother's house right now.
Stephen: At your mother's house. Okay.
Cassandra: Hum, I want m-my daughter wants to, to stay in our house in
Tuguegarao but nobody's taking care of her. So, I transferred her to my mother's
house.
Stephen: Okay, so you stayed until 2001. You went back and tried to teach
another year. But, because of the pay difference, you decided to come back here
again. Ah, compare your jobs, being a factory worker here and being a high
school teacher there. Have you felt that there was any loss of status or position?
Cassandra: Yeah.
Stephen: Yeah. How does that affect you?
Cassandra: Ah, I feel especially when my, my supervisors are getting angry with
me, I feel being degraded. Because you know, not for bragging, because most of
the supervisors here didn't, is not, is not well, y-you know what I mean. The...
Stephen: Their education is very low.
Cassandra: Their educations are very low. But if, if they are getting angry with
us, especially when you are committing some mistakes; not that big mistakes;
they are getting angry as if you are already committed a very serious crime. So,
you are being degraded with that. I feel, ah, my pride is very low because of that.
Sometimes I, I want to go home and go back to school. Go back in teaching. But
then, I am, ah, in the Philippines I, I cannot, I cannot live doing what, I can no
longer live the same, the same life as before. Because, you know, my family's no
longer complete.
Virginia was also a member of Higher Ground Free Methodist Church. She was a
close friend of “Cassandra” and an active part of the church’s gospel choir (singing,
playing guitar, drums, and piano). In the Philippines, she had been a professional singer
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in a club. She had grown dissatisfied with pay and working nights and had then spent
time working in Hong Kong as a domestic worker and later in Taiwan for two years in
the factory (2001-2003). She had just returned to Taiwan for a new contract when I met
her. She says that she decided to come to Taiwan after talking with a friend: “I met a
friend at the bar and I told her that I think I’m already fed up with this kind of job. Then
she told me, ‘you want to try Taiwan?’ ‘But I don’t have any experience ?’ I told her.
‘It’s okay,’ she told me. And then, there was an interview that was held back in the city.
Because, mostly Taiwan interviews are held at Manila. And, I tried for interview. And,
I’m glad I was chosen.” When working in Hong Kong she helped her parents in building
a new house and on her first trip to Taiwan, she was able to help them add a second floor
and other improvements. However, during her second year she had an argument with her
Taiwanese supervisor and was not able to renew the contract for a third year: “I had an
argument with my line-leader. I really cannot hold my anger, so I answer her back with a
Now half a year into her second trip to Taiwan, Maria Erlinda, or just Linda, had
been there for just over two years on her first trip. Before going to Taiwan, she had
worked in a semi-conductor factory in the Visayas for around twelve years. She explains
that she has worked since she was seventeen years old. As a secretarial student in a
vocational college, she continued to work: “Since, ah, I came from a poor family, I can, I
can't stop working because I am supporting my brothers and sisters. Helping my parents
to support the education, the needs in everyday living.” Growing up in Manila with five
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siblings and a father who was often out-of-work, she says life was difficult: “It’s very
hard because, I can remember we have to push a pushcart with all the containers in there.
We'll go to other places where we can find water! In our place, there, there are always
water shortage.”
Linda was widowed shortly after leaving her factory position in the Philippines.
I'm already a widow that time, but its difficult for me because, ah, um, I
am not financially stable. That’s when I decided to apply for a job, here in
Taiwan, which my, ah, influence me by my friend, because she told me,
um, salaries and wages here are more, um., what do you call this, its it’s, I
cannot explain it in, in just one word. Um ha, because ah she just explain
the salary is much higher than in the Philippines, you know! You can
support your family in a way you wanted it to be.
She paid a Philippine placement agency 45,000 pesos and another NT 118,000 to the
broker while in Taiwan. Just over two years in the country, she found she was pregnant
by a Filipino man she had met there. She was forced to return to the Philippines as
government policy forbids contract workers to have children or get married while in
Taiwan. In fact, at that time, female laborers were given pregnancy tests every six
Stephen: Why not three years, you didn't finish your first contract?
Linda: Yes, I did not. Um, I've meet my second husband here, and um, I did go
home pregnant, that’s why I did not finished the contract. I like to go home
because, ah, it’s very hard for me to having a baby here and its not its not...
Stephen: It's not allowed?
Linda: It's not allowed, that’s why its okay [to go home]. Um, maybe its God's
will.
Stephen: Um-hum, so did it come up on the 6 month check up? Or did you know
about it and then decide to resign ? You know what I mean? Did they find out in,
did they give you pregnancy test then deport you?
Linda: I have known it before, before the test but I...
Stephen: So you chose...
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Linda: Yes, but I can not escape them. I didn't think of it and I didn't think of any
abortion, because ah some [Taiwanese] doctors ah tried to offer me abortion, but
um.. I told them I’m a Christian, and I don't like it.
Stephen: Um, So you got married?
Linda: Yes ....
Stephen: How were your family and friends , how did they respond to, ah, she
goes to Taiwan, and comes back with another husband
Linda: With another husband? Ha! Ha! My friends told me I am lucky because he
is a bachelor you know! Because some of the men here are no longer. They
already had a family back in the Philippines.
Stephen: Right...
Linda: That’s why my friend told me “oh! You’re lucky he is single.”
Ligaya, known to everyone as Joice (as in rejoice) because her name means Joy
in Tagalog, was a graduate of Nueva Viscaya State Polytechnic College where she
earned an English degree. After completing her degree she worked for a while as a
secretary, helping her parents send her brothers to school. Her father, who had been
working in Saudi Arabia since she was about four or five years old. When her father was
contemplating going back to Saudi for another contract term she decided to travel abroad
instead. She explains: “he's been abroad in Saudi as a construction worker. So, when we
got older, so I think, um, he's asking me because I am the older, right? So, he's asking me
if he can still go abroad, like that. But, I told myself, ‘oh, Pa, no its our, its our time
already. You’re old enough, so you stay with mama,’ things like that. ‘Do anything you
She decided to go to Taiwan because, as she said, “its there easy to come here.”
She would have preferred America, Canada, or Hong Kong, but simplicity of the
placement in Taiwan took her there instead. She had few problems working for her first
three year contract period and was actually “recalled” to Taiwan by the same company
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after returning to the Philippines for a short holiday. She explains that “for some reason”
she was able to understand her Taiwanese bosses and quickly became an assistant line-
leader. She has a good relationship with her Taiwanese boss that extends beyond the
work setting:
...in the production because we work, eh, we work hard and in working
time no one is, maybe somebody is talking with each other, but not that
much. Maybe more on working so my ling-ban [supervisor] every time
she go around she looks us working hard so its okay. Then she talks to me
sometimes. She ask, she's asking something, then we go out for
someone’s birthday. Sometimes we will go to her home, something like
that and we celebrate.
Gina (May 6)
Gina, 32, is on her second contract in Taiwan, first having worked there from
1997 to 2000. She returned before the law was changed permitting two contract periods,
so she is here under an assumed identity. While working in the Philippines as a data
processor for a mining company, she helped support her brother’s schooling. However,
when she broke up with her boyfriend, she decided to try working abroad. A coworker
So, my world at that time was not so nice. It's not great. So, ah, I-I easily
say, "Okay. I'll try." And before that I have no experience in going to
Manila. I just stay there in our place in Mindanao. And so, when he said
that he will accompany us, accompany me in going to Manila. And, he
will introduce me to the manager of the agency. And so, okay, I'm
confident. And so he said that there's an interview. So, we go to Manila
and, ah,. have an interview. And luckily, I passed.
On her first trip, she worked in a textile mill producing bolts of cloth. She talked
of long working hours, dangerous machines, and a very low basic salary - only 11,000
NT. The legal minimum contract salary, then and now, is 15,840NT, however most
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companies get around this minimum by having a lower “basic” salaries, then offering
incentives that bring the total up to a possible 15,840NT. She also said it was “terror”
Gina: Our section chief, a terror. But, um, he loves Filipinos there. Yeah. He
loves Filipinos because he knows that Filipinos are hard working persons.
Stephen: But in what way was it terror then?
Gina: He just keep on shouting. If, ah, your machine is trouble, ah, you have to
do it yourself. Imagine the, the, the cotton fibers, just flowing. Yeah, just flying
all over you. And ah, our looks also have looks...terrible. Yeah. Because it's very
hard. Yeah, it's very hard.
I met Flordeliza in February when she agreed to an interview; however, she kept
putting off our interview until she finally agreed in May. She was shy and embarrassed
because of an allergic outbreak on her face. This was due to the caustic chemicals she
was exposed to from the soldiering machine she operates. The company had sent her to a
dermatologist, but she explains the medicine they gave her was not very effective. She
said the operators of the same machine on other shifts also have outbreaks. The
company, however, will not install any exhaust equipment and offer her no option of
changing machines.
Flordeliza is from Cebu, where her father was a Chemistry professor in the
University of Cebu. Unlike most labor migrants, she had traveled abroad on several
occasions already. She had traveled to Finland to be with her then fiancé, but decided
after only two weeks that she could not take the cold. She had also been to the US to visit
her brother and sister who work in healthcare in Los Angeles. She is hoping that they
will be able to help her get a student visa after she finishes her contract in Taiwan.
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After her father died in 2001, she was not able to continue her studies. She had
completed her third year as an Industrial Engineering student, but lacked the funds to
continue. Her relationship with the Finnish businessman she had met in Manila (when
she was 19) was failing; so, she decided to go abroad. Not wanting to work in Saudi
Arabia, because it was too far away, nor Hong Kong, because she didn’t want to be a
domestic worker, she choose Taiwan. Unlike most, she did not know anyone in Taiwan,
nor were any of her family members there. She says she simply went “in the Agency and
apply then after a hour, they call me and I have a interview. So, I go for interview and I
Grace, short for Graselda, had been in Taiwan for just over a year when I
interviewed her. She went to Taiwan straight from university upon receiving a BS in
Communication Engineering. She explained that she decided to come to Taiwan for the
experience: “...because I want to learn more about electronics, besides, besides I want to
earn money. So, I have to learn more about electronics, because in the Philippines,
maybe it's hard to get inside a big company. So, I decided to go here.” Three of her
sisters had already been there to work. With their earnings, one was opening a gasoline
station, another was studying physical therapy to go to Canada as a caregiver, and her
In the factory, she is working on the process of fitting capacitors and resistors on
the circuit boards. She explained, “It's very easy, but you have to take care because very
danger.... sometimes of you don't have very, don't be careful, sometimes your hands will
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be cut or you have, ah, maybe burn.” When there was more overtime before, she said she
liked going with friends to nearby Kaohsiung to shop for clothes and things. Now,
however, she spends most of her time in the church or dorms so she conserve money and
continue sending home about 7000NT a month (about half her salary). She hopes that,
after staying here for a second contract period, she will have enough money for a small
house.
In late July, I asked Jenny, who was then helping to transcribe earlier interviews
and enter survey data, if she would like to conduct a few interviews with women from
the dorm who “didn’t go to church.” My goal was to see in the very small, non-
representative sample if there were any major differences that would emerge between
those involved in church activities and those who were not. On July 31, Jenny
interviewed two of her dorm-mates in a nearby park. The interviews were conducted in
Tagalog. I had provided her with a checklist of topics, but directed her to allow the
interviewees free reign in directing the conversations to topics that interested them.
Josephine, or sometimes “Jo,” was the youngest of six. After completing college,
she decided to work in Taiwan rather than “just stay at home and sell one peso candy.”
As she explained, she did not want to “get stuck there,” so she decided to follow her
college classmates to Taiwan: “It's not planned. It came to me at a time when I wasn't
expecting I'd be going abroad. Just like that. It's like, what do you call this, an unplanned
decision.” She also attributed the decision, at least in part, to the fact that her parents
were strict:
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Now on her second trip to Taiwan she told of how she had not planned at first to
I really was not planning to come back. Because I don't want to change
my name. Because at that time, you could only come back if you had a
change-name. And for me, I don't want to come back in another identity. I
felt it odd. Because, in the first place, if whatever happens to you while in
Taiwan, it would be very hard to trace you. Second, it would be very
uncomfortable using another identity. You could change name but you
could definitely change yourself.
When the laws changed to allow former workers to return for a second contract period,
she decided to try her luck. She says there has been less over-time and the incentives
now are not as good as before. She has had a variety of positions in her new company,
Jo: At first, the (big sister) line leader doesn't like me because I was so slow.
Because the products were delicate I have to be careful. I was slow in doing the
job because I wanted to be sure that everything is okay. I don't want to make
mistakes. [Jenny's note: She is assigned in molding. Really heavy work.]
Jenny: Yeah.
Jo: Yes. And they hate me because of that. Then they transferred me to oven.
Then I was thinking at that time that if it goes on and on maybe I would just stay
for one year. Because the work is really difficult and very heavy.
Jenny: So your work is hard.
Jo: Yeah. I always got sick, because the oven is so hot. I have cough and my back
aches a lot. I visited the doctor regularly. Then I got lucky. I am in the office
now.
Jenny: So what are you doing in the office?
Jo: Read pocket books. (Laugh). No. We do the shipments. I mean shipment
reports. Then we… we update their records. Just like that. Office work, paper
work. Everyday. There are…
Jenny: So you like you work now?
Jo: Of course.
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While work has been easier for her in the office, she has had economic troubles.
Jenny notes that Jo did not need to borrow money for placement for the second time as
she used her own savings from the first trip. However, while here the second time, she
has incurred significant debts due the frequency and length of the phone calls to her
boyfriend in the Philippines. She calls almost everyday and, not contented with only one
200NT long-distance card, she will often buy three cards for a single call. As a result, she
Ernelyn, 19 years old, was interviewed by Jenny on the same day as Josephine.
She was from Manila where she completed a two-year Associates in Computer
Secretarial skills. Due to family financial difficulties she decided to work in Taiwan.
Although she is younger than the required age, she was able to obtain a false identity for
15,000 Pesos: “When I bought that name, it includes all necessary documents... All
documents. Passport and birth certificate.” Her aunts assisted her in the travel plans and
arranging the position, one in Taiwan sending money and the other in Philippines
She explained that, at first, working in the company was easy as she learns easily:
“You teach me once and I get it.” However, work quickly became more complicated as
The first time, I only have two machines so it's easy. You only have to
check lead frames and heat sink. Then, put it in a magazine, write
something on the card, then it's done. It was easy at first. But, after about
one month, I was transferred to trim form. A more difficult job. More
sensitive and delicate products. And, they also transferred me in
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She has had mixed relations with Taiwanese. While she explained that she has
never had problems in public and some of her Taiwanese co-workers were nice to her at
In an effort to broaden the pool of participants, I decided to look for male factory
workers. Jenny, who had met her husband in Taiwan on her first trip, recommended that
I visit nearby Kang Shan where many of the metal fabricating plants were located. She
knew of a group of men who would come together at an inter-faith Christian gathering
called Jesus is Lord, or simply JIL. She accompanied me on a first visit to JIL,
introducing me to a Taiwanese women (Julie), who both attended the group and was
dating one of the Filipino men. We had an informal meeting in which she described how
she met and began dating her partner (Edwin), the stigma that they faced in the
community and by her family, and the general conditions of the lives of Filipinos in
Kang Shan from her own perspective. She also introduced me to members of the group
and helped me arrange to return and visit with them on a regular basis. JIL itself was
located on a side alley near the train station in Kang Shan. The neighboring businesses
and residents had an on-going conflict regarding the gospel choir music the members
performed each Sunday as well as the limited space for parking scooters in front of the
I met “Joshua” on my first visit to JIL. He did not want me to use his real name in
order to protect his identity. He had been in Taiwan almost three years and had less than
a month before his return to the Philippines. He was exited and full of plans for the
money he had saved. When I first met him at the church, he was in the process of
packaging computers he had bought and shipping them back to the Philippines. He had
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plans to add onto his existing computer business (teaching computer skills and renting
internet access). He had also been paying towards an educational plan for his son as he
He had come to Taiwan because of in part due to financial issues. While he had
been living in Manila, and was estranged from his wife for many years, they had recently
reconciled and in fact, she had become pregnant just before he left, giving birth while he
was away:
Later in the conversation, I learn that there were other reason as well for his
with a simple dream of a happy family,” and “a lovely citizen,” he previously had been
involved in heavy drinking, brawling, and having affairs. After a public fight he and
other members of his college fraternity were being sought by the police. He attributes
Joshua: ...some fighting, especially when we, the police they recognize me. So I,
I was afraid that they come back and revenge at me.
Stephen: Okay. So you came to Taiwan partly to get away from some trouble?
Joshua: That 's only one reason.
Stephen: Only one reason. Okay, but, there was some potential trouble? Do you
think that you face that trouble if you go back now?
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Raymond (May 4)
Taiwanese factory making engine parts. He had gone there originally in 1997, in part to
help support his six of his eight other siblings. His mother had died, and father gone to
the United States (sponsored by his two sisters who had married Americans). He
borrowed over 65,000 pesos from his brother-in-law (who was working in Taiwan) for
the placement fee, but notes that it took a year to pay him back as he was also supporting
On that first trip, he met his wife was working in Nan Tze. He explained that
during their two year courtship, they were only able to see each other twice a month
when they could coordinate their free time. Even then, she had a midnight curfew at her
dorm, greatly limiting their time together. Upon returning to the Philippines, they
Now faced with supporting his own family, wife and infant, as well as continuing
to aid his siblings, Raymond decided to go to the United Arab Emirates. While the pay
was lower, placement fees were lower too. Moreover, there were no brokers to pay in the
UAE as all arrangements were made directly with the factory. However, after a few short
Stephen: You worked in, ah, the United Arab Emirates for four months. What did
you do there?
Raymond: Same, a factory worker.
Stephen: A factory worker? Okay.
Raymond: But then I-I, I quit. I did not stay there for long, because the company
did not give us a right. I mean our right and they did not follow the contract.
Stephen: They didn't follow the contract?
Raymond: Yeah, yeah. They promise us to pay around, about this, they promise
us to pay ah, in, in Philippine peso it's around twenty-one, twenty-one thousand a
month.
Stephen: Right?
Raymond: When we still, when we, in the UAE, it's only fourteen.
Stephen: So what happened to the rest?
Raymond: It's only fourteen thousand. To compare in peso (na). “Oh, my God,” I
said. Because I was paying my house. My, my monthly bill [mortgage] in my
house. I cannot, I cannot, I cannot pay that anymore. So, I, I decided to ah, make
ah, immediate resignation. They did not allow me to resign. They just, they just
promise me to," Oh we just lend you a money. I will lend you a money. And I
will, I will....,” and so on and so on. They give for, for possibility just to stay. But
my, my will is go back in the Philippines because....
Stephen: So you decided to go back?
Raymond: Because they did not follow the contract what there is.
Stephen: If, ah, the employer there doesn't follow the contract, is there any way to
force them through the law, or the police, or an NGO, or something to get them to
follow the contract?
Raymond: Maybe there is. But, I don't know. I just make my decision just to cut
it off. And, I just, just to go back.
Again, he borrowed money, this time from his father in the US, as the problems
in the UAE left him broke. He renewed with the same company as before and returned,
with plans that his wife would soon join him again in Taiwan. However, the SARS
quarantine blocked new hiring from the Philippines and she was not able to find
employment. Finding it hard to manage on his meager remittances, she often sought
encouragement from Raymond: “Maybe there are times that she called me. She crying.
She's just telling me it is okay if you just staying [return] here with me. She's just telling
me. So, no we should go farther I said. I just gave her some encouraging words to uplift
her spirit.”
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Jin, also on his second trip to Taiwan, worked as a forklift operator in a company
that fabricates metal fasteners. He originally went to Taiwan in 1999, after working for a
few years in a bank in the Philippines. He explained that as Computer Sciences graduate
and data processor for the bank, he only made about 5,000 Pesos a month. With a young
son and a wife, who worked in a retail clothing shop, he decided to go to Taiwan where
he could earn nearly three times his bank salary. While there, he saved for his son’s
education and for plans to open a stall in a fish market when he returns.
Jin learned Chinese his first year in Taiwan and was one of few migrants who
really identified with Taiwanese culture. Ethnically mixed, his father, a Chinese man
from the mainland, had helped his mother maintain her household, visiting once or twice
a week while Jin was growing up. As he explained, his family was “illegitimate,” as his
father was already married to a Chinese woman. Yet, he had always wanted to know
more about his Chinese ancestry. He explained that he felt an affinity for Taiwanese
friends he had made: “I whenever they talk to me, some of my friends in Tainan, I feel I
can understand them the way they talk they relate those words to me. I can understand
them that it's not so difficult for me to understand them.” He also said that he likes and
respects the way Chinese look, dress, and especially their work ethic: “I like the way, ah,
Edwin, 27 years old, was the only male OFW who had been in a relationship with
a Taiwanese woman. After completing his first year of a Mathematics degree, his family
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had no more money for him to attend school. His brother, already in Taiwan then, told
him of the good pay and abundant overtime. So, in 1997, he decided to travel to Taiwan.
While there, he began attending the Jesus is Lord fellowship. Through contacts at
another JIL church in Kaohsiung, he met his girlfriend Julie. They were together for two
years when his contract ended and he had to return to the Philippines. At first, he used
his savings with his family’s business of buying products, like t-shirts and other clothing,
wholesale and then reselling them locally. However, the business failed and he had to
At that time, there was no chance for a second term of employment without
changing one’s identity. Rather than return under an assumed name, he decided instead
to look for work in Korea. He paid his placement deposit, but never found a position.
The laws in Taiwan, however, changed and he decided to return. At the time of the
interview he had only been back for only a short time. At work, he was learning to
temper metals in an extremely hot (2000°c) process. He was also making plans to marry
Julie, although they had not worked out the details of visas and future employment in
During one of the celebrations at St. Joseph the Worker parish in Nan Tze, I was
introduced to Melchor, a visiting Filipino man who is a shipbuilder on Chi Chin Island.
He normally attended the larger St. Mary’s Church in Kaohsiung, as it is directly across
the harbor from Chi Chin Island. Chi Chin acts as a natural barrier between the harbor
and the Straight of Taiwan. A long thin island, it is accessible on one end by a tunnel
below the harbor, and on the other by a constant stream of water taxis. It is the second
busiest container port in Asia, just behind Hong Kong, and third in the world. In this
setting, Melchor, and about sixty other Filipinos are employed to build vessels for local
shipbuilding company. In all, I interviewed five participants at their two dorms and had
informal conversations with a handful of others. In both dorms, they gave me a tour and
allowed me to videotape their living quarters, common rooms, restrooms, and cooking
areas.
Melchor, now on his third trip to Taiwan, has worked previously as a machine operator
in a company producing auto parts, a textile factory worker, and now as a laborer in a
ship building company. He went to Taiwan initially in 1994 and is soon to complete his
ninth year as a worker there. Seven years ago, he met his wife who was working in a
factory in Taoyuan in the north. He explains, that they have no children and rarely see
each other:
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25 I found it significant that Melchor foregoes visits with his wife because of this obligation in the Church.
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Melchor has had a number of hardships while living in Taiwan. On an earlier trip,
when he lived in Taoyuan, he was riding his bicycle home when some young Taiwanese
almost ran him over on their motorcycle shouting curses at him. He says, “they want me
to fight but ah I know my situation here.” On another occasion, someone with a baseball
bat hit him. He recounts: “one night I, ah, just finish the overtime and I go out and then
buy something, because I'm hungry. Then, I come back, I didn't notice the motorcycle.”
He explains that he was hit just once, “I think they're afraid, but I'm only one in the street
At the time of the interview, he was also experiencing a labor dispute. It turns out
that the managers in production had not communicated with the personnel department. In
an attempt to get a ship completed by its contracted date, they had required the workers
to put in many hours of overtime. However, their paychecks did not reflect the overtime
pay. Melchor says that it has been routine at this company: “the company always do that
even, once we have overtime that was I think in July or June the company did not pay us
but the we cannot complain because the other people don't want. I want to complain and
we want to complain but the other people did not want.” In this case, Melchor and the
others went to their broker and threatened to contact the Manila Economic and Cultural
Office (MECO) and the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). Six weeks later, the company
agreed to pay them the overtime in installments. However, as a result of the dispute, the
company has penalized them by not giving them any additional overtime. Melchor, and
many of the others who were not interviewed, were very distraught as most of their
Lody had been in Taiwan for a little over two and a half years. He was there to
help support his three children and to raise more capital for his failing business back
home. It was his first trip to Taiwan, but he had worked previously in a factory in Saudi
Arabia for eight years. He explains that even as a business owner in the Philippines, the
economy was so tight that he could not make enough to support his family. He also
Lody: So, that's why, I'm trying to come here in Taiwan, thinking that I'll earn
more money compared to Saudi Arabia. But, as of now it's reversed. Earning in
Saudi Arabia is a little money, a little money, but savings are, saves a lot.
Because the environment is so strict. Compared to here in Taiwan, you cannot go
around in Saudi Arabia because it's very, it's very far from our place to the cities.
Stephen: Right.
Lody: So, we go in there to the cities once almost three months or four months,
once. Once in four months, once in three months. It depends upon the
transportation that is available in our company. Now, I think, I'm thinking about
our family because before I have only one children, ah, one. My salary before in
Saudi Arabia is enough for my one children and for my wife. And helping to my
relatives also, to my father and mother in the province. So, I think it's enough.
And then, I'm going back to the Philippines. And then, I have a little business. I
produce, I produce, I have a motorcycle. Also earning a little money. Peso. But
for the long time, I have already two children. Then going to school. Then, the
other one already free and then bigger and bigger. Educational, education is the
biggest, the big problem for me right now. Because my elder son is already in
college. He's taking information technology. Info. What they call in the
Philippines info. And, and then hopefully if the father and mother. I don't like. I
don't like that my children experience my, my poverty, ah, my, I don't have
money before, when I was still living in my province....So, I'm trying to make a
little business like this, like this, and earn a little money. But (unintelligible) is
there. There is a, ah, eruption of Mount Pinatubo. It happens also the bombing of
the, in our country, the Abu Sayyaf. It's a little bit, kidnapping like this, like this.
So, it is a lot of problem in our country. That's why the poverty, the Philippines is
suffering the, has a lot of credit in the World Bank. The President in our
Philippines, the Philippines. We don't know how to solve the problem. We don't
know how can we pay our, our interest we cannot pay.
Stephen: Right.
Lody: So, as a Filipino, I think that is, that is the only I can help our country. By
going abroad. Because, earn money here in other country and sending money to
our Philippines. That is the, that is, that is the way I can help our country.
He too was involved in the labor dispute and had become very vocal about the
exposed to hazardous work conditions. He indicated that while his contract stipulated he
would receive replacement rubberized boots on a regular basis (to help prevent
grounding and shock) his were more than a year old and had holes in the sole. He also
explained when he was injured before (a sever cut on his hand) and out of work for three
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days, the company refused to let him see a doctor and deducted his pay for the days
missed:
Lody: I'm, ah, an electrician here. Ah, working there. [points above] You can see
the crane, the bridge crane that is. It’s very high. And I assemble also the panel
box.
Stephen: Okay. And, ah, is that work dangerous? Is it...?
Lody: ...It's too dangerous.
Stephen: It's very dangerous? In what way?
Lody: Yeah. Because the Taiwan people, there's always say like this. If you come
here in Taiwan you work... you work here. You work to earn money. So when I
complain, especially our, this rainy days. These few days, ha, these few days that
we have, it's a rainy day. For me as an electrician, supposed to be, we have safety
first. Use the gloves, the rubber gloves, using the shoes that we have. But no, I'm
wearing the shoes that, that is not safety for us. Because there's a lot of holes
inside. The water just go inside. So, when I complain this one to our supervisor,
the supervisor there's no remedy for him. He can't help us. Because there is a
friction between the management and the supervisors. So, I'm always complain in
the morning that, "How can I, how can I help the company if you cannot help us,
our safety." They say, "We don't know." They don't wanna hear like this, like
this, like this, like that. So if we can, if we refuse, they are very angry with me
because I'm the electrician. But supposed to be, we are not, ah, our salary is the
same with other people. My position is, I, I did not say that I'm, I look down to
the other, the other Philippine people. My position is different from them. I tell, I
tell to my supervisor that my, my position, my work is different from them. Even
your feet is wet, no problem with them. But, for me it's very dangerous for me.
Stephen: Right.
Lody: Yeah. Even this rainy season I can't, I climb in the, in the crane because
there are some kind of trouble. I cannot refuse because this is my work. If I can
explain to them that it is very dangerous, they don't care. So, that is a big problem
for me everyday.
Lody’s protests had begun to attract negative attention. He told me that because
of his complaints the management had become angry and threatened to send him home:
“Nobody speak. I only speak. I don't like that any Philippine people get hurt like this.
And, I,I want to awake them. What's happening here this company.” His protest finally
resulted in his being fired and sent home before my second visit to the island only two
weeks later.
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Leonardo went to Taiwan in 1999, stayed until early 2002, returning in late 2002
after a “too short” seven-month holiday in the Philippines. It was during this stay that he
married his wife, whom he had met in 1994. He borrowed money from his Aunt in
Canada to make the first trip: “I have an aunt in Canada. I talk to her, "Auntie I want to
go abroad to help my mom, my brothers and sisters." Then, I make sure that the agency
is not illegal. So, she gave me money as a loan. So now, until now, I'm here.” Originally,
he went to Taiwan to help his widowed mother and siblings: “I'm the elder of my family,
so I need to earn money for my brothers and my sisters and also my mom.” However, he
explained that during his first years in Taiwan he wasted a lot of money drinking, going
Now married and saving to join is wife, who is working in Korea, he says he only
listens to music, reads his Bible, watches TV, sleeps and goes to the Kaohsiung branch
of JIL when he has free time. Unfortunately, there is too much free time. Because of the
afore mentioned labor dispute, as well as the fact that there is another pending case
against the company, there has not been much overtime. Leonardo and a group of
workers, it turned out, had been hired as a “land-based seafarer” in an attempt for the
company to get around hiring quotas. The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) had
discovered the deception and was reviewing each of the contracts of the workers. As a
result of the limited overtime, he had very little money after deductions for room, board,
insurance, etc. While he had planned to build a house and start a small business, he was
contemplating cutting his loses and returning to the Philippines to try and arrange work
95
in Korea nearer to his wife. Yet, they had borrowed a significant amount for her
placement, and he was in a way trapped until they could pay down the debt.
I had met Roland, who also goes by the assumed name “Rod,” on an earlier trip
to Chi Chen. He had agreed to meet me on the 28th and give me a tour of the dorm as
well as an interview. As foreman and dorm supervisor, he was able to provide further
insight into the ongoing labor dispute, as well as other management issues with the
company. With the exception of one 21-day vacation and two, three-month breaks
between contracts, he had been in Taiwan continuously since 1997. As this was his third
trip, he had changed his name and assumed the identity of “Rod” so that he could return.
his monthly income of less than 5,000 Pesos wasn’t sufficient and it became necessary
for him to go abroad so that he could support his family: “actually, I have a work in
Philippines. But, my salary is not enough. So, on my first trip, ah, I have seen some
newspaper that there's a hiring in Taiwan. So, I tried. And then, I'm very lucky to become
one of them to go here... So I decided to come here, because I can support my, not only
my family, maybe my father, my mother and all my family.” A year after he came,
Roland made requested that his supervisor hire his brother. He too was able then to work
Roland had been married 7 years, most of which he has spent in Taiwan. He had
a six-and-a-half year old daughter and a four year old son. He told me, “When my first
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Image 15 Roland, AKA “Rod” completing the TST at the dorm (Chi Chin Island)
year I came here, my daughter is about nine months. Nine months old! And then, when [I
received] my first salary in Taiwan, I just often calling my wife. I think once a week or
four times a month. Something like that. And when my daughter grow up, about one and
a half years I always talk to her on my phone. So my daughter, even by phone, she, she
know me.”
He explained that to help support them, he works a lot of overtime and watches
his expenses. Every month he was able to remit 15,000 NT. However, the recent dispute
with the management over back pay and overtime had him worried:
Roland: ...June sixth, we are very surprised. When I get, when we get our salary,
it's only forty-six hours they paid.
Stephen: I see.
Roland: But, we have about one hundred fifty hours, one hundred eighty hours.
Many, many. So, most of the Philippine people are very sad and very angry with
that.
Stephen: Right. That's only about one-third of what it ought to be....
Roland: Yeah. It's about one-third.
Stephen: So what happened then? Ah, You went to the broker?
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Roland: Yeah. We talked to the broker and then we explained everything. And
the broker says they can, ah, make some arrangements on that. After a week,...
Stephen: ...an “arrangement.” What does that mean?
Roland: It means...
Stephen: Does that mean getting paid or does that mean they're going...
Roland: Yes. They gonna cooperate with the management and they gonna tell
them what happened. They gonna ask what happened. But, after a week we just
keep waiting. Nothing, nothing happened. They say just wait for another week.
We wait for another week. Then the weeks come, I talk to them again.
Stephen: Yeah.
Roland: They say we gonna wait for the salary, I think.
Stephen: Right.
Roland: Yeah. So until now we just wait for our salary.
Stephen: But, if you wait too long won't it be too long past and people won't be
able to get their money?
Roland: Ah, But the, the supervisor promised me, this coming salary they gonna
be paid. Because we have two members who already go home. After they go
home, they receive the money.
Stephen: They received their money.
Roland: Yeah.
Stephen: Okay. So, so you're saying that your next paycheck, you should receive
the overdue payment?
Roland: Yeah. I hope so.
Stephen: Yeah.
Roland: But until now, we don't yet receive any.
Stephen: Yeah.
Roland: We just...
Stephen: What will you do if they don't pay this time? Will you go to the CLA or
to MECO or Fr. Bruno...?
Roland: Yeah. Maybe.
Stephen: Yeah.
Roland: We have prepared some documents regarding that. If this coming salary
they don't give us, we have to report everything to the CLA or Fr. Bruno.
Roland also explained that he often gets caught in the middle in his dual role as
supervisor and foreman. He received no extra pay for the positions, but did see the office
work as a kind of perk: “It's about an hour a day. I often make a report. It's the only an
William (July 5)
After the interview and tour of the dorm with Roland, he decided to introduce me
to William and some of the workers from another division from the shipyard. Originally
two separate companies, they had merged about a year prior. It was at that point that the
workers said problems began to occur. According to them, the owner and upper-level
26See Maintaining Class Differences: Government Restrictions on Migrant Integration in Chapter 8 for more on state
surveillance of workers through dorms and employers.
99
management from the new company had communication problems with the mid-level
managers and supervisors of the old company, causing friction as well as oversights that
On July 5th, I returned to Chi Chin and met William at the gate to the actual
shipbuilding area. While the dorm where Roland, Melchor, and Lody lived was outside
the grounds of the company, William’s dorm was on the building site itself. The building
where about thirty workers lived was tucked between administration buildings and the
In the Philippines, William was an electrical engineer. He had studied for five
years in college for his bachelors and prior to that studied two years in mechanical
engineering program. He had worked in for three years before deciding to go to Taiwan.
He said that while in college he had heard about living in Taiwan and thought that it
might be fun and rewarding, but knew no one there personally. He borrowed money for
placement from a friend and still, two years later, was paying on the debt.
Two years in Taiwan, working as a manual laborer doing metalwork and welding
on the ships, he was contemplating return. He had been helping to support his younger
siblings, he was the oldest of seven, he said the money was not so good since they had
cut the overtime. However, he was also weighing his social commitments in Taiwan such
as sing in St. Mary’s choir and writing articles for a religious newsletter for OFWs
(santinig). He was also waiting to hear if his girlfriend had received a visa for Canada
before deciding. She had left the Philippines at the same time and he to work in
Singapore as a domestic helper and had recently applied to Canada for a nursing
position. If she got the placement, they planned to marry and have her sponsor his
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Image 16 William shows the local NGOs advertised in the church bulletin
Like Lody, Roland, Melchor and the other workers, William was quite upset over
the changes in the company. They were planning to file a protest if things were not
improved. He was especially upset over the recent exchanging overtime for later time off
instead of pay, as well as new salary deduction such as monthly charges for beds and
sheets. He also talked about how dangerous it was working in the shipbuilding
recounting that another worker had the hook of a crane fall on his foot.
Coordinators
After I had been in Taiwan for almost four months, and was beginning to
decided to look individuals who worked for the brokers. These individuals are usually
hired under the same contract as other factory workers. However, due to their fluency in
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Chinese and/or previous experience working as a foreign laborer, they are hired to act as
translators and go-betweens for the broker. Officially, they are working for the company
and are paid the same as other factory workers. Unofficially, it is understood that they
report to the brokers, not the factory, and receive special bonuses and other incentives
that are not production related. The two coordinators that I eventually met through
contacts at the churches in Nan Tze were both fluent in Chinese and enjoyed a higher
status within the labor hierarchy. “Analynn,” for example, while living in the dorms, did
not have to share a room with others and had a lot of free time to spend as she wished.
As a coordinator, “Analynn” wished not to use her real name nor be filmed
during our interview. Our meeting was discreetly tape-recorded and so as not to appear
On her third trip to Taiwan, it was her first time living in the South of Taiwan. As
a coordinator, she had worked in smaller companies, but was now with a growing
brokerage trying to get more contracts with one of the largest employers on the island.
As a coordinator, she earned the same basic pay as the other workers, but she was not
required to pay placement, broker, or other fees and could make additional money by
teaching English to the broker’s employees and translating documents. She found she
had a lot of free time and few responsibilities beyond managing everyday disputes,
collecting fees, verifying workers were in by curfew, and checking dorm rooms:
... they don’t ask me to go to the factory and interpret. Yeah, I stay in the
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dormitory, take care of them, you know, if they have a problem, they can
approach me. And then, I am also, I’m the one collecting the broker’s fee
every month. Yeah, but before, I didn’t do that before. Yeah, this is my
first time, yeah, I have to do the collecting of the broker’s fee every
month. And what do you call this, pay day. And then, I have to visit their
rooms, you know and find out how they are doing, their life and their
work. Sometimes I don’t want to ask oh how are you doing? How was
your job last night? Because sometimes they have this mentality thinking
that you ask that kind of question. It, it leave them to think that there
might be a problem with their job. There was this one time that I ask one
of my people, you know, how was your job. And, all of a sudden she
started thinking, oh how come I asked that kind of question. And, I said,
no, it has nothing to do with your problems in the production. I mean I
just want to know. And then, sometimes let’s say if they don’t have the
way to communicate with their leaders in the production, they want me to
write in Chinese characters so I am also doing that because it’s the only
way to settle the you know, the problem. Because in this company they
have, there giving incentives to employees. Like performance incentives,
but I don’t know how they, how the leader is doing that. Because some
employees they don’t get it though they really work so hard. So there was
this employee who was telling me how come last month I got this and this
month I, Last month I was so, that was my first month at my work, how
come I got this incentive, and how come on my second month I did not
receive anything? I said yeah why don’t you ask your leader about this
because I don’t really know when it comes to work. So, I told her maybe
the best way that you know if you cannot communicate with your leader
maybe I can write it in Chinese characters and then just give it to your line
leader. And if in case she asks you who wrote that, you can tell her that
you know, you can tell her it’s your coordinator. Yeah…
“Analynn” had learned Chinese at a young age. Her family, having some Chinese
ancestry, had decided to send her to private Chinese schools (primary and secondary
schools), where she learned Fujian and Mandarin dialects. Later, she had attended
university receiving a degree in commerce. She had worked for a number of years in a
managing the finances of the company. When the son of the owner returned from studies
in the US, he was place in charge of her department. As she put it, he was "new blood"
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and a perfectionist, often calling her into his office for "small mistakes." Work became
I asked her about what must have been a loss of status from he management position in
The Philippines to her role as the “overseer” for the brokers. She explained:
“Analynn”: ...It was entirely different. Yeah, if I’m going to compare my job in
the past with the job of coordinator, it’s totally different. The first thing is you
know, you’re not busy. And then, I, actually I decided to accept this job because
of practical reasons. I have to be practical. I mean when I was in the Philippines, I
wasn’t earning that much. I mean you have the high position, you’re wearing a
nice dress everyday you know, then you have lot respect from your, what do you
call this, subordinates. From our suppliers, our commodities, but money-wise,
you’re not earning that much. I mean you don’t save that much because living in
Manila is expensive you know. You have to provide your own transportation,
your clothing, we don’t have uniforms. Yeah, and then, I can’t be late, I can’t be
late because I am also boss, but I have to be practical.
Stephen: In your position as a coordinator, how do the Filipinos look at you?
“Analynn”: Well, some are looking at me like you know, I’m their boss. Some
would call me boss and I hate it. Some will call me ma’am, and some will call me
ate [pronounced ah-tay], that means older sister in English. Yeah, I know that it’s
a kind of respect to me, but you know, calling me boss or ma’am, I think it’s
putting big gap in our relationship. That’s why when people stop calling me boss,
I usually tell them, hey don’t call me boss. I mean, I don’t want, I mean we have
a gap right now because your superior, but I don’t want it to be you know that
big.....
Rosalyn was a different case, while she was now working as a coordinator, she
had come to Taiwan initially as a foreign bride in 1995.27 She decided, when she was 19
27Because of her separation and current employment as a coordinator, I decided to classify her among the
coordinators rather than with the other foreign brides.
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years old and her family was without economic resources, to marry abroad. As she put it,
it was simply for “survival.” She had only completed one year toward a BS in commerce
in her native Borongan City (in Eastern Samar Province). Her family did not have
funds for her to continue her studies, so she decided (against her mother’s advice) to get
married and thus reduce the burden on her family. She went to a friend of her uncle who
was a professional matchmaker. When asked if she did not consider other options she
replied, “I didn’t have the money to pay the placement fee [to be a factory worker], and I
didn’t have a college degree, so I cannot get a job. It is very hard to find a job if you are
matchmaker, met her in the Philippines where they spent two weeks together completing
the necessary paperwork before they were married and she moved with him to Taiwan.
When she arrived she said she felt as if she were a “stranger.” She was afraid because, as
she explained, “I did not know what is Taiwan.” She spoke no Chinese communicating
with her husband “only through actions” and pantomime. For the first two years she
stayed in the home, living with her husband and his parents as is tradition in Chinese
society. She had three children with him during this time. After two years, she decided to
work first with him as a manual laborer in construction (earning 500NT, or $15US
daily). Later she worked in the factories. While a permanent resident, she was paid the
same as the imported Filipino contract workers, making not quite half what her
She finally left her husband after seven years of mistreatment and abuse. She
explains that he was an alcoholic and would become violent when he drank: “It was a
very big problem, because when he is drunk, he is very different.” Her Taiwanese in-
laws, however would not say anything to him, telling her that she had to “accept her
husband like that.” Ultimately, she left, taking two of her children with her to the
Philippines on “holiday.” She has returned now only to work to regain custody of her
oldest son. In her position as a coordinator, she has used her experience in the factories
and fluency in Chinese to her advantage. She receives an apartment and is now paid
about US $100 (NT 3000) more than the Filipino factory workers.
While the focus of the project has been on the factory workers in the Economic
differences between those who live with their Taiwanese employers and those who live
residential workers. Through contacts at shelter for migrant workers at Stella Maris
International Service Center, I was introduced to a few domestic workers who were there
Much has already been written about the poor conditions of life for the domestic
workers in Taiwan. Educational requirements and placement fees are lower for this
category of labor migrant. As a result, many more of the domestic workers are from the
most impoverished areas of the Philippines. The position in Taiwan, while offering a
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substantially greater salary than they may find in the Philippines, is none-the-less dire.
With long hours, and no overtime pay, many of the domestic workers become victims of
Now in her early fifties, “Mama” became an OFW when she was thirty-four.
Shortly after separating from her husband, a seafarer who was away from home for ten
months at a time, she found herself left with five children and only occasional support
from him. She decided to leave them in the care of her in-laws, with whom she
maintained contact as her sister had married her husband’s brother, and become an
First, she lived in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, for ten years working
for one family. During that time she learned to speak Arabic (as the family spoke only
limited English), and said she had a good experience. When she began working there her
salary was US $200 a month, rising to only to $300 by the end of ten years. She was able
to send all of her earnings home, as she had no expenses living with the family. She was
able to manage only three short trips home during the decade in the UAE, and had no
regular day-off.
Upon return to the Philippines in 1994, she only stayed one-month before setting
out again, this time to Taiwan. She explained: “I leaving to my country because of my
children go to school and I want [them] to finish the study. That is my, I want to, that is
my priority to my children.” When she arrived in Taiwan, she encountered her first
problem as a domestic; know how to cook Chinese food and the family complained to
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the broker. Luckily, she was not sent home. The broker took her to the market to learn
how to shop and then taught her to cook Chinese dishes. Since then, she said she had
She began going to social occasions at Stella Maris when she was working
legally for the first family. After her contract expired, she stayed on (without legal
contract or papers) working for two more families that she had been introduced to by
friends from the church. When I interviewed her, she was a "volunteer" at the shelter
receiving a place to stay in exchange for supervising daily meals and chores of the short-
term residents. She also worked part-time, earning 200NT an hour (US $5.70), for
several Chinese families and some of the Filipino workers from MECO.
These contacts at MECO also had helped her to arrange factory employment for
her daughter and son. While her son had already returned, and married, her daughter was
still in Taiwan working for a well-known Japanese electronics company. With her
daughter soon to complete her contract, Mama Linda plans to return also to her
homeland. She has never seen her eight grandchildren in-person and plans to return to
her old home, open a small restaurant, and "take care my grandsons and my
granddaughters."
Rosalia (May 9)
Rosalia, a widowed mother of two who has been working to pay off debts
incurred when her eldest son had a brain tumor removed, had runaway from her
employer a few days before I interviewed her. Emotionally distraught, the interview was
paused several times, but she really wanted her story to be heard.
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Though trained as an orthopedic nurse, she had been in Taiwan for six months, as
she said working hard as a “servant,” “housekeeper,” and “tutor.” However, as she put it,
her employer often spoke harshly to her, often putting her down: “...sometimes, I don't
know, maybe she has many problems sometimes, and she speak, the way she speak she
always say, ‘you are servant, you are poor that's why you came here, you become poor
forever. Even your family and your children.’ That's not good. She can talk to me on the
At that time, Taiwan was in the midst of the SARS scare. Often acting on
irrational fears, Taiwanese had begun to institute draconian measures to control the
spread of the disease. Not clearly understanding the way it was transmitted, ordinary
people became quite paranoid. Rosalia’s employer, feared that re-heated food could
cause the family to get ill. Although Rosalia was told to be frugal with the food and
never to waste anything, her employ scolded her for serving re-heated food to the son.
The employer claimed that if the son got sick, she would see to it that Rosalia would get
in trouble. Rosalia explained that this frightened her: “Yeah, so I, I'm very scared. I
happen to her son, it's my fault maybe they put me in jail. I cannot go home anymore,’ so
I ran away.”
Rosalia also had other disputes with the employer. For six months, she had not
received a salary, although the employer had sent money to the Philippines to pay some
of Rosalia's debt. She was also being over-charged for her broker’s fees: “in Philippines
we signed, we pay placement fee in Philippines a lot of money, and we came here we
signed 1800 [NT] a month, so this is what we are expecting. But when I came here they
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force me to sign 7000 a month.” Likewise her employer exercise unreasonable control
over her. She was not allowed a cell phone. Nor was she allowed to attend church. She
had no regular day off and was often required to clean the husband’s medical clinic in
addition to working in the home. She claims that she was only allowed to eat what was
leftover from their dinner, but often only had rice with a little soy sauce and water.
This treatment was a real shock to her. She had worked in Hong Kong for a
Malaysian family in the late 1980s. While she was the housekeeper for the family,
because of her educational background, they had also let her help with the office work of
their company. She said she had enjoyed the work and it had helped to pay for their
home in Manila.
Her oldest son was only six when she went to Hong Kong. Soon after her return,
they had another son. At that time, her eldest began to complain to severe headaches. It
turned out to be a brain tumor. An operation saved his life, but left him permanently
disabled. She explained that for the next five years she stayed at home to nurse him.
Hospital bills and medical expenses forced her to sell property she held in the province.
Finally, her husband died and she had no choice but to go abroad again to earn enough to
support her two sons. Forced to return due to the conflict with her employer, she had
plans of borrowing placement money and trying again in Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Charito (May 9)
Charito, while also staying at the shelter, had not had many problems working in
Taiwan. On her second contract as a caretaker for an elderly patient, she was awaiting
reassignment to a new patient for the remainder of her contract period as her previous
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charge had died.28 Her previous employer, an old woman who lived alone, had been an
easy assignment. The woman spoke English, treated her in a friendly manner, and
needed only a little assistance: “ah, to take a bath and then ah changing the pampers
because she, sometimes she is sick. And, we will bring to the hospital and then to assist
her to take a bath, only because she still walking, and then, ah, wash her clothes, because
we are only two in her house.” With the family she had been with for the last six months
it had been a different case: “I signed a contract in Philippines. I am a care taker of old
person. But, when I was came here, I was so surprised because, ah, my job was, ah, all-
around caretaker. So, January my patient was already dead, so the Taiwan government
This was not the first country that Charito had worked in; she had, in the mid-
1990s, worked in Saudi Arabia. She made only $150 a month there, but felt it was better
than her commission only sales job in the Philippines. She said she was unable to find
better employment there as her family had run out of funds after her first year in the
teacher’s college. She had six brother and three sisters whom she helped out a little.
Otherwise, she said she was unmarried and saving for a bakery or a small restaurant of
her own.
Rosario, a high school graduate, worked as a salesperson and later on her parents
farm before becoming a housekeeper in Malaysia. With her earnings there, she was able
28This is one of the only ways that a worker may find another employer without returning to the Philippines
and paying a new placement fee.
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to cover the tuition of her brother. She said Malaysia at that time paid little, but also had
a low placement fee. After returning to the Philippines and then becoming a single-
parent, she was faced again with finding work overseas. Her experience had been good in
Malaysia, but her aunt, who had worked as a domestic in Taiwan, encouraged her to go
there. She borrowed the placement fee from a “loan shark” and left her son with her
mother. She explained, “actually, I went back to working abroad because of my son. I
She had worked for almost two years in the four-story school and residence as an
“all-around” housekeeper before she finally had enough of the unreasonable workload
and lack of regular payment. When I met her in Stella Maris, she had badly bruised
knees from daily duties of washing the floors without a mop, and badly damaged hands
from cleaning with bleach without gloves. She explained that daily she had to clean the
kindergarten on the first three floors as well as the house on the top floor, help the
teachers with feeding the students, and clean the school grounds. She was not allowed to
While her employer did not allow her a cell phone, after a year she was able to
secretly buy one and was then able to call her family once a week without the employer
finding out. She had made friends with some other Filipina domestic workers as they had
passed by the school. She talked to them occasionally through the gate. They helped her
initially to post some letters to her family and later to get the phone. They also told her
about MECO and Stella Maris when she was having problems of not getting paid for
months at a time and watching her loan amount increase as a result of a high interest rate.
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She explained that for her MECO was “very dangerous.” She had filed a
complaint with them when she had not been paid for five months. MECO contacted her
broker and employer to resolve the matter. Instead, she said, her employer shouted at her
and end the end only paid part of her back wages. Finally, deciding she could not bear
Analy was at the shelter after her employer had tried to deport her without paying
her back pay, tax rebate, and overtime. Already heading to the airport, she had protested
and called MECO. Because of their position as a pseudo-governmental agency, they are
not allowed to intervene directly, but they were able to contact Fr. Ciceri at Stella Maris
who was then able to retrieve her from her broker. Once repatriated, legally or illegally,
Analy had been trained in a two-year vocational college as a radio operator. She
said she did not like the program, but had failed the entrance exam to the teachers
college. After finishing her degree she had worked as a guard in a department store until,
in 1998, she was accepted for placement in Hong Kong as a housekeeper. She said she
enjoyed the position, taking care of a family and their five-year-old child. The father
worked in the Hong Kong immigration service and seemed to understand her situation.
She said, “they treat me like a sister.” She was able to send money to help with schooling
of sister and to help her parents buy a farm. However, when the wife lost her job, they
could no longer afford a housekeeper. Hong Kong does allow foreign workers to seek a
new employer, yet she said she was home sick after the 14 months abroad and decided to
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return home. She stayed there on the farm for several years before decided to go overseas
again.
Analy had been in Taiwan only eight months. She had been hired as a caretaker
for and elderly patient, but was surprised when she arrived: “he's strong, not bedridden!”
Instead, she was to work 14 hours a day cleaning, cooking, caring for baby, washing
clothes by hand, walking dogs, and, in addition to her other duties, help pack tea for the
family’s business. She, and the Vietnamese worker the family had hired, slept on floor of
tea packing room. For months she was not paid, or given a day off. She and the
Vietnamese woman had decided that they would stage a protest and both decided not to
work one Sunday as their contract dictated. In the end, after a battle with the employer,
they worked out an every-other-Sunday-off routine, though they still were not paid for
the overtime.
When the employer returned from a trip to the mainland in the midst of the SARS
epidemic, she was placed on in-home quarantine. Fearing for their safety, Analy and the
Vietnamese employee decided that they would move the family to the first floor of the
So, we decide to stay first in the shop for ten days or fourteen days. So,
after that she go home. She's angry, "Why. Why we stay there in the one
floor. Who told you that you stay in one floor." I said, "No. Me and Nelly
only. We decide that we stay there in, in one floor. Why Madam? If we
die, you pay me? You pay me? No. You don't pay." I said.... and then she
said, "Okay. You stay in the shop. I don't give you an allowance for the
food." So the Vietnamese and me, ah, we have own money, we buy food.
And then, the dinner she telephone, "You give me a food here. I don't
come down," she said. So, the Vietnamese give a food there. ...And then,
another day, she broke a mirror. And then I said, "Nelly what is that?" She
said, "I don't know what is that." she said. So I opened the door. Oh, my
employer. Already angry. And then she opened the door. She don't use a
mask. So, I close again the door. "Madam, excuse me I use first a mask."
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And then, she said, "Okay. Okay." And then, after I, I wear a mask, I
opened. And then she said, "Ana you go down and then you pack your
things. I want to send you to the Philippines. I don't, I don't, I don't like
you anymore," she said.... And then, it's already in the one floor, she said.
"I don't give you a, I don't give you your salary. Because your broker said
you have to pay ah, tax. Thirty-six thousand." And then, I said, "Why
thirty-six thousand? I work here only eight months, why I pay thirty-six
thousand. I don't have any money." And then, she said, "That is your
problem. Not me, your broker said." So, I decide to call a MECO.
With the help of Father Bruno, she had recovered her back pay, brokers fees, and
the cost of the plane ticket, but not her overtime pay. She was satisfied as she had enough
to help her parents with some of the renovation of their home, and to pay part of her
Taiwanese Spouses
category of migrant, and were of interest to my project in that they represented the only
contract workers. There were two sub-categories based on the way in which they were
introduced to their husbands: those who came as OFWs and met their husbands while
working in the factories, and those who were “mail-order” brides. These “mail-order”
brides explained their biographies in similar terms as labor migrants: they sought a way
wealth. In this case, labor (in the form of domestic, sexual, and procreative services) was
bought by a Taiwanese man who paid a matchmaker for the service of introduction and
arranging all of the governmental paperwork. This system is similar in many respects to
the placement-employer arrangement for labor migrants; however, in this case, the
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“employer” (husband) pays all of the fees. While “permanent” migrants, these women do
not see themselves as a part of the Taiwanese society. As with the case of Rosalyn, many
find their position within the family as little more than domestic servants. Moreover,
many Taiwanese family members have a distrust and fear of the “foreign” bride that
The most successful and well-adjusted brides were those who met their spouses
while working as OFWs or those who had found a niche within the small enclave of
Filipinos in the EPZs. Many of these wives, with capital from their husbands, operated
carts or small stalls that sold Filipino foods or products. As “permanent” residents, 29
these women are legally allowed to work, but often find that employers are unwilling to
pay them the same salaries as local Taiwanese laborers. Thus, if they are to work outside
the home, they must rely on the enclave economy supported by co-ethnics. In this way,
they also provide a vital link to the culture of the homeland. Likewise, as long-term
residents and often being of the few who speak Chinese or Taiwanese, they are often
placed in positions of authority within the church and other social institutions.
Sarah went to Taiwan initially in 1997 as a factory worker. She saw a placement
advertisement in a magazine and decided to apply. Before coming to Taiwan she was a
school teacher. However, she had only recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in
History and Economics and taught for only three months. Dissatisfied with the low
29“permanent” residents in Taiwan must reapply for visa extensions every few years until they have been in
Taiwan for more than seven years, at which point they may apply for the Permanent Alien Resident Certificate.
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salary in the Philippines, she decided to work in Taiwan. The youngest of eight, it was
not economically necessary for her to become and OFW for the family as much as she
electronics boards. She explained that it was very hot work and her line leader was
difficult on them. She would not allow them their lunch break sometimes and was very
demanding: “I cried for many years...before, I hate the Taiwanese people, because my
experience was that all the Taiwanese people no good.” Eventually, one of the
supervising managers, the man who would later become her husband, talked with the line
trainee learning to operate the machines in her section about the same time that she came
to Taiwan. As he moved up in the ranks, he also kept his eye on her. While he was
interested in her and helped her out, she said she was not so fond of him at first: “the
truth was I didn’t like him, but maybe he is very good... but it’s not so easy that he
became my boyfriend. He courted me for years.” While the were dating she taught him
She returned to work at another company, and continued dating. They decided to
marry, but due to her contract and visa restrictions she had to return to the Philippines
and apply for a tourist visa. While back, she studied cosmetology and cooking so that she
could find work other than in a factory. Recently married, she is waiting now on
residential status and the ability to work. Now, to earn a little extra money, she makes
small Filipino cookies or other delicacies to sell. She is living now with her in-laws and
is learning to cook Taiwanese food and trying to learn to speak and read Mandarin. She
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was also learning Tai Chi and Kung Fu in the park with her mother-in-law. However, she
has no Taiwanese friends and still spends a significant amount of time at St. Joseph’s
she had wanted to become a teacher: “when I was a little child, I want to be a teacher.
But, no money, because I'm also supporting my brothers and sisters in their school.”
When she finished high school, she took a two-month cosmetology course, then began
working part-time from her home beauty shop while working full-time in a factory.
Working to help to support her nine siblings, she had dated Filipino men, but had never
married. Over the years, she said she had applied to go overseas at various placement
agencies, but had the misfortune of running into fake agencies that took her money or
her aunt’s family) came by her house. Her cousin, already married to a Taiwanese man a
few years prior, seemed to have had a good experience, so she decided also to give it a
try:
I'm willing to come to other countries. Ah, some of the other, some people
say that it's just a stepping stone to come to other countries to marry, to
get married in other, men in other countries. I don't think that. I think that
it is a plan of God.... my mother told me that somebody came to our house
and need my picture. And then, they saw my picture. I'm just not, I'm not
interested. But, maybe that's the plan of God. Yes. That I'm coming here
to Taiwan, to do something. And then, I married my husband.
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The marriage was arranged by the older sister of her husband, who was also
arranging her own son’s wedding at the same time. They met, were married in a joint
ceremony (in which she was only allowed to invite a few of her relatives due to cost),
and departed for Taiwan in a few short weeks. Her husband had paid over US $12,000 to
the matchmaker for his services and only about US $20 to her family as hong bao
(紅包).
When she arrived in Taiwan, she said she experienced a great deal of culture
shock; missing her family and friends, Philippine food, and spending much of her time
crying: “I cannot understand the language here. I don't know anything. Maybe if my,
maybe if my cousin will not, ah, got married here in Taiwan, I don't know if I will come
here to get married also.” Her first few years were very difficult as well. Her husband
worked as a janitor and twenty-four hour guard for an office building. They had only a
small room behind the property as their apartment. Paid only 29,000NT a month, he was
required to give 20,000NT to his older sister who managed his affairs. These funds, he
was told, were for his share in a rotating credit system. Yet, after three years they had
still not had their turn at receiving the capital. For that time, they were left then with only
During this time, the Philippine wife of her husband’s nephew ran away. Her
sister-in-law, afraid that Angel would do the same, became more of a problem. In the
end, she convinced her husband to change jobs and quit giving money to his sister. Once
her husband changed jobs, Angel was able to begin working and eventually help her
sister come to Taiwan as a housekeeper. She also joined the local church and has since
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become a central figure in the community. As one of the few permanent Filipino
members of the church, she has been assigned the responsibility of treasurer and is the
After two years of secretarial school, Loisa began working first as a department
store clerk, then in assembly at a Sanyo factory in the Philippines. She lived in boarding
apartment in Manila and worked three and a half years earning money to help support
her family. Convinced partially by one of her three sisters, who was already working in
Taiwan, and by the fact that she was having problems with her boyfriend. She decided go
to Taiwan in 1995.
She says she was lucky to get work in the quality control department for an
electronics manufacturer. The work was light and not too difficult. She also met her
husband, who was a supervisor in the department. In 1997, she left her position and
returned to the Philippines so she could marry him and return as his spouse. While he has
been very supportive, and treats her respectfully, their relationship has not been without
its problems:
Maybe the problem is, I'm far from my family. Like that. And, nobody
can help me to take care of my kids. Cause, I'm just the one who take care
of them. And, if you feel lonely, alone, you feel lonely, you feel you're
just alone. So. you just, you just go out to meet your friends. And,
sometimes if have problems, very hard to communicate. Because it, it
different, it's different than if you speak same language, you know.
While she had no Taiwanese friends, other than Ate Tessa at Higher Ground Free
Methodist Church, she said she had many friends among the other Filipina spouses and
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workers at the church and from her part-time job at a “burger house” that caters to
Filipinos workers. Her children also, she explained, play mostly with other Filipino-
Chinese children.
While living abroad, she maintained strong ties with her family back in the
Philippines. Up until 2002, she would go back to the Phil for 2 months of the year,
however finances have been tighter recently, and she hasn’t been able to go back. She
did explain that she calls two to three times a month and a helped support family back
home with regular remittances. Likewise, she helped support one of her sisters when she
decided to work in Taiwan (in all 5 of the 8 siblings have worked abroad in Taiwan or
Saudi Arabia). Now, with the backing of her husband, she is planning to open her own
lunch counter. With the help of Ate Tessa, she is looking for a commercial space to rent.
She is also trying to find a partner among the other Filipina wives.
Upon my arrival in Taiwan in late January 2003, I began searching for local
experts to interview regarding the status of Filipino labor migrant. My search turned up
the local office of the pseudo-governmental Manila Economic and Cultural Office
(MECO) and the church sponsored Stella Maris International Service Center in
Kaohsiung. Fr. Bruno Ciceri, director of the Service Center, proved most willing and
migrants to Taiwan. As director of the Service Center, pastor of the Nan Tze St. Joseph
the Worker parish, and coordinator of English masses for all of the churches in the
Philippine labor migration (Pastor Marzo, the other Diocesan Coordinators, Lorna Kung,
Southern Taiwan, often seen as more provincial and industrial than the north of
the island, has few resources for migrants. In and about Taipei, on the other hand, there
are numerous international NGOs that provide services for foreign workers. In the south,
there was Stella Maris, and its satellite shelter in Tainan, as well as the Migrant
Counseling Center in Nan Tze (run by the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, PCT) and
MECO. The Counseling Center, sometimes called the “North Center” as it was licensed
to services northern Kaohsiung County, primarily assisted migrants from Thailand and
Vietnam. MECO, alternatively, provided help only to Filipinos, and often coordinated
Image 17 Fr. Bruno Ciceri explaining problems with the placement system
122
Fr. Bruno Ciceri was a Scalabrinian missionary30 who came to Taiwan in 1996
after appointments in Australia and the Philippines. Originally assigned to the Stella
Maris Apostolate of the Sea to serve the needs of seafarers on short layovers in
Kaohsiung’s port, he quickly found the unmet needs of migrant workers a great concern:
...when I came here, for example for the shelter, it’s not like one day I
wake up and say okay today we start the shelter. The shelters, usually the
police they would bring people to the hospital, they cannot keep them in
their station and things like that, and after there were two Filipinos that
were raped by the broker, one mentally she was really shocked, and I said
you cannot keep her in jail, so just let her stay in my place and everything.
And so we just start keeping people here. At a certain point I have 12 or
15 people in a room smaller than this one, and we said. ‘oh gosh! I have
to do something here you know.’
Fr. Ciceri has since become one of the most vocal advocates for migrant laborers.
He has lead numerous protests, discussions with the government, and is instrumental in
organizing with the other NGO groups in Taiwan to protect the human rights of migrant
workers. He has been singled out by the police and even threatened with deportation for
He explained that, in a way, his whole life has prepared him for this position. At
eleven years old he entered the seminary, leaving for a few years in his late teens when
he helped organize a protest over the school’s strict guidelines. While away from the
seminary for three years, he attended university and also joined a leftist student group.
Involved with protests and organizing an independent radio station before decided to
30http://www.scalabrini.org/eng/english.htm
31For more on this incident see “Catholic Human Rights Advocates Threatened To Be Forcibly Deported By
Taiwanese Government” Retrieved on April 12, 2004
(http://www.catholic.org.tw/vntaiwan/laodong/4labor.htm)
123
eventually returning to the seminary, he said that the experiences still have an impact on
him:
Looking back, I would say the Lord was preparing me for this kind of job.
What I did at that time, whatever was put there, was somehow a
preparation for this kind of job I think. I don’t know, just looking back
now, I think that’s the only reason I find why I have to have these
experience with these group and been organizing strikes and things like
that. It’s maybe because there was somehow a sort of outline for me. So, I
am happy to be here, and I am happy to do this kind of work. I don’t
regret. I enjoy this kind of work, working with migrants and helping them.
Jonah Lin was the program secretary at the Migrant Counseling Center in Nan
Tze. For the past three years at the center, his job has been to supervise and coordinate
the social services for migrant workers. Prior to this position, he had spent a year in the
Philippines studying at a seminary, both to receive his Master in Divinity (his other
programs. While they do not have a comprehensive counseling service for mental-health
issues, they did provide mental-health counseling services via group counseling. They
also had Thai and Chinese social workers on staff. They maintained a shelter for
runaways and migrants awaiting repatriation. They offered limited legal services for
cases of employer abuses, though he explained that the procedure took almost two-years,
so were “sometimes almost useless.” They also helped with work-related injuries,
assisting the worker in communicating with the hospitals or negotiating with employers
who often would pocket insurance money rather than pay the premiums, leaving workers
124
in a dire situation when needing healthcare. Though he admitted that attendance had been
poor for their education and training program, because workers were likely to miss
classes for overtime work, they did offer English classes, Mandarin classes, Chinese
handicrafts, and Chinese cooking classes. They offered a number of social activities,
primarily for Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese workers, such as a large street-party for
the Thai workers that brought as many as 2,000 workers annually. They also had
monthly day-trips and outings, and maintained a small Karaoke club in the basement of
the center. Much of their work, though, involved labor dispute mediation:
...usually the worker will bring their salary list [i.e. pay stub], because
they cannot understand, sometimes the factory will not provide an English
or Thai, only Chinese, so we will explain what is this... one example,
happened last week, a Thai worker is going home and the employer did
not pay for vacation in the whole year. Because the worker have fourteen
days in the year, but he didn’t take it so the employer should pay him. So
when the laborer com here we will contact the factory.... sometimes the
factory do not know the labor standards law.
Because of financial difficulties the center had to severely cut its staffing. They
were no longer receiving the nearly US $500,000 from the government that they had
counted on in the past. Instead they were raising funds only from the Presbyterian
Church and from sales of items at the large festivals and social events.
Jonah’s opinion of the issue of labor migration was mixed. While he believed it
was his duty to assist migrants in need, he felt that the importation of labor to Taiwan
was not a good thing. He felt that by employing migrant workers, fewer jobs were
available for local people. He also felt that having migrant workers had negatively
affected Taiwanese society. He stressed that it was not due to the cultural difference of
the migrants themselves, but the opportunities they presented to the Taiwanese to take
125
advantage. He felt that “Taiwanese will not take advantage of another Taiwanese,” but
by simply having people there from another country Taiwanese would forget their
Pastor Marzo, has been in Taiwan since 1997. He met his wife, Pastora Tessa, in
1991 while she was living in the Philippines. They married in 1993 and stayed in the
Philippines while he worked in the church and she taught in a Chinese language school
on the outskirts of Manila. When her mother became ill, they decided to move the
While on a trip to Taiwan, he had seen the need for a church for the Filipino
workers in Nan Tze. Then, upon moving there in 1997, he established the independent
Higher Ground Free Methodist Church, first in a rented space at the local Presbyterian
Church of Taiwan. They were later able to raise capital for the down payment on their
own space by selling long-distance telephone cards to the Filipino workers. He explained
that maintaining the church and membership is difficult though as there are fewer
Protestants from the Philippines and the population they serve is so itinerant:
this church is, ah, not, it's different from, ah, common local churches
where people are there. I mean they have sustainable jobs. Members are
always there. I mean, our church is a liquid. People are so transient. And,
ah, of course you cannot expect a lot of, ah, OCWs to be faithful in their,
giving their offerings because there's a lot of complicated problems, you
know. For one year, they have to work and not earn a single centavo.
Maybe for this. Because all of the money they've been working for a year
will be given to the brokers.
126
Since the introduction of the two terms of employment, six years total, he said things
have become more stable. The church is able to recruit new members by word-of-month,
as well as by maintaining a base among returning members. Likewise, the church was
Pastor Marzo personally has experienced the exclusion from the Taiwanese
community that many of the OFWs feel daily. This may be as subtle as the looks he gets
on the elevator or their hesitation when he opens the front door for one of his neighbors
in the high-rise apartment building. The church has also received complaints by
neighbors over the “noise” of the gospel choir and he has even being told he could not
park his van in the public street spaces as they were for Taiwanese not Filipinos: “At first
I'm always very furious, you know. Why can't I, and they can. I always have this
reaction. So, it's a bad feeling. But, of course you have to understand that you are not
Attorney Salud, labor attaché to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in
Kaohsiung, had been in his post for nearly five years when I interviewed him at his
offices. We had met several times at social and religious events in Nan Tze and
exchanged e-mails a few times. He came to his position after being asked by a friend in
the Department of Labor to take the overseas post: “My children were grown up, so I
said why not.” Before that, he had been a member of the management group for the
National Oil Company in the Philippines. He said he knew nothing of Taiwan, much less
Kaohsiung, when he came. His friend was looking for someone he could trust as there,
127
“were at that time a lot of problems, internal squabbles in the office and the image of the
office as against the workers.” At the beginning of his tenure, he found it necessary to
replace the entire staff of the office. He said that all sides were unhappy when he first
arrived, brokers and Taiwanese government as well as other NGOs: “The first time I met
[Fr. Ciceri] he told me ‘I’ll be watching you.’” He said that it took over a year and a half
to regain the trust of workers and others, but now the office has a good reputation in the
Philippine community. Like Fr. Ciceri, Atty. Salud has had his share of problems in his
post. During the first three years, brokers complained to the Chinese government and the
Philippine government when he did not yield to their demands. He also has had his home
Atty. Salud’s position allows him to accept or deny broker requests for workers from the
Philippines. Thus, if MECO or the other NGOs have problems with a particular broker
128
over employment issues, he may deny their work orders until the situation is resolved.
The office also mediates disputes between workers, brokers, and employers. However,
they not have authority to intervene in cases where the migrant is being forcibly, and
illegally, repatriated by the employer. In these cases, he said, they call Stella Maris to
intercede, “fine, so what we do is pick up the phone and we call ‘Father come pick up the
worker” so we have this kind of relation.” The office also represents workers rights in
negotiations with the government of Taiwan in setting labor standards and rights of
workers. However, he did explain that many of the policies are up to the interpretation of
local authorities and his office has had difficulty in pressing for enforcement of agreed
were just as important as the recorded interviews, tests, and surveys I conducted. By
living in the Kaohsiung area, I was able to attend social and religious events, explore
participant. As a “foreigner” myself, I found that there was both an affinity with the
activities at St. Joseph’s, High Ground and JIL as well as attendance of social events
members of these churches, as well as with Pastora Tessa, a Chinese social worker and
129
wife of Pastor Chris Marzo, helped me to shape questions in formal interviews as well as
to understand the various perspectives on the issues of labor migration to Taiwan. In the
same way, questions posed to my Taiwanese friends, family members, and my own
Taiwanese students, gave me insight into the conventional views of Taiwanese toward
I was also invited by Fr. Ciceri to attend the Second Meeting of Diocesan
Coordinators on July 3, 2003. In this forum, I heard reports from the missionaries
working with migrant laborers in Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Hualien,
and Kaohsiung and I was given the opportunity to ask questions to these relief workers.
On the same day, an overview of foreign workers in Taiwan was presented by Lorna
Kung, former Director of the Foreign Workers’ Counseling Service in Taipei and an
Image 19 Pastora Tessa (or as she prefers Ate Tessa [elder sister or auntie Tessa]).
CHAPTER 5
one million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) were deployed in 2002. Departures for
employment reached 2,640 daily as the government encouraged the record number of
unemployed (almost 14% in 2002) to go abroad (“More than 2,600...,” 2002). The OFWs
are seen as “economic heroes.” The government claims they ease the strain on the local
The Philippines has a long history as a sending nation and has become one of
today’s leading exporters of migrants (Abella 1993; Martin 1993; Tan 2001). Because of
their historical, linguistic, cultural, and political ties with Western nations, Filipinos
began to emigrate to Europe, Mexico, and the United States in the late 1800s. In the
period from 1900 to the 1930s in particular, labor migrants were recruited from the
Philippines to work in farming in Hawaii. Migration slowly increased throughout the mid
20th . By the early 1970s, then President Marcos had begun the “temporary” policy of
government driven labor migration “to ease massive unemployment and to bring in
foreign currency” (Pei-Chia Lan 2000). By the early 1980s, many Filipinos had
131
permanently emigrated to the US and other countries and nearly a half million labor
technicians, nurses, factory workers, and seafarers. The government of the Philippines,
labor migration as one of its official development strategies (Martin 1993; Aguilar 2000;
Tan 2001;). In 1982, the government established the POEA to promote and regularize a
then mostly illegal labor migration. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, remittances from
OFWs accounted for up to 9% of the GNP (Tan 2001; Migration News 2001).
has resulted in a very sizeable, young population with high rates of unemployment and a
weak export market, and considerable foreign debt leave few possible solutions for the
While many Southeast Asian countries have progressed rapidly through the
demographic transition, the Philippines has been slow to reduce fertility rates while life
expectancy has increased (Appleyard 1992; Skeldon 1992; Abella 1993; Asis 2000). In
the last century, the population has increase more than 1000 percent. As Manolo Abella
This rapid population increase has added almost a million new job seekers to the work
While the high dependency ratio and rapidly increasing population indicate an
urgent need for new employment opportunities, economic conditions and government
practices have not allowed industries to keep up with the demand for jobs. Protectionist
industrial policies, designed to support domestic producers, have been blamed for
(Abella 1993; Alburo 1993; Habito et al. 1993). Coupled with increasing foreign debt
1,000
Thousands
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
02
r
01
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
Figure 5-1 Overseas Filipino Workers by Type 1984 to 2002 (derived from Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration 2003)
133
90
Millions
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Figure 5-2 Population of the Philippines 1900 to 2000 (derived from Lahmeyer 2003
(now almost US $56 billion) and lack of incentives for foreign direct investment, the
situation has produced a poor export market for goods and an increase in unemployment
unemployment as of July 2003 was more than 12 percent with underemployment above
20 percent. Thus, the increasing labor pool and high unemployment together with lack of
funds from export of goods or investment creates a situation in which the only quick
University of the Philippine researcher Maruja Asis’s study of migrants from four
sending communities found that these macro-level causes translate directly to the micro
were essentially economic: lack of employment opportunities, meager incomes and the
desire to improve status compel people to seek work outside the country” (Asis 1995).
134
Abella (1993) further explains how the choice to migrate occurs at the family level as a
It is argued by the government that export of labor would produce economic returns for
the country in the form of remittances and savings brought back to the families
Philippines shows that while earnings from OFWS have had very marginal positive
effects on domestic growth, most spending has been on imported consumer durables and
improvements to residential properties with less than two percent of remittances going
toward small businesses or investment (Alburo 1993). Thus, there is little long-term
created a “culture of migration” that permeates all levels of the society. Overseas
Immigration (BI) and governed by the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of
1995.32
Filipino workers are screened and then go abroad with special contract
worker passports. Private Filipino recruiters go abroad to find jobs for
Filipinos to fill, get the Philippine government to approve the contract,
and then find Filipino workers to go abroad. But these recruitment
activities and protections come at a cost, which is typically borne by the
worker. Since most Filipinos go abroad legally, they cannot escape these
costs. However, as labor exports shift to Asia – where salaries are lower
and employee-paid recruitment fees are higher-the wedge between gross
and net foreign earnings widens to the disadvantage of the worker.
(Martin 1993)
32 See text of the 1995 Act at http://www.gov.ph/cat_labor/ra8042.asp retrieved on April 12, 2004.
136
While the majority of the total permanent emigration from the Philippines is
destined for the United States,33 there is an almost equally sizable flow of temporary
workers to the Middle East and Asia. According to the Survey on Overseas Filipinos of
the Philippines National Statistics Office, more than one million OFWs were legally
deployed abroad in 2002. Of those, 93.8 percent were overseas contract workers
(OCWs), 76.5 percent working in Asia alone. Unlike other nations, the migrant flows are
relatively balanced between genders with 52.5 percent males and 47.5 percent were
sends abroad. Repeatedly OFWs are portrayed as “modern day heroes” for the economic
support they give their nation. Annually select workers are recognized by the POEA and
2003). Similar to the way the USO visits to troops, government officials, famous
performers, and cultural icons regularly visit OFWs abroad. In 2002 and 2003 alone,
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has visited OFWs in the United Kingdom, Japan,
Thailand, South Korea, and Kuwait (“Arroyo to visit...,” 2003). In 2002, she also
addressed the “kababayans”34 in Taiwan specifically emphasizing the strong ties between
As Filipinos living in a foreign land, you have the distinct role of serving
as our country's ambassadors of goodwill in your host country. You are
called upon to serve as agents of our country in fostering stronger,
cultural, political and economic ties between our country and Taiwan.
(“President...” 2002)
33 According to Martin (1993) the US accounted for 1.3 million migrants or 93% of those in core receiving
Unlike many other sending countries, the Philippines does try to retain its labor
migrants, encouraging them to go abroad, but granting them benefits and enticements to
return. While working abroad, Filipinos may receive many of the benefits of citizenship
such as entitled to sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, death, and 13th month
benefits through the Social Security System, as well as absentee voting and dual
encouraging temporary migration, providing services for migrants abroad, helping them
to maintain cultural and political ties to the homeland and granting them benefits has
created a culture of migration. For almost thirty years, the government has promoted the
exportation of labor, creating a constantly circulating population and the expectation that
one will go abroad at some point in their lives. As Asis (1995) explains, “migration has
become routine and taken-for-granted… woven into the community’s everyday life.”
Taiwan is in many ways the opposite of the Philippines. A rapid transition from a
total fertility rate of 5.10 in 1964 to 0.7 in 2001 (Chang 2003), as well as rapid
policy, have placed Taiwan among Southeast Asia’s “Four Tiger” economies (Skeldon
1992). According to the National Statistics Office, Taiwan has a work force of 10 million
and an unemployment rate of only 5.35 percent (Aug 2002).35 Major reasons for the need
for importing labor have been slower population growth, an aging population, a gendered
division of labor, increased years in education, labor conflicts, and labor costs (Martin
Raymond Chan of the City University in Hong Kong (1999) explains that
labor intensive industry and service sectors led to a greater demand for labor. By the
1980s, the afore mentioned decline in the fertility rate had resulted in slower population
growth and fewer available workers. In addition, while female labor participation had
women’s entrance into higher paying employment.36 At the same time, the increasing
years spent in education delayed entry into the labor market of younger generations.
Finally, as workers became better educated and in shorter supply, labor costs began to
rise. Workers involved in the “3D” occupations (dirty, difficult, and dangerous) had
begun to unionize arguing for better working conditions and more pay. This conflict
between labor rights organizations and industry has been seen by some as the true cause
for importation of foreign labor (Ciceri 2001).37 As it was, by the mid 1980s, up to
100,000 foreign workers were employed illegally in Taiwan. At this point, the
government decided, under pressure from industry and growing public concern, to
legalized and regulate the importation of foreign workers in designated projects and with
strict quotas.
36 Taiwanese law allows for employers to specify age and sex of employees desired, thus legally reinforcing the
gendered division of labor. This is important later in the hiring of foreign workers where we see essentializing
not only of national groups, but also of sexes.
37 See also: Foreign labor changes the face of Taiwan Sinorama December 1999
25
Millions
20
15
10
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
70
60
50
Percent of Poulation
40
30
20
10
0
1976 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Primary & below Junior High Senior High & Vocational Junior College & above
While the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) approved legal importation of workers
for specific government infrastructure projects it was not until the ‘Employment Service
Act’ of 1992 that the government official outlined their policy on importation of labor.
Migrant labor activist Lorna Kung, former Director of the Foreign Workers’ Counseling
Service in the Taipei Labour Affairs Bureau, describes the policy as being “coercive,”
“conservative,” “isolation oriented,” and “marginalizing.” Lee and Wang at the Chung-
Hua Institution for Economic Research (1996) explain that the 1992 policy had four
main objectives:
infrastructure projects, factory labor jobs, heavy industry, export processing zones and
low wage service positions such as domestic workers and nurses aides the CLA has not
allowed foreign labor to fully compete with the domestic labor pool. Likewise, by
requiring employers in these select industries to first search for local hires before
petitioning for foreign labor, as well as setting quotas for each employer with a 30 to 35
percent cap on foreign hires, the CLA has attempted to satisfy industrial demand for
workers while attempting to protect jobs for native-born workers. However, as the
following article shows, industries are still eager to increase the number of foreign
workers (while simultaneously dropping their wages) and labor activist see this as
"We need more foreign blue-collar workers, or we will have to move our
company to China," said Chuang Feng-nien, the owner of a knitting
company. "Youth in Taiwan don't want to work for such dirty, dangerous
and labor-intensive industries such as ours. Employing more people from
Southeast Asia won't increase the unemployment rate," Chuang said.
Labor activists, however, do not agree with Huang. "They are out of their
minds," said Lin Ming-hsien, deputy general secretary of Taiwan
Confederation of Trade Unions. "What Huang said is all bullshit.”
According to the Employment Service Act, foreign workers can make up
no more than 30 percent of a company's total employees, Lin said. "But
Huang is trying to raise this proportion to 50 percent. How can this not
damage the rights of Taiwanese workers?" Lin said. Lin is opposed both
to reducing foreign workers’ wages and hiring more Southeastern Asians.
(“Legislator pushes…” July 25, 2003)
migrants,38 the government has taken to limiting the period of time a foreign worker may
stay in Taiwan. According to the 1992 laws, workers could stay up to two years before
having to return to their home countries. Today, while workers may stay for up to three
years then reapply to return for up to three more years, they are still barred from
becoming permanent residents. There is no provision for changing their visa status from
The contracts are meant to be short term. Once they have finished,
importing nations are eager to ensure that the workers won't find a way to
stay… Foreign workers who think marriage to a Taiwanese national is the
route to permanent residency are out of luck: Marriage is grounds for
immediate deportation (Stein 2003).
While there is great fear that the migrant will want to settle permanently in Taiwan (as
has occurred in a number of receiving countries39), there is also fear that they bring with
them social and health problems. For this reason, workers are require to provide a
38See Maintaining Class Differences: Government Restrictions on Migrant Integration and Cross-Cultural Dating & the
Cultural Taboos of Exogamy in Chapter 8.
142
submit to a medical exam including tests for HIV and other STDs, parasites,
tuberculosis, pneumonia, and other communicable disease (Lee and Wang 1996). These
medical checks are required before departure to Taiwan, as well as bi-annually while
residing there. Until 2002, they also included mandatory pregnancy tests to limit births to
By 1995, the CLA had established the first Foreign Labor Affairs Center to
prepare policy, coordinate and manage agencies involved in the importation of labor, as
well as oversee the paperwork involved in the recruitment of laborers (Chan 1999).
Paradoxically, the Foreign Labor Affairs Center was also to act as mediator for labor
1999). In 1998, nine more regional centers were established to complete the Nationwide
Foreign Labor Management and Information System. While the objective of this system
result is often discordant and even inconsistent. Fr. Bruno Ciceri explains:
…it depends on which labor bureau you are dealing. You have a different
thing. Sometimes we have a case, I would say, with the Labor Bureau in
Kaohsiung, and we deal in a certain way. After, you have the same case
with the Kaohsiung Hsien [County], and it’s totally different because the
interpretation of the law is different… There is no common interpretation,
so it’s really difficult to deal with because it’s all up to the mood of the
person there…. There should be a common policy that is implemented
from the north to south and south to north. That would be better. But,
there’s no such a thing.
39See for example the argument in Faist (2000) regarding the transition from guest-worker system migrant to
asylum seekers in the case of Turkish to German migration (p 68-69).
143
• Mental illness
• Dementia
• Brain damage
• Para/quadriplegic
• Serious illness
• Sever disability
• Terminal illness/ hospice
care
• Stroke
• Recognized sever
disability
• Other
60,000
1980 1990
40,000
2000 Foreign Worker Quotas Reduced
Figure 5-6 Timeline of Foreign Employment Policy Changes Superimposed on Number of Filipino Guest Workers in Taiwan
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION AND PAPER POLICY CHANGES
According to Lorna Kung (2003), the 2000 election of President Chen Shui-Bian
led to important policy changes in Taiwan’s importation of labor migrants. The new
administration’s goals were to reduce the quotas of foreign workers by 15,000 annually,
international pressure from NGOs, improve human rights. By early 2002, many of these
new policies had been made law; however, as Kung claims, little has actually changed.
For example, she explains that while it is illegal today for the employer to administer
pregnancy tests,40 when they find a worker is pregnant they still send her home, as there
is no way for her to change her employment status under the current law. Fortune
magazine writer Nicholas Stein agrees: “Though Taiwan recently changed its law to
allow pregnant workers to stay, in practice they are typically given the choice of abortion
or deportation” (Stein 2003). Forced savings likewise has been illegal since 1998 and
reiterated in the new policies, nevertheless deductions in the form of bonds or liens and
Changes were made to the broker’s placement fees, wages, and policies regarding
direct hiring. The effect however, has been disadvantageous to the worker. The new
limits on broker placement fees were intended to work in the interest of the worker and
restrict their systematic exploitation. Yet, these changes, while indeed restricting and
limiting the placement fee, simply resulted in a legalized “monthly service charge” that
40One of the human rights concerns addressed in the Chen policy in response to international NGO pressure
to observe the privacy and rights of female workers.
146
in many cases was greater than the original placement fee. At the same time that fees
were increased, real wages were cut as employers were allowed to deduct fees for room
and board (once a contractual benefit to the worker). Theses cuts and fees total more than
a third of the workers minimum monthly salary. A February 2002 Migration News
The change to allow direct hiring also was intended to benefit the foreign worker.
Employers were granted the ability to by-pass brokers in Taiwan and placement agents in
the sending countries and directly hire employees. However, with very few exceptions,41
direct hiring was not instituted as, according to Kung (2003) the cost to employers in
time, money, and resources to negotiate the highly bureaucratized system were too
prohibitive.
As Stein notes, there are many possible benefits to the importation of foreign
labor. “In theory, engaging foreign contract workers is a solution that should benefit all
parties: Poor countries reduce their unemployment, wealthy countries get cheaper labor,
41Some very large employers such as Chung-Hwa Plastics were able to hire directly from the Philippines and
according to Lorna Kung direct hiring of construction workers from Thailand also occurred, but only for
major infrastructure projects.
147
and the workers earn far more abroad that they could at home” (Stein 2003). However,
he goes on to explain that in actuality the Philippine –Taiwan labor migration results in
abuse and mistreatment. Policies that are intended to protect foreign workers as well as
domestic labor markets have often worked instead to further exploitation. Moreover, as
Stein explains:
Governments are willing to look the other way because of what they get
in return: The labor trade means jobs and capital will stay in their
countries and not get shipped to China. Nations that import labor also
tailor their laws to keep local factories happy. To hold turnover to a
minimum, governments allow factories to retain workers' passports,
impose curfews, and deduct compulsory savings bonds--or "run-away
insurance"--which workers get back only when they have completed their
contract (Stein 2003).
CONCLUSIONS
Moreover, the Philippines policy of promoting labor migration and the shift in Taiwan’s
policy both contribute to the normalization and regularity of the migrant flow. The
pressure of NGOs and labor rights groups, also influence governmental policies
regarding migration and have resulted in changes shortly into the first term of President
Chen. These changes, intended to satisfy human rights groups as well as businesses, have
migrants.
While Taiwan’s policy was intended to restrict the size of the migrant population
and to minimize the social impact on the populace, it has, by legalizing migrants’ status,
1990s. By restricting the stay to three year periods, the policy has created a constant
individual migrants are exposed to the destination country, gain social and human capital
in that setting, and then return, the effect will be to promote further migration by those
The system for recruiting Filipino laborers for Taiwanese employers is highly
many claims of systematic abuse because of corruption at all levels of this system. The
primary cause of this corruption can be found in huge sums of legal and illegal fees
charged by brokers and placement agencies. In addition, the considerable legal and
illegal fees charged to workers leads to a cycle of debt. The worker borrows money at
high rates of interest to pay for the opportunity to work, and then spends a year or more
working to pay off that debt before actually saving money. Often, by the third year of a
contract the worker will have saved only enough to live on for the few months they are
42 For more on the Broker/ Placement System see the following stories retrieved on April 12, 2004:
¾ http://taipeitimes.com/chnews/2001/02/21/story/0000074588
¾ http://taipeitimes.com/chnews/1999/12/06/story/0000013792
¾ http://www.utopia.pcn.net/h5111.html
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director of the Bishop's Commission for Social Development Concern for Migrant
Workers Services,43 explains that this huge industry is extremely profitable for all but the
migrants themselves. Employers in Taiwan obtain labor at a rate well below the cost of
local workers. Both governments recover funds in the form of legal fees, taxes, and
deductions. According to Father Sheridan over $US 1.6 billion is charged to workers by
If you take the fact that just a three year contract, everyone who comes
here from these poor countries stays three years, they pay the regular
broker's fees and also this illegal fee they pay before coming
here….$1,635,509,592 a total of $1,635,509,592 is what migrants pay to
brokers. I mean, I mean, it's obscene! This is the industry that is keeping
migration going (Sheridan 2003).
begins when an employer contacts a labor broker in Taiwan requesting an employee. The
broker, on behalf of the employer, will petition the Taiwanese Council of Labor Affairs
(CLA) and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO)44 for permission to hire
foreign workers. Once these governmental agencies have officially given their approval,
the broker will submit a request to an affiliated labor recruiter in the Philippines. At this
point, the labor recruiter (also called a placement agent) requests accreditation of the job
order and permits to begin advertising the position from the Philippines Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA). The agent is then allowed to conduct a job search
43 “The main emphasis of this apostolate is Union formation, labor education and analysis of working
conditions. A Columban was expelled by the Taiwanese Government for this work in March 1989. Columbans
work with local and migrant workers in the Hsin-Chu diocese and staff a migrant center at the International
English-speaking parish in Taipei since 1992.” http://www.columban.com/histtai.htm
151
and screen potential employees.45 Once applicants have been screened, the agent then
forwards select applications and other documents to the potential employer or the broker.
The employers, or their Taiwanese brokers, make final selection of candidates and the
Philippine agent will then processes the laborer’s Philippines based paperwork (Overseas
Taiwanese government for visa and employment documents such as the Alien Resident
orientation seminar and exit interview with POEA, and assist the applicant with
While the placement agent arranges jobs and the departure from the Philippines,
the broker will manage workers affairs in Taiwan. Once the worker arrives in Taiwan,
the broker will arrange transportation from the airport, oversee housing, medical care,
and be responsible for maintaining their legal status (arranging bi-annual health checks
and renewing the Alien Registration Card). They also act as the intermediary in dispute
brokers, and employers, I posed questions on the migrant laborer’s experiences in both
the community level survey of labor migrants in the Nan Tze area and the one-on-one
interviews with the ethnography participants. Overall, in the survey, 36% of respondents
indicated problems with placement agencies most dealing with the exorbitant fees. Other
charges.46 One respondent even noted having to provide a security bond, “we were
required to give collateral such as car registration, tax declaration, blank checks.”
Likewise, a third of all respondents in the survey indicated at least one problem with
broker services. Problems ranged again from overcharging for services, not properly
refunding taxes or overcharging taxes, adding additional fees and surcharges, and being
difficult to find when workers had complaints or questions . Brokers were also charged
with providing substandard living conditions and maintaining unreasonable limits on the
freedom of workers. Finally, a third as well reported at least one problem with
employers. Problems with employers ranged from unpaid overtime to verbal abuse.
were subjected to physical and psychological abuse, isolation, and sexual harassment.
Factory workers, on the other hand, were found to have better relations with immediate
supervisors, but did discuss troubles with favoritism, unfair treatment, and barriers to
communication.
overcharged for services, became indebted in the process of paying fees, and were often
required to wait for extensive periods after paying fees before they were placed with an
employer. While recruitment agencies in the Philippines are allowed to charge roughly
45 It may be noted, however, that often the placement agent has already created a pool of potential laborers
who have already paid some fees or deposits to be considered when positions become available.
46 Often migrants are charged or such items as hats or jackets that promote a particular placement agency.
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Figure 6-1 Employment Process Flow Chart (based in part on documents from Belvedere Manpower labor
recruiters) 47
more.” Tan (2001) also notes that these fees will range by profession:
The placement cost, which includes fare and immigration processing cost,
also differ across occupations and destination. The better organized
seafarers pay minimal placement fees. Those in high professions who are
directly hired by multilateral organizations and multinational corporations
also avoid recruitment fees. The production workers in Taiwan receive
relatively high wage but pay placement fees to local as well as to
Taiwanese agents, which increases the costs of migration (Tan 2001).
Survey respondents indicated that they paid on average twice the legal placement
fee in the Philippines and as much as five times the legal allowed amount. In addition,
they paid on average 22,000 pesos for additional fees covering extra documentation,
indicated taking some form of loan with interest rates ranging from 0% (family or
friends) to 100% (loan sharks). On average they paid between five to ten percent interest,
their base salary of NT $15,840. Ten percent of respondents indicated that they had
mortgaged properties (either their own or those of relatives) to pay placement fees. Again
48 The legal limits for fees are set by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). According
to their literature: “The legal placement fee to be collected by licensed recruitment agencies from applicants for
overseas jobs must be equivalent to one month salary of the worker as stipulated in the employment contract.
The amount, however, does not include documentation and processing costs” Retrieved on April 12, 2004.
(http://www.poea.gov.ph/html/FAQ.html.)
155
average interest rates were between five and ten percent, with monthly payments of NT
$5,000 to NT $10,000.
Such debt limits the options for the labor migrant and compels them to accept
unscrupulous brokers and placement agents, often upholding “side contracts” that add
additional fees to the worker’s monthly deductions. Take for example, domestic workers
Rosalia and Charito. 49 Rosalia is a widowed mother of two who has been working to pay
off debts incurred when her eldest son had a brain tumor removed. Charito, on the other
hand, is a single woman on her second trip to Taiwan saving to open a bakery or small
café in the Philippines. While Rosalia recounts her experiences with mortgaging property
to raise money for placement fees, Charito, who did not borrow money, was able to save
enough on her first trip to help support family members and to return to Taiwan on her
second stay. They both, however, explain that while applying for jobs in Taiwan they
49 Interviewed at Stella Maris while Charito was awaiting reassignment to a new family as her charge had died
and Rosalia was to be repatriated after running away from a verbally abusive household that had made claims
that she was trying to poison the son.
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Rosalia: Yes.
Stephen: Ah, [turning back to Charito] did you pay yours upfront or did you
borrow money, mortgage a property…
Charito: …no, that was my money from my three years here in Taiwan, my first
time in Taiwan, I paid with my own money.
Stephen: Okay, so you already had savings that you applied to the fees, you did
not have to borrow money for it…
Charito: Yes, I did not borrow…
Stephen: I know many people have to borrow…
Rosalia: …Yes, like me….
Stephen: So, you had to borrow money?
Rosalia: Yes, I borrowed a lot of money from the bank…
Stephen: Okay, did you mortgage property or…
Rosalia: Yeah, the title to the lot of my house. So, I have to pay this for one
year…
Stephen: Okay, and what is the percentage rate for that, do you know?
Rosalia: Ah, my boss estimate is more than five-six50
Stephen: …More than five six, so you have to pay back…
Rosalia: …if you borrow one hundred thousand, maybe in two years [you will
payback] two hundred thousand more…
Stephen: …wow, a very high interest rate…
Rosalia: …yes.
Stephen: Right, and if you can't pay that they will take the land?
Rosalia: Yes.
This high interest rate for loans was discussed in many of the interviews. Most
first time migrants, for example, had borrowed money for at least a part of the placement
costs. Many indicated that they would make no money their first year working as it all
went to repay loans. Lanie, a recent college graduate who could not find communications
positions in the Philippines, applied after hearing from a recently returned neighbor that
they were paying well for factory workers. She was forced to borrow money (from her
cousin) at an exorbitantly high rate, placing a further financial burden on her family
50Many interviewees referred to “five-six.” Under this scheme, if one were to borrow money they would pay
back the principal of the loan in five equal payments and a sixth payment of interest.
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charging monthly service fees while providing little in the way of services for those fees.
In the past, brokers often charged excessive up-front fees for these services. Under
and following the election of the more socially liberal Chen government, the Taiwanese
laws were changed. Since 2001, Taiwanese labor brokers are permitted to legally charge
51 Not all family loans are with interest, several other interviewees received loans or even gifts of funds to
cover their placement. However, many more must patch together enough for placement from a combination
of no-interest family loans and high-interest loans from loan sharks and “lending agents,” often one-in-the
same with the placement agents.
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the worker only NT$1800 (US $51) a month for their services.52 Yet, many brokers,
sign additional promissory notes or “side-contracts” forcing them to pay well above the
legal limit. Attorney Rómulo V. Salud, Philippine Labor Attaché to Taiwan in the
A case in point is this. I have this case [name deleted], she’s still here and
has a good employer, but she’s complaining about NT $107,000. Imagine!
Just try to compute it! it’s [looking at notes] NT$107,122 payable through
the deduction of ten months. Ten months! You can just imagine! … After
all the other deductions she will end up with something around NT$2,000
a month.
the broker in Taiwan and the Philippine agent who required the complainant to sign a
promissory note just before boarding the flight to Taiwan. In this case, Salud has filed
charges with the POEA against the Philippine agent.53 The agent, however, has replied
that the debt was not owed to them, but to a “lending agency” in the Philippines. Atty.
Salud however believes that the lending agency, placement agency and Taiwanese broker
official recognition as a consulate. Yet, it does wield some tools in dealing with brokers.
As outlined above, a labor broker must petition the Philippine government via MECO
52“Effective November 9, 2001 the monthly fee paid to Taiwan brokers for transportation and service was
adjusted. NT$ 1,800 for the first year, NT$ 1,700 for the second year, and NT$ 1,500 for the third year. The
Taiwan broker should also sign a contract with foreign workers for services. The collection of service fee could
only be done after the Taiwan broker has itemized the services rendered with the indicated corresponding fee.
Before November 9, 2001, the service fee and transportation fee would follow the original ceiling which is
NT$ 1,000 monthly.” (p 20 What foreign workers in Taiwan need to know. Published by the Employment and
Vocational Training Administration Council of Labor Affairs Executive Yuan Dec. 2002).
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agent. Fr. Bruno Ciceri explains that this power is used as leverage over brokers to make
MECO, here in Kaohsiung, is really working for the protection of, of the
migrant, the Philippine migrant workers. They are not afraid to intervene.
In these days, they are not afraid. Also when the broker has a problem
with the worker [MECO] has refused to accept job orders… if [the
broker] has any case pending with [Stella Maris] or with any other
institution here, MECO says “we cannot accept your job order until you
solve the problem.” So that is a very good way of dealing because, of
course there are some of the brokers who very much want to have the job
order approved and to get through. So, they are forced to come to the
table and to make a stab at the solution of the problem. So, basically, I
think [MECO] is on the side of the labor issues.
While MECO does then hold some tools in negotiating with brokers, the workers
themselves have have no rights to negotiate their contracts. Instead, all bargaining
regarding labor conditions are settled by the POEA and the CLA with input from
employers, brokers, and NGOs. Likewise, the Philippine government sees bargaining as
the responsibility of the placement agency. This recent Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants
newsletter explains:
More insight into the practices of brokers was found in an interview with a
Philippine “coordinator,” Analynn. Brokers often hire Filipinos who can act as a go-
between and translator, collecting fees and managing the day-to-day arrangements in the
workers who have learned Chinese after several trips. Analynn, is a second time
coordinator who learned Chinese as a child. In this rather long passage, she explains how
charges for “additional services” are used to circumvent the legally set fees. She admits
that little in the way of tangible services are provided for these special fees:
Stephen: What does the employee get for the monthly broker’s fee? Is that
NT$1800?
Analynn : Yeah, based on the contract that they signed, that was the amount
stated there. But, when they arrived here… when they arrived here, the amount
was higher than that because they had to add other things like the ARC, the
medical, other expenses….
Stephen: So what are they getting for, for the broker fee? What service is been
provided for that money?
Analynn : It depends on the broker, some brokers they have this concern to the
Filipinos. Like, for instance, the broker that I’m dealing with, they’re kind,
they’re playing ah, fair, this fair role to the Filipinos. I mean they don’t just
collect money. They’re not only after the money of the people and then leave
them and they don’t care about them. But the broker that I’m dealing with, is ah,
they’re giving a good service, a fair service to the Filipinos. They come here, they
visit them you know, and they talk to them one on one. Or sometimes they
arrange it by five or six when they have time and talk to them....
Stephen: My question is that it’s almost one month of salary for the employee,
are the services, chatting and things like this, worth a month of salary?
Analynn : No, no, no… you know, It’s not really enough, I mean the service that
they’re giving to Filipinos is not really enough, but the Filipinos here they don’t
have the choice....So even if they are aware about this you know, this I mean this
huge fees. They still accept it. And they even sign the contract without reading
the contract. And then when they come here, they complain. And that’s the
problem....
Analynn goes on explains how the labor migrant has no rights to negotiate
contracts for themselves and are often seen as troublesome by the broker if they
complain What is most surprising is that the majority of workers do not complain. While
there have been a few protests organized by migrant NGOs in the past, most workers are
hesitant to risk repatriation. As Pastor Chris Marzo, a Free Methodist preacher and
Filipinos they prefer not to [complain] because, you see, when you come
here you borrowed money to pay for your placement fee. And, it is with
interest….and the risk of going home is... is terrible. Y-you will not be
able to pay for... for what you have borrowed. And then, it's very hard to
come again. And so, most people just, what we call it, (kapit sa patalim).
Ahhm... it means, just hold onto the knife. You know, even if your hand is
bleeding. And ... there's no way.
Thus, debt acts a form of bondage, restricting their ability to voice dissent. When
resolve the dilemma. Rosalia, for example, was forced to sign a contract for additional
monthly fees upon arriving in Taiwan. However, as she already owed so much to the
bank on the mortgage of her property, she did not have enough to pay the illegal fee
Astonishingly, the “side contracts” are permitted by the CLA. Often signed under
duress, upon immediate arrival in the country, or even without translations provided in
English or Tagalog, side contracts force the worker into paying fees greater than the law
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permits. According to the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, “The CLA still is insisting
that contract substitution or the practice of forcing migrant workers to sign side
agreements is legal. Its only solution to this rampant practice is to suggest that third party
witnesses should be present if ever such agreements are made.” (Asia Pacific Mission for
Migrants 2003a). Fr. Ciceri explains how signing is not optional for the indebted migrant
worker.
Even if it’s against the labor law, even it’s against the contract, it’s valid
because the worker signed. And, they [the government] don’t realize that
means the broker and the employer have many ways to force the worker
to sign. Of course they are not going to kill you with the gun, but they [the
employer or broker] can say, “Oh, you can go home tomorrow,” to the
worker. Does he have any chances? If he goes home, he will only have
debts. He has already mortgaged the house or the land or something. For
sure, he doesn’t have any other choice but to accept. And the government
knows these kind of things, but of course it doesn’t want to, to do
anything.
MECO and the POEA, they find that there is little that they are allowed to do under
Taiwanese law. At best, they can negotiate with the broker and find some middle ground,
though it may contradict the terms of the original contract signed in the Philippines. For
instance, Cassandra left a decent, but low-paying, teaching job in the Philippines. She is
a single mother working in Taiwan to support her daughter who is presently in the care
of grandparents. On her first trip, she, along with several other migrants from her
Cassandra; There was some incident, when I first came here. Yeah. My, my
broker would send me home, because I am, I cannot accept that I already paid
eighty thousand in the Philippines, but when I came here they wanted me to pay
NT$120,000.
Stephen: Why?
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Cassandra: Because the agency, according to the broker, the agency in the
Philippines, only gave twenty thousand for the broker.
Stephen: So, it's the agency in the Philippines that cheated; but, you are the one
that has to pay?
Cassandra: Yeah. So I, I went to MECO.
Stephen: Right...
Cassandra: We went to the MECO. So, we filed the case. So, the owner of the
agency came here. They want me to send... five of us, they want to send us home.
Stephen: Even though it was not the fault of the employee?
Cassandra: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, because we went to the MECO, some, ah,
some brokers and some agencies are, are just saying that, they are just saying
some words that would scare you. In order for you not to, to file, file some cases
against them. But, then, we are five. We are five. So, so I was not afraid even
though they, they are telling me to go home. They are telling me to send me
home. We are five, I told them. I am not afraid, provided that you give me back
the 80,000 I paid from the Philippines, so, even tomorrow I will go home. But
then, they could not give me the 80,000 because they already....
Stephen: … in the end what happened with the case?
Cassandra: In the end, when, when the attorney, when the MECO already filed
the case, ah, the NT$ 120,000 that we are, that we are supposed to give them
decreased to NT $80,000.
Stephen: Eighty thousand?
Cassandra: Yeah. In the Philippine agency, they returned something like 20,000
pesos, from the eighty thousand.
contracts, they were also accused of providing substandard living conditions and limiting
the freedom of workers. As one worker explained on her survey, “accommodations are
not good, we want a little freedom ‘coz they impose early curfew for us.” Curfews were
especially apparent during the SARS endemic (in the summer of 2003) in which brokers
and employers decided illegally to quarantine migrant workers.54 In an open letter, Fr.
Bruno Ciceri addresses Chen Chu, Chairman of Council Labor Affairs: “This forced
brokers and dormitories without any approval from the Minister of Health or the Center
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for Disease Control (CDC) is illegal, unjust, unfair and is simply another way to control
the movement of foreign workers.” The quarantine lasted for a little over three weeks
and illustrated how brokers work with employers to limit the rights of workers in favor
employment, workers are supposed to settle them first through their broker. However, as
brokers receive job orders from the employers, they seldom take the side of the worker.
An example is in the constant struggle over payment for services. Many employers,
faced with the global recession, have begun to substitute overtime pay with days off.
Jenny, a second time worker in a well known international electronics company trying to
earn enough to support her husband and child in the Philippines, finally complained to
the broker over this situation and, although it is against the terms stated in her contract,
“the broker said it’s company policy they don’t have anything to do.” Brokers, at the
behest of the employer, will take those who complain, or in anyway make difficulties,
straight to the airport without due process or a chance to collect tax refunds, bonuses,
… this morning, I just went to their broker and I just picked up a worker
who has been here for one year and nine month and the employer decided
to send her home when her contract is for two years. Actually the worker,
she has a cyst on her wrist, here [pointing], and the only things that she
wanted was to go to the hospital to have a medical check up. And the next
things that she knew was that the employer called the broker, and the
broker said to her, “you’re going home.”
Employer relations varied widely by type of employment. For the most part, employees
unpaid overtime, unreasonable workloads, and some verbal abuse. That is not to say that
everyone reported such exploitation. Indeed, 86% of factory workers indicated that
relations with their direct supervisors were “all right” to “very good.” Conversely,
domestic workers and caretakers often faced harsh treatment. While frequency of abuse
or mistreatment is hard to gauge in the case of domestic workers, there were many
conditions, and illegal employment.55 The domestic workers and caretakers interviewed
for this project were receiving services from Stella Maris International Service Center,
thus, they all had experienced some form of maltreatment and may not be assumed to be
representative. No other data sources are available to estimate the prevalence of the
exploitation or abuse of domestic workers in Taiwan. Yet, even with these limitations,
the accounts of domestic workers interviewed for this project do illustrate the differences
55 I have found hundreds of these stories published in the Taipei Times, NGO news bulletins, Magazine
articles, etc. See for example the graphic account of a Thai domestic worker and her ongoing legal ordeal as a
result of bringing charges of serious physical abuse against her former employer “Flickering Hope Confronts
Injustice” http://www.columban.org/magazine/11-03_p18-Flickering_Hope.html
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Image 22 Factory worker loading machines used for mixing ceramic materials
According to the Nan Tze survey, a third of the workers experienced some
problem with their employer. The top three problems involved unpaid overtime,
“unreasonable” workloads, and overtime paid as days off and may be attributed, at least
in part, to the globalized system of production that constantly searches for the most cost-
effective ways to produce goods. For many countries, this has meant moving production
to locations where labor costs are the cheapest. Undeniably, this is how Taiwan’s
economy was able to grow so rapidly during the later twentieth century. Today, however,
Taiwan is faced with the dilemma of either moving companies to China, Vietnam,
reductions, as I have shown in the previous chapter, lead to the hiring of over 305,000
2003). However, the global recession has caused companies in Taiwan to seek out more
ways in which to maintain profits. Migrant laborers are unlikely to quit (due to the high
fees they have already paid to work).They are not allowed to form unions, and are
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excluded from domestic labor standards. Thus, cutbacks that are targeted to migrants
One of the best examples involves the recent strategies of companies in regards to
payment of overtime. Although the migrant labor contract outlines the terms of payment
for overtime and the nation’s labor standards provide that “overtime (OT) pay not
exceeding two hours is paid at not less than 1.33 times basic rates. Two to four hours OT
is paid a minimum of 1.66 times basic rates. Maximum OT is three hours per day and 46
hours per month for men; two hours a day and 24 hours a month for women” (Asian
Labour Update 2003),56 most factory workers will put in an additional four to eight hours
for every eight hour shift (provided that the company has enough work in the poor
economy). During the boom times of the late 1990s, it was the overtime pay and bonuses
that allowed Filipino migrants to remit significant sums to their homeland and made
Taiwan a profitable venture for them. However, as the economy has slowed down,
employers have replaced regular overtime pay with time off (often at a rate of one hour
worked to one hour off). Consequently, most second time (and clandestine third time)
given the high cost of placement and brokers fees. Moreover, employers, rushing to meet
short-term orders and not keep too much stock on hand, have cycled between unpaid
overtime (or this overtime for time off) and mandatory days off without pay (thus
reducing salaries well below the mandated NT$15,840). To date, legal challenges, lead
by migrant labor activists, have failed to win a ruling in favor of laborers over the issue
Complaint Percent
Unpaid Overtime 22%
“Unreasonable” Workloads 16%
Overtime Paid As Days Off 10%
Verbal Abuse 9%
Lack Of Rest Breaks 7%
Unpaid Days Off (Due To Lack Of Work) 7%
Lack Of Full Payment Of Wages 6%
Late Payment Of Wage 6%
Employment Other Than As Stated By Contract 3%
Physical Abuse >1%
of unpaid or swapped overtime, though it is clearly at odds with the terms of the labor
contract.
workers responded that on a personal level their individual line-leaders (or their zhu-
zhang) and supervisors were tolerable. Nine percent reported verbal abuse by the line
leader. However, verbal abuse was sometimes hard to clarify. In the case of Lanie, she
“explains away” the negative treatment of her superior, believing it to be a result of her
own errors and the supervisor’s pregnancy. She does however point out their cultural and
religious differences:
Stephen: How have your employers been? Your line leaders? Your supervisors?
Lanie: They were good. As of now…my new line leader because I was assigned
there last December, and we were busy here. Activity is so…I…I had three
absences, something like that because I was tired, I wasn’t able to go there to
work. So…she got mad of me, but this time, we’re getting close, closer and
closer. So…now, she’s good now like other line leaders that I’ve met before.
Stephen: What did she, how did she treat you when you have three absences?
Lanie: Very, she was very angry with me.
Stephen: Like what?
Lanie: Like she was scolding me, “you are bu hao [bad]!” You know bu hao?
Yeah. So, I just have to cry, to cry in my bed and…I have, I just have to pray,
you know the reason why I didn’t go to work, and then just intrusting you in
everything. So, I know someday she’ll understand even if we have different faith.
We have different religion, I think someday will make a way, she’ll…and now,
it’s working, she’s I think closer with me.
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Cassandra, on the other hand, is clear about the verbal mistreatment. She has
experienced public humiliation by the supervisor as the result of a mistake. She explains
that today she is very sensitive (the interview was interrupted on several occasions by
migrant working a small parts fabrication plant to help his siblings complete their
education back home. He has had good experiences with Chinese overall. On his first
trip to Taiwan, he met began dating a Chinese woman whom he met at his evangelical
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fellowship.57 At his company, the managers even have helped to secure extra allowances
even when the laws changed in 2001 to include deductions for room and board.
In the case of Joshua, the positive personal relationship with his direct supervisor
has become an intense emotional bond. Joshua left a failing computer business and
worker, he has been very successful working in the international sales department for his
small family owned company. He has even been invited to return as a regular employee.
He considers his supervisor as he “mother here in Taiwan” and explains that she has
treated him very well, taking him on trips around the island, inviting him to social
gatherings and even giving him unconditional loans when he needed money to support
amicable relationships with their employers. While there were few outright conflicts
other than shouting, respondents did indicate problems that resulted from linguistic
barriers, ethnic/cultural biases, and favoritism. Some workers indicated that they felt
Chinese line-leaders would, if not mistreat them, look down on them and give
57While relationships between Taiwanese men and Filipina women occur with some frequency, there were
very few cases of Filipino men with Taiwanese women.
171
preferential treatment to other Chinese workers. One respondent wrote, “Chinese think
they are more superior than us. Sometimes not treating us fair” Unfair treatment in the
form of favoritism was not limited to the supervisors co-ethnics. This treatment would
often have an economic impact as some would receive economic incentives or rewards,
and even overtime assignments were based on personal relations with the supervisor
Finally, many problems resulted from the language barrier. A survey respondent
explains, “She [her Chinese supervisor] can't understand English. Sometimes we don't
know what she would like to ask or to do. We don't have good communication” Most
employers only spoke limited English and 84% of the workers rated their Chinese ability
as “little knowledge” to “none” with less than one percent indicating that they were
and their employers due to limited access to this secluded population. Unlike factory
workers, the domestic workers and caretakers in Taiwan are seldom allowed to leave the
homes of their employers. They do not have the close contact with other co-nationals that
the factory workers have in the dorms, clubs, church gatherings, social times after work
... As soon as they arrive, they are taken into the house of the employer,
and practically they become property of, ah, of the employer. And, ah, if
they are lucky enough and the employer understands them, they will
allow them to, to have at least a day-off once a month, or every Sunday if
the employer is very good. So, when they arrive, I’ve heard stories of
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migrant workers who didn't even have the time to put down their suitcase
and they have to start immediately to--to work. To attend to the needs of
the family. Or to the needs of the person that they have to take care. And
from there until they will end the contract there is no time to rest. No time
to-to go out or very limited time for them. Because they become property
of, of the, of the employer.
Issues facing domestic workers are: long work days and poor working conditions;
lack of rest breaks, vacations and days-off; lack of payment; lack of overtime pay; as
well as physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Yet, as a result of their isolation, few
studies have been done to gauge the overall prevalence of these conditions. In Taiwan,
the limited research that has been done focuses on domestic workers who have escaped
Employer Abuses
While there are no reliable measures of employer abuse in Taiwan, the Hong
Kong based Asian Migrant Centre has conducted a survey of domestic workers in that
mainland province. Hong Kong, culturally and economically similar to Taiwan in many
respects, has had a more liberal policy toward migrant labor. Since the 1970s,
importation of domestic helpers has been legal and protected. Rights of workers were
clearly established by the 1980s, with the license to change employers and to stay
indefinitely provided they maintained their employment status. We may presume that
these more moderate labor rights regulations permit workers to seek better employment
when mistreated and, as a result, the overall relations with employers would be better
than that of their Taiwanese counterparts. Nevertheless, the Asian Migrant Centre 2001
Indonesian and Thai Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong, states that 26% of foreign
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domestic helpers (FDH) recount at least one incidence of physical abuse. They also
calculate that 4.5% of domestic workers in Hong Kong had experienced “various forms
agencies and anecdotal reports in newspapers and other media seem to support the
depiction of domestic worker abuse. Fr. Ciceri explains that the level of physical
other countries.
a Taiwan based think-tank, reports that 30% of working Taiwanese women have
Taipei. 2002). It is likely that the level of harassment experienced by foreign domestic
workers would be much higher as they are not allowed to move about freely, are in a
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subordinate position within the home, and, as they have incurred high levels of debt to
travel to Taiwan, are unlikely to report the problems. Moreover, when they make
accusations of harassment or even rape, the Taiwanese courts have been reticent in
punishing offenders. Migrant who do make this claim have faced years of court battles,
condemnation from authorities, and even blame for the occurrence. Fr. Ciceri explains
that charges of rape are often difficult to substantiate, as the women are not allowed to
visit hospitals, are socially and linguistically isolated, and few social support services are
verbally abusive language. For purposes of their study, the Asian Migrant Centre
included being called ‘stupid, idiot, lazy and a host of more obscene Chinese and English
terms’ ” (Asian Migrant Centre 2001). Domestic workers in this study reported that they
were often belittled by their employer, frequently shouted at, and called names.
According to Dr. Pei-Chia Lan, relations improve for workers whose employer
has spent significant time abroad. More specifically, she explains that as a result of
higher educational opportunities in the US and other Western nations (England, Canada,
and Australia), Taiwanese elites develop a more liberal mentality. Similarly, these
employers develop English skills, which help to smooth communication with the foreign
domestic worker. Fr. Ciceri agrees, but explains it is not the education that works as a
mediating factor: “What we notice from what the worker says is that usually if the
employer has been abroad, for one reason or another, they treat the worker differently.
But, if they never experienced being abroad, they don’t understand the feeling. And even
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if they are very well educated, but they never went abroad, they treat the worker very
badly.” Thus, he attributes better treatment to the experience of having been the foreigner
or outsider making it easier for the employer to understand the worker better.
illegal work is an unexpected hardship as they arrive in Taiwan having agreed to care of
the needs of a family or an individual patient only to find that they are instead to work in
some other, often unpleasant capacity in a sweatshop factory, store, restaurant, etc. For
example, Analy came to Taiwan as a domestic caregiver for an elderly man whom she
says is “strong… not bedridden or what.” She came with the intent of sending money
home to support the study of her brothers and sisters and to help her parents with the
renovation the family farm; yet, she has been paid only intermittently and has been
unable to send regular remittances. She has been employed as the family’s all around
housekeeper providing all the meals, cleaning the house, walking the dogs, assisting the
elderly man, hand washing the clothes, and caring for the baby. She has also been
instructed to help in the packaging of teas for their teashop and the cleaning of the
teashop, spending hours there every day. Her case was not unique. All of the domestic
workers interviewed were found to have performed non-contractual work of some kind:
from regular cleaning of offices and being loaned to homes of extended family member,
Illegal employment has become a serious enforcement issue for the government
as well. The CLA sees any illegal employment as the fault of the employee, as well as
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the employer, and poses a significant fine on the worker along with deportation. It is
difficult then for the migrant worker to seek assistance in these cases. If they do not
report their illegal employment and are caught, they face these harsh penalties. If they do
go to the police, CLA, or another Taiwanese institution, they must prove that the
employer forced them to work in a manner other than stated in the contract. Likewise,
brokers often conspire with employers to hire workers illegally. Moreover, the
They changed the regulation that if a worker comes here and is required
by the employer to do a different job, to work illegally. For example, you
come as a domestic helper, but you work in a restaurant. Before, it was
very easy. The worker would have contacted us [Stella Maris
International Service Center], and we would have the police, the police
would have gone there, taken pictures, take a statement about the work,
and the worker would apply for transfer. Now, you can’t do that. The first
time, the police have to bring you back to your employer, and if the
employer would ask you to work [illegally] the second time, you have to
go again to the police, make another statement, and that is the time you
can be transferred.… We have a worker. She is here, [name deleted]. She
just reported that she is working illegally in the hospital. The police went
there at two o’clock in the afternoon and took some picture, but were not
able to, to get the statement and they said, “oh we’ll come back
tomorrow.” And, the following morning, the worker was already at the
airport to be sent out. So, now, they are making it more and more difficult
for the migrant workers to, to be protected and to have their rights
respected, you know.
The form of debt bondage labor migration outlined here was once called
indentured servitude. The high cost of securing employment via placement agents and
brokers and illegal profiteering both in fees and lending amounts to an excessive burden.
Moreover, the disregard of laborers welfare and policies that tend to ignore confirmed
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result of debt incurred by these excessive illegal fees, side contracts, and lack of
migrants have decided to runaway and seek undocumented employment. The Taiwanese
government has approached this issue, like other governments dealing with migrants, by
laying blame on the migrants themselves rather than the brokers and employers. While
laws have been changed to allow for direct hiring, potentially circumventing the
problems of placement agents and brokers, the actual implementation of such schemes
have failed. Migrant NGOs and labor rights groups have rallied to insist on better
combination of debt (requiring them to stay in Taiwan and remit money to the homeland)
and the “dirty, difficult, and dangerous” work conditions. While the majority of workers
do complete their contracts and return home, a few workers will abscond from their legal
employer (sometimes with the help of illegitimate labor brokers) or they may decide to
stay on in Taiwan after visas expire in order to continue earning and remitting funds to
family in the Philippines. Mama Linda is such a case. Having already spent ten years in
Abu Dhabi working as a domestic, she came to Taiwan over seven years ago. She says
her experiences with her employers have been for the most part good. With the
assistance of connections in the Philippines, she has been able to help her daughter come
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to Taiwan to work in the factories. Here she explains how she ended up surviving for so
Stephen: what were you expecting when you came to Taiwan? Did you expect to
stay here two years or three years or...?
Mama Linda: Ah, before, I expect myself only two years, I stay here and, but my,
my children go to school, not yet finish to college. Then I decide to myself ah, I
want to work long time here.
Stephen: Okay. So you decided that you’d be an illegal worker?
Mama Linda: Yeah.
Stephen: …Okay. So, how do, how do you live being illegal? How can you, if
you have to go to the hospital or if you have to do something that requires ID...?
Mama Linda: …Ah, I use my AR…this (shows ARC card), my daughter’s.
Stephen: Ah, from your daughter?
Mama Linda: Yeah, yeah. In the hospital.
Stephen: So you borrowed her ID to...
Mama Linda: ....yeah, I borrow. Yeah.
Yet, runaways and visa over-stayers account for only about 1% of the total of all Filipino
workers. Official reports of the Taiwanese government show only 873 cases total in
200358 and, according to a December 2, 2003 Taipei Times article,59 “as of Oct. 31,
An ongoing debate between migrant NGOs and the CLA over the issue of
representative from “local trade unions, church and human rights groups, academicians,
students and other NGO’s” to discuss the issue of undocumented workers in Taiwan.
Their hope was to turn the focus of the government away from blaming migrant workers
and conducting round-ups and deportations, to the solving the problems which cause
workers to leave their legal employers. A recent news brief distributed by the Asia
58 Department of Statistics Council of Labor Affairs Executive Yuan. 2004. Monthly Bulletin March 2004 “11-
Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), explains the governments reply to accusations,
made by the forum at their November meeting, of instigating a sham amnesty period in
which over 200 undocumented migrants have already surrendered thinking their fines
would be waived:
…the CLA only reiterated its adherence to its migrant policies that lead a
growing number of foreign workers to run away from their employers.
This was what Migrant Section Chief Meng-Liang Tsai had to say to the
advocates in the CLA main office in the morning of November 25.… Mr.
Tsai also stated that the CLA never announced an amnesty on
undocumented workers who surrender to police authorities. This is
because government lawyers believe that waving the fines on those who
violate their stay in Taiwan is unthinkable. The CLA official, however,
admitted that a lot of sectors including some in the media misunderstood
that there was an amnesty but Mr. Tsai never gave a direct answer on how
the CLA cleared this out. The only thing that he made clear is that those
who surrender would be repatriated back to their country more quickly,
that is if the migrants have the funds to pay the penalty and the airfare
back home (Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants 2003b).
The forum’s reply, made in the same news brief, was that the CLA does not address the
issues that cause migrants to runway. Until then, they claim, the numbers would not
decline. They maintain that the CLA should take steps to better protect workers:
workers from their sending countries. Approved in 2001, few companies have been able
to take advantage of this opportunity. The intent of the Chen government was to
eliminate the need for two levels of brokers, along with the legal and illegal fees they
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charge, thus reducing corruption and the overall cost to labor migrants. They would not
have to borrow the burdensome sums, mortgaging properties and futures, to repay costly
loans. However, there have been several drawbacks to the scheme of direct hiring.
What is most telling though is the issue regarding the broker system. The
CLA admitted last December 2 that it's direct hiring program with the
Philippines and Thailand is a complete failure. It admitted that it does not
have enough manpower to administer this. It seems it has no choice but to
continue with the broker system that charges exorbitantly the migrant
workers and plans to evaluate broker companies in the near future (Asia
Pacific Mission for Migrants 2003a).
enforcement and control, amount to little. Those in the small community of migrant
NGOs see the failed system of direct hiring as an empty promise by the government.
Moreover, for a direct hiring system to be successful there must be a streamlining of the
…it’s difficult to say, in one way it might solve the problem of their, of
their, of the placement fee, and might, might reduce the cost. But, I have
doubts…the direct hiring in one way it might solve that problem. But, on
the other hand here, you see, who is going to take care of the migrant
worker? Because there’s too much bureaucracy, there’s too much paper to
be done. And that’s the problem. It means the employer here, why do they
hire the worker? Because they don’t want to go from one office to
another, another and another and everything and prepare all the papers.
And even when the worker arrives, you fetch them to their home, you
bring her to hospital, and you bring them to fingerprint, and after six
months, you are to do it again and everything. So, it’s who is going to do
the job here when you are direct hiring because that means you are hiring,
you are responsible now. And if there’s a problem, who is gong to
negotiate?
While direct hiring may work if there were more commitment of resources, so
too would the current system if there were simply more control over brokers and
employers. Currently, few brokers are punished when caught charging illegal fees or
Pacific Mission for Migrants 2003a). Fr. Ciceri explains that brokers, “laugh at the
penalty” because they know that if they loose their license they can simply “close down
one agency, open up another agency ...the brokers know that the government, Taiwan
Furthermore, the government should provide better legal rights for workers.
and the labor standards governing labor rights. NGOs have insisted on these contractual
distinctions between the forms of employment for several years and are pressing hard
now to convince the CLA. For domestic workers they have demanded that the CLA
institute a new contract, with significant provisions for enforcement. Domestic workers,
they say, “should be entitled to eight-hour work days, get three meals a day, receive
overtime time pay, and get holidays and days off. They should also be protected from
sexual abuse and contract violations” (Feliciano 2003). In addition to bettr rights for
domestic workers and their inclusion under Taiwan's Labor Standards Act, migrant rights
groups have demanded that all foreign laborers be given the ability (like those in Hong
Kong and other countries) to freely change employers who violate their contracts, the
freedom to form labor unions, as well as a cancellation of the 2001 wage cut that resulted
in board and lodging fees being subtracted from the minimum wage (Feliciano 2003).
Similarly, the Taiwanese Labor Rights Association has advocate for the CLA to
improved arbitration of disputes and to “regulate the contracts signed by foreign maids
Nevertheless, some migrant activists see the public’s fear of foreigners and the
resulting authoritarian migrant policies as the root cause of employer abuses. Lorna
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Kung and Fang-Ping Wang, writing as representatives of the Solidarity Front of Women
Workers – Taiwan, explain that societal fear of permanent migration has resulted in
repressive controls on migrants. They have asked the Chen government to improve
CONCLUSIONS
rewards all but the workers themselves. Debt, incurred by borrowing money to pay
placement brokers and government fees, restricts the migrants’ rights to negotiate fair
work conditions or even to return if the employer turns out to be deceitful. This debt is
further maintained by brokers in Taiwan who charge high fees for few services. While
often spending one-third of their contract paying off debt, workers are exposed to
difficult work conditions. Factor workers in general fair the best, with domestic workers
being exposed to the harshest conditions and abuses. Attempts to circumvent this system
The fact is that a lot of Filipinos go abroad. What the government gets is
release on the internal pressure. You can imagine, if the seventy thousand
workers, Filipino workers who are here in Taiwan, if they [stayed] in the
Philippines. There would be an additional pressure on the government.
What the Filipinos gain is that their families can live day by day. That,
that's the only thing. Because, in the long term, as you say, there is no
benefit.
- Fr. Bruno Ciceri
overseas work, the legalized system of labor recruitment, and the continued reliance on
the OFW’s economic support have created a culture of labor migration in the
Philippines. With the expectation that at some point one will go abroad to gain work
experience, economic capital, and to relieve the financial burden on their families, the
choice for potential migrants becomes not if one will migrate, but where one will go.
Whereas many labor migrants to the United States and other core nations rely on social
ties for their eventual job placement, Philippine recruiters, representing employers in a
number of destination countries, “sell” destinations as they receive job orders from
manner. However, this study has found that choice of destination country does still rely
The survey of factory workers in the Nan Tze area indicated that nearly 30% of
role in selection of destination. However, while perhaps not the only factor in selecting a
destination, social contacts did influence the migrant’s choice. More than two-thirds of
survey respondents said that friends and family influenced their choice of destination.
While recruiters and social contacts played an important role in deciding where to
concerns, lead most migrants to seek employment abroad. Often these monetary
concerns were combined with other motivations. For example, the death of a spouse,
divorce, or a break up with a romantic partner motivated some to seek a dramatic change
in their lives. Others were searching for work experience, adventure, or excitement in a
foreign country. Many were motivated by wanting to be near friends who were also
going to Taiwan for work. The desire to one day migrate to a more developed country
prompted some to work in Taiwan, saving money for onward or step migration to
Europe, Canada or the USA. Finally, a number of participants found that they could not
really articulate a reason leaving the explanation to simple chance, fate, or “God’s will.
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Reason Count
Economic Necessity 23
Social Ties (friends & family in Taiwan) 9
Sense of Obligation 6
Death or Breakup 4
Adventure 3
Other 9
Table 7-2 Reasons for Migration - Ethnographic Interviews (Overlapping Categories)
Almost all of the participants revealed at least some degree of economic necessity
for migration. Often this necessity involved a family financial burden such as schooling
of a child or sibling, family debt, support for retired parents, or desire to improve the
lives of loved ones. Many participants spoke of the sense of duty and obligation that they
felt for their families. Evidence of this financial obligation can be seen in the level of
remittances sent to family in the Philippines. Respondents to the Nan Tze survey
their earnings. In the extreme cases, remittances represented the total income for a family
living in the Philippines. However, for most these remittances were seen as a way of
Among participants, economic necessity also resulted from the lack of jobs in the
Philippines. As I have shown, the high unemployment rate has been given as a major
cause of labor migration. Many migrants found that regardless of their education level,
there were just too few jobs that paid more than a subsistence wage. For example, Fe, the
34-year-old mother of one, was trained as an accountant, but could only find permanent
work in an electronics assembly plant for the Philippine branch of Texas Instruments.
189
After eight years with the company, factory downsizing left her unemployed. With her
husband unemployed as well, she decided to try the overseas job market: In yet another
he lacked the connections to find a permanent position. While searching the want ads he
Raymond: Because I just finished ah... one year basic ... basic in... basic seaman
course. And then when I finished that one I-I-I work as an apprenticeship but
my... my captain told me that, " You just stay in here. You must be..." So it... it
became my ... my normal job.
Stephen: Okay.
Raymond: Then after that, I got... I finished that one, I was ... I was trying to
apply an international shipping agencies.
Stephen: Right.
Raymond: But I can't get through.
Stephen: You can't get through. Why not?
Raymond: Oh, it's a lot of... you need to have a backer. You know backer it is? A
kind of person that will help you to apply int he agency... in the shipping agency.
Stephen: Yeah.
Raymond: So I don't have it. So that' why I changed my plan. So, the... the... the
newspaper is always adding for going to Taiwan and you earn fourteen thousand
something like that.
Stephen: Right.
Raymond: And it's only... the... the... categories are only high school graduate
then ahh... ahh the age is healthy... it just said healthy and body built like that
and oh, I think I'm capable to this.
Stephen: Yeah.
While unemployment created necessity for some, it was the low wages and poor
standard of living that motivated others. Melchor, working now as a shipbuilder, explains
that his family was destitute. Though he worked fulltime, he would only make around
8,000 pesos each month. He says, “I think it’s not enough. I pay for the water bills, the
electricity bill, and then the house.” With expenses outweighing income, he decided to
go to Taiwan, but has found little relief at a company that has been severely affected by
global recession. Even those with relatively secure professional careers such as teachers,
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accountants, engineers, and nurses, found that the salaries in the Philippines were too
low. While earning enough simply to survive, their earnings would not let them save for
the future or improve their standard of living. Taiwan, on the other hand, gave them
While unemployment and low wages were an element in influencing the choice
to migrate, family obligation was often a major part as well. Leonardo exemplifies those
who came to Taiwan as a result of a sense of obligation or duty to the family. He was left
with this burden as the eldest child when his father died in 1994. Before coming to
Taiwan, he could not earn enough as a dishwasher and later as a construction worker to
sustain his mother and young siblings. He explains, “...my sister also needed, needed
money, because [she was] starting the class in the Philippines. Then, I help also my
mom. Because [she was] sick, ah, TB. So how can I do?” Since his first trip to Taiwan in
1999, he has helped his family by sending regular remittances. Now on his second trip,
he has found that the drop in salary, due to a lack of overtime, and increased cost of
living resulting from the charges for room and board have him contemplating return. In
addition, problems with the new management of his company over back salary and
overtime, have complicated his financial situation. Yet, he is unable to return due to the
financial obligations to his family who looks to him for support. Further complication
has come with his recent marriage. He and his wife have incurred significant debts in the
Philippines to place her in a job in Korea. Thus, he remains in Taiwan where he has
The theme of duty and obligation to one’s family was often repeated. Working
family members found it their duty to help their spouses, parents, children, younger
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siblings, and even cousins, nieces and nephews with tuition costs and daily expenses.
Ellen, a 26-year-old single factory worker explains that this obligation is culturally
based: “I help my family. Every month I am sending money because I have two sisters
schooling in college. I am helping them. An obligation, maybe, I’m not for sure in my
family…but, I see that as part of my obligation as a Filipino because it’s our culture,
It was found that duty and obligation were a major part of the reason for seeking
overseas employment, regardless of the position in which they were employed. Factory
workers, caretakers and nurses, Philippine spouses of Taiwanese, and even more
coordinator with one of the brokers in Nan Tze, explains that it was obligation to family
Actually my priority at that time you know, was to help my sisters. I have
two sisters who are both training to be nurses. Yeah so I said to myself
that you know, though they didn’t ask me to do that, but I want to help
them, because I don’t want them to be totally dependant on me you know.
So it’s just like you know don’t give them fish but you have to give them
how to fish. So, I want them to be professional, I want them to finish a
degree, a certain degree. That’s what, that was the thing, that’s what I was
thinking in the past.
the migrant with few other choices to become an OFW. Rosalia, widowed and faced with
overwhelming financial debt from medical expenses resulting from the discovery of a
brain tumor in her eldest son, had no other choice but to become a domestic laborer
overseas. In a similar case, Erlinda’s husband was killed in an industrial accident at the
192
electronics factory where they both worked. Nearing thirty, with an infant son and forced
Its difficult for me because, ah, um, I am not financially stable. I decided
to apply for jobs here in Taiwan, ah, influenced by my friend. She told
me, um, salaries and wages here are more, um, what do you call this, its,
its...the salary is much higher than in the Philippines, you know! You can
support your family in a way you wanted it to be. Yes, that’s why, maybe,
I have the eagerness or the enthusiasm to come. Because, it will be much
ah easier for me to support my family and my baby.
Likewise, Mama Linda did not plan to seek employment to Taiwan. After
returning from a decade in the Middle East, she had intended to stay in the Philippines.
However, the death of her husband forced her to find work as a domestic in Taiwan. She
intended that this work be for only a single contract term (two to three years), but again
financial obligation of children in higher education required that she remain in Taiwan.
When asked why she chose Taiwan in particular she explains that the choice was
somewhat arbitrary for her. Having already chosen to migrate she was most concerned
then over the fact that Hong Kong required a personal photograph for placement,
Stephen: How did you decide Taiwan? Why not Hong Kong or some other
country?
Mama Linda: Because Hong Kong, she...this interview...we have a camera...and
interview. Then, here in Taiwan, no. Only interview, no camera....only sign
your...and you have money give the...the agency okay you go...come in Taiwan.
Stephen: Okay. Was...was the pay different between Hong Kong and Taiwan?
Mama Linda: Maybe diff...diff...no difference.
Stephen: Not...not much difference?
Mama Linda: Yeah.
Stephen: Okay. So, with the camera you didn't want to be in front of the camera.
Ahm...what were you expecting when you came to Taiwan? Did you expect to
stay here two years or three years or...?
Mama Linda: Ahh.... before, I expect myself only two years, I stay here and....but
my...my children go to school not yet finish to college, then I decide to myself
ahh...I want to work long time here.
193
become migrants either out of economic necessity or the desire to leave the past behind
and change one’s life. Cassandra, though employed fulltime as a teacher in the
Philippines decided to become an OFW. She and her husband were separating as he had
decided to follow a romantic partner to live in the United States. Emotionally distressed
and facing the expense of raising her daughter alone, she decided, upon advise from
Stephen: When you first came here in 1999 had you already broken up or was
that part of why you came here in 1999?
Cassandra: No. Ahm... the very reason why...why I came here to Taiwan is
because his petition to the United States is already materializing. That's why I-I
don't want... I don't want to be left out. That's why I came here to Taiwan.
Stephen: Okay. So he was already separating from you. He was going to the US
and so you came here. Did you know anyone here when you came in 1999?
Cassandra: [shakes her head]
Stephen: ...No. How did you decide to come to Taiwan? Why not another
country?
Cassandra: Hmn. Some of my friends already came to Taiwan.
Stephen: Hmn. So you knew people who'd come and then returned to the
Philippines.
Cassandra: Yeah.
Stephen: Okay. What did they tell you about Taiwan?
Cassandra: Taiwan?
Stephen: Did they say it was a good place to work?
Cassandra: Yeah. It is a good place to work. Salaries are very high, at that time
there was so much overtime. But, when I came to Taiwan, that was the time when
the economy in Taiwan is already depreciating.
While family obligations and economic concerns were paramount, many younger
migrants were also anticipating adventure, excitement and occupational work experience
that they could not find in the Philippines. It is not to say that there was no financial
194
motivation for these individuals, yet economics did not appear to be the only motivator.
In fact, several of the recent college graduates now employed as factory workers came
from financially secure, middleclass families. They admitted that becoming an OFW
involved a loss of status in the eyes of their families, but they were drawn by the
excitement of travel, experiencing a foreign culture and being “on there own.”
On her first trip to Taiwan, Jenny explains that it was a combination of these
reasons, and the fact that she had failed her licensing exam for physical therapy, that she
migrated.
Stephen: So your family seems fairly well-off, compared to maybe other people
in the Philippines. Okay, so why did you come here the first time then?
Jenny: The first time, it was actually…I didn’t really…I wasn’t really willing to
come to Taiwan. But my friends are, are urging me, “Come join us, apply for
this. Let’s apply to Taiwan.” And I thought okay, just for experience and
adventure. Then, the first time we applied, we got hired then we got…after
probably only three weeks we applied for only. We applied for that day, we got
hired the next day, then adjusting our papers, after three weeks, we got here.
Stephen: So how did your family feel about that?
Jenny: They were…a bit sad because I have graduated from physical therapy,
they’re expecting me to get the board exam because I have relatives in the U.S.
And she said, she promised that she would help me but, then I failed the board
exam. So I got frustrated, and I thought I might as well go to another place.
While Jenny left to experience adventure and excitement, Grace, upon graduating
from college with an engineering degree in electronics, found that it was hard to get
Taiwanese factory would give her some savings, as well as experience she could use
when she eventually returns. Additionally, three of her sisters had worked in Taiwan and
Stephen: Ahm... was coming to Taiwan ahh... to help get more experience or...?
Grace: Yeah. Yeah. Because, because I want to learn more about electronics,
beside... beside I want to earn money. So I have to learn more about electronics
because in the Philippines, maybe it's hard to get inside in the big company. So I
decided to go here.
Stephen: Okay.
Grace: Yeah. Because I have to learn more about ahh... electronics.
Stephen: Okay. Ahm... did you know anybody who had been here before?
motivation. This may be related to the fact that most female workers are unmarried when
they go abroad. Many of the men jokingly explain that they were also unmarried, adding
“in Taiwan” with a wink. Most of the men interviewed admitted, at least in the
beginning, they had been drawn by the greater number of single young women working
in Taiwan often dating several women at once. Joshua for example, though becoming
very devote and religious since the birth of his son, admits that for the first six months in
Taiwan he would spend all of his money and date many women. He says that it was easy
to lie, telling women he was single. Likewise, the ratio of single men to women worked
to his advantage. If one woman wouldn’t meet his “needs” he would simply “find
another one.” Joshua explained that adventure in the form of romantic encounters part
was a motivation for coming to Taiwan initially as he and his wife were separated at the
time. However, he also left the Philippines as a result of legal problem surrounding a
public brawl he had been involved in. Six months into his stay, however, she gave birth
and he experienced a religious conversion. Nearing the end of his three-year contract
when I met him, he explained that all of his money now was sent to his wife and son and
SOCIAL TIES
Economic necessity, family financial obligation, death of a spouse, and the quest
for experience and adventure all work to explain the nature of exit from the homeland,
yet not why labor migrants chose to go to Taiwan in particular. The selection of
destination for most was a pragmatic choice based on Taiwan’s proximity to the
Philippines, relative low cost of travel, relatively high salary (compared to the Middle
East), relative low risk (compared to illegal migration to Korea or Japan, or dangerous
work in the oil fields of the Middle East), high demand for Philippine workers (due to
comparatively higher education and English ability than other Southeast Asian sending
countries), and, most importantly, established social ties with Taiwan. Repeatedly,
participants pointed out that these social ties with Taiwan were most important in their
selection of a destination country. Friends and family in the destination provide a support
network for newly arrived migrants introducing them to other migrants, service agencies,
solidarity and a cultural buffer from the often exclusionary and xenophobic Taiwanese
populous. Yet, as I have shown with Leonardo and Mama Linda, ties to may create
obligations that require the migrant to remain in Taiwan even after contracts end and
Social ties, originating in the sending community, worked to inform the potential
migrant as to which placement agencies to use, which companies to work for, or which
cities in Taiwan had better living conditions for OFWs. For example, Caroline choose to
work in Taiwan rather than another country based on information from her recently
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returned friend. Though she had received a university degree in History and
company and the National Statistic Office, Caroline had had some problems with her
Filipino employers and wasn’t happy with the low wages. Her friend helped her to
decide to become and OFW and gave her advice to work in a factory rather than a
household. “She said that being a factory worker is different from a domestic helper...
you’ll be meeting a lot of Filipinos. You don’t get homesick or…like that.” Similarly,
Joshua explained that several of his friends provided him with information about Taiwan.
His friends told him “Taiwan is so good, Taiwan is so strong...Maybe they really earn a
Relatives too were instrumental in helping the potential migrant choose Taiwan.
Because of the stronger commitment and reciprocal obligation to family members, many
would provide additional economic help, in the form of loans and gifts, as well as
emotional support. Ernelyn, for example, was the eldest child in her family. They had
dire financial problems and had looked to the support of relatives. She had graduated
from a two-year secretarial college with the assistance of an aunt in the Philippines, but
had not found a job. After six months of searching, another aunt in Taiwan
recommended that she work abroad. Only nineteen, she was not legally eligible to work
there. With her aunt’s financial assistance, she bought an identity. “So I changed my
name. I bought a [name] for Fifteen thousand. When I bought that name it includes all
necessary documents...All documents, passport and birth certificate....” She knew no one
else in Taiwan, but her aunt sent the 80,000 peso placement fee and convinced her to
travel abroad.
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For example, Josephine, a second time factory worker in Taiwan, was not planning to
become an OFW and had never had the desire to go abroad for work. Yet, as she puts it,
“I can’t just stay at home and sell what, one peso candy?" Therefore, rather than face
what she perceived to be the “boredom” being unemployed and the strict control of her
parents, she decided to follow classmates to Taiwan. She explains that Taiwan had
become the destination of choice for most of her cohort from college:
Interestingly, social ties work both to help the potential migrant decide where to
go as well as to keep the migrant from returning home. I have shown how family
obligations such as Mama Linda’s support for university age children and Leonardo’s
debt incurred by sending his wife to Korea, have necessitated their continued work in
Taiwan. Yet, commitment to the migrant community in Taiwan may also oblige a
continued stay. For instance, Lanie, a single, university educated factory worker became
an OFW out of financial necessity, yet after becoming quite involved in the Nan Tze St.
Joseph the Worker parish, she found commitment to her friends in the church influenced
Lanie: ... before, I’m after the money because I have to help my family. But then
as I…As I live here, as I get in touch with, with the church. Now I found out it’s
not the money that, it’s not the money. The reason why I’m here is not because of
money.
Stephen: Okay. What is the reason for you now?
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Lanie: Because maybe God wants me to change many things in my life. Money is
not important, as long as you can buy the needs, of course, if you have no money,
I think you will also get, get upset, and then get…(laugh) And…now I realize
that the most important thing in life is the service that you’re giving to others. I
know that what you do with others is what you’re doing with Him. Yeah.
Stephen: What do you plan? Do you plan to stay for another year?
Lanie: Yeah, I already singed a contract. But then when I was, I singed on my job
last December. On my department last December, I decided to go back to the
Philippines this coming May, but then…Maybe my co-workers here trust me.
Stephen: They want you to stay longer?
Lanie: Because they assigned me for so many…responsibilities, so…
Stephen: In the church?
Lanie: In the church. So, I don’t have to escape the thing.
Stephen: So you can’t run away? So, now you’re not going to go back, because
the influence of your friends?
Lanie: Yeah.
CONCLUSIONS
As I have shown in this chapter, the demographic, economic, and political push-
pull mechanisms driving migration from the Philippines to Taiwan (presented in the last
chapter) evolve into a culture of migration where social ties influence the migrant’s
destination, help to maintain high levels of remittances, and even persuade some workers
to remain in the destination due to social obligations. The personal narratives presented
illustrate the theory of cumulative causation as applied to the everyday lives of Filipino
poverty, and lack of development in the Philippines induce them to look overseas for
development but in labor migration. Many note the role of the labor recruiters as they
As the culture of migration has become rooted in the identity of Filipinos, one
expects to migrate as a rite of passage. Financial obligation to the family and a cultural
sense of individual duty, further promoted by media that touts the OFW as a hero, help
the migrant find purpose as they endure long hours in unpleasant conditions abroad.
up” for overseas employment so they may preserve social ties established in school.
Migrants were found also to leave based on the personal desire to flee an unpleasant
social/emotional condition in the homeland. This flight may result from a tragedy such as
a break up, death or separation, strict parents, family problems, or even legal difficulties.
Selection of the destination country then falls to such practical factors as relative cost of
placement, proximity to Philippines, and salary, as well as social contacts that may
provide a community of mutual aid and at least some emotional support while in a
foreign country.
Image 25 A group of close friends from Nan Tze on a fieldtrip to the Cathedral in Kaohsiung
CHAPTER 8
They’re not very open about Filipinos, you know. - Jenny Hipolito
--------
Stephen: What do you think about Chinese culture and Chinese things?
Lanie: They are very much different with Filipinos, I think.
domestic workers alike, was the rejection and isolation they felt from the Chinese
populace. In Hong Kong, Dr. Cecile Torda Lowe (2001) found similar marginalization of
factors that worked to exclude migrant laborers from the society. In Taiwan, exclusion
outsiders (especially those from less developed Southeast Asian countries), and
into the broader community. Dr. Hsia Hsiao-chuan, a researcher of Taiwanese exogamy
at Shih Hsin University, notes public sentiment in Taiwan toward those from less
developed countries: "We in Taiwan just look down on individuals from third-world
countries."60 These factors have produced a hostile climate toward labor migrants,
limiting their opportunities for cultural or social integration into Taiwanese society.
While shunned by the government and the public, there is a reaction by the
alienated Filipino worker to, in-turn, reinforce their own co-ethnic ties and reject
202
Taiwanese culture. As a result, Filipino factory workers, already spatially, culturally, and
linguistically removed from Taiwanese, become even more socially isolated thus limiting
their opportunities for assimilation or integration. Enclaves form in and around the
Economic Processing Zones (EPZ) in which the majority of factory workers are
employed. In the following chapter, I will discuss the formal institutions (Churches,
businesses and NGOs) that have provided stability and permanence to these transnational
enclaves. Likewise, the next chapter will further explain the role of migrant spouses and
ethnicity (Portes and Rumbaut 1996) and continued performance of homeland culture
The most isolated class of workers is clearly the domestic worker. Sequestered
with Taiwanese families and cut-off from the enclaves around the EPZs, isolation and
exclusion are even more extreme and problematic. While having the most direct, face-to-
face contact with Taiwanese of all of the labor migrants, their often-unreasonable
dehumanization and commodification of these workers. She explains that even the
language used to describe them illustrates their marginal status: "the slang term for
migrant workers is yong-ren. 61 These workers are highly commodified; they are
products to use and exchange." The government, by excluding this class of worker from
the labor standards and regulations governing other contract worker positions, clearly
sees them as a commodity for use and not as individuals.62 Thus, while Dr. Pei-Chia Lan
has found that some employers may liken the relationship that develops between their
domestic caregiver and her patient as a “fictive kinship” (Lan 2001; Lan 2003b),
evidence from her studies, as well as interviews conducted for this project, indicate that
the “domestic workers are nevertheless accorded marginal and subordinate status in the
family”(Lan 2003b).
Image 26 Domestic workers Rosalia and Charito at Stella Maris International Center
the greatest level of admittance into the Taiwanese society, are likewise rejected by their
Taiwanese family members, isolated from the community, and are seen simply as
economic refugees by most Taiwanese. Numerous anecdotal reports from NGOs, as well
as the spouses interviewed here, likened the role of the foreign bride to that of a servant.
The perception is that they are “bought” by the family to care for the husband and
produce children. Legally they are not permitted the same rights as native-born citizens.
Even after having children in Taiwan, they are not seen as members of the community.
XENOPHOBIA IN TAIWAN
source of social problems. This portrayal has resulted in their public discrimination and
objectified, and sexualized by brokers, the media, and employers. Public maltreatment of
205
workers have included staring, making derogatory comments and gestures, and even
overt ridicule. This recent Taipei Times article illustrates (Liu 2003):
In public places, popular media, and even by employment brokers, Filipinos are
that they were often subject to disapproving looks, starring, and sometimes even rude or
from Taiwanese taxi drivers and occasionally form men on the street or at work. A
common story told was of a friend or acquaintance who was stopped on the way home
and offered money to go with a Taiwanese man. Jenny recounts, “Oh, my friend once
told us, told me that while she was, when she was walking one night, she was
approached by two men in their car, in the car. Then, as she was walking, these two men
told her, ‘You want some money? I’ll give you money, just do...’ Something like that.”
Analynn, the Chinese speaking coordinator representing one of the largest labor
brokerages, explains how she often overhears derogatory comments about Filipinos: “I
63Participants in the focus group reported often having been called shiu do ,秀逗 [Taiwanese: idiot, stupid ]on
the bus or at work.
206
can understand the language, even the Taiwanese dialect. Sometimes during my first few
months of stay here, when they were talking about the Filipinos, I used to be hurt. But, I
cannot just fight with them you know, all you have to do is, sometimes I ignore it.”
Others found it more difficult to dismiss the stigmatization. Staring and gesturing caused
Stephen: how do you feel when you’re out in around town, do you ever feel any
negative treatment?
Jenny: (Nods) Yeah, sometimes.
Stephen: Like what?
Jenny: Like they stare…but…
Stephen: Staring?
Jenny: Staring.
Stephen: By men or women?
Jenny: Men, mostly.
Stephen: Is that rude?
Jenny: Or sometimes …sometimes other women, just like that (makes a
judgmental look).
Stephen: Like a disapproving kind of look?
Jenny: Hmm, a negative kind of look. Or sometimes… once, a Taiwanese, I was
riding my bike from church, going home with my friend. She looked at me or my
bike. I don’t know what she was looking at, but she was laughing at me. She was
just smiling at first when I talked to my friend, when she’s staring at me and I
think there was something wrong with me. Then the Taiwanese laughed after we
were stopping for traffic.
Stephen: Why do you think she laughed?
Jenny: I don’t know.
Stephen: Was it because you’re on a bicycle?
Jenny: I don’t know. She was looking at my bicycle, my feet…I don’t know.
Stephen: Do you think she was judging you?
Jenny: What? That was what I was thinking, yeah
This negative pubic treatment may result from reinforcement of stereotypes that
appear in the popular media. According to Lin (1999) newspapers and other media
moral and social disorder. Often news reports centered on the impact of foreign workers
on domestic jobs, especially the number of “run-away” or illegal workers and their
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migrant laborers. In fact, a Feb 21, 2004 story in the Taipei Times indicated that the
foreign workers: “70.4 percent wanted the government to reduce the number of foreign
laborers, while 24.5 percent wanted the government to cease importing labor altogether.”
marital infidelity between the Taiwanese husband and Filipina domestic worker. These
reports lead to the image of the Filipina as “home wreaker.” The female members of the
household may in turn place outrageous controls on the worker as she perceives a
challenge from the “sexually promiscuous” domestic worker. In one contract between a
family and their domestic caregiver (provided by Fr. Ciceri when he was called to assist
the caregiver who was being forced to return to the Philippines), the conditions for
employment included not wearing make-up, not being allowed to brush her hair, and not
being allowed to own a cell-phone. Fr. Ciceri explains that anxiety over the caregiver
results from the Taiwanese patriarchal system that may be challenged by the educated
Filipina caregiver:
I think in the society here, this is a male society, so even, even this…it
plays a certain roles. I think sometimes there are a few things especially
on the level of domestic, the domestic helper and caretaker, because it’s in
the level of the family. Sometimes these families they feel threatened
because migrant workers, especially if they are a Filipina, they are more
educated than them.... this is a woman that is more educated than the man,
so that sometimes creates problems. Also, because, especially Filipinos,
they are quite knowledgeable about their rights and other things and they
speak out and everything. And so, they say ‘how do you this’, ‘who told
you this?’ There are other things, other problems that sometimes we have
about the female, the wife, the wife often get jealous, because maybe the
Filipina is a bit more beautiful, or sometimes their husband may be paying
a little bit more attention to the Filipina caretaker and everything. And
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Of public concern are the rare, but sensationalized, reports of theft, elder abuse,
or even murder at the hands of the imported domestic laborer. Especially scandalous was
the case of Liu Hsia (劉俠), who in 2003 was severely beaten by her Indonesian
caregiver, dying a few days later. This incident incited enormous debate over the safety
and security of families from their potentially dangerous foreign worker. Conversely, the
conditions for caregivers citing the evidence that the caregiver was suffering from a
stress related psychological disorder resulting from her long working hours and months
Like the popular media, labor brokers “sell” workers on essential, stereotypical
qualities that they are alleged to posses, as well as warn of their potential “racial
weakness.” Filipinas, often marketed as proficient in English and better educated than
other nationalities, were described as “cunning, at times troublesome and tend to steal”
(Loveband 2003). This example from a labor broker, comparing the strengths and
菲國人民以信奉天主教為主,英語為其官方語言,人民教育程度普
遍較高,菲勞最大優點為與台灣雇主溝通較容易,雖然發音不很是
很標準。在台灣市場中,初期外籍家庭工幾乎全為菲傭之天下,但
漸為印傭取代。至於勞工方面則較適合於有技術性之行業,對於工
作性質較粗重,如營造、建築等則較無法勝任。
因其天性浪漫、樂觀,自主性強,應充份給予信仰自由,如
假日上教堂,因其教育程度較高,相對較會爭取本身福利。以往台
灣的外傭市場,幾乎全為菲律賓人的天下,加以非法仲介經常以高
薪誘惑菲傭脫逃,尤其是工作限期將屆滿者脫逃更時經常發生,我
國法律對逃脫外勞並無任何刑罰,抓到後祇不過遣返而已。造成雇
主及仲介無謂之困擾,現今台灣雇主大多已不再指定菲傭,而由印
尼及越南漸漸取而代之。
their marginal status and exclusion from public spaces as they are labeled by the public.
In the South of Taiwan, Filipino migrants are found almost exclusively in the areas
around the Economic Processing Zones where they work, near their dorms at the lunch
counters and other businesses that cater to their needs, and around the English/Tagalog
65Translation by Hui-Jung Hsieh based on text from Wang Hong Employment Agency Retrieved April 12,
2004 http://www.job2000.com.tw/compar4.htm.Perhaps unclear here is the underlying message: because of
Filipino’s activism and the existence of NGOs that work specifically to protect their rights (MECO), many
employers have shifted to the more “docile” Indonesian and Vietnamese workers who have no such advocates
and are less likely to protest mistreatment. Likewise this excerpt shows how brokers literally sell essentialist
qualities of national groups that are in reality quite diverse (ethnically, culturally, socially, etc.).
210
churches they attend. These zones are located in the industrial hinterland of Kaohsiung.
In Taipei, migrants are spatially segregated as well. Those who work and live within the
city (primarily caregivers and domestic workers), are likewise restricted to the periphery:
Resurgence of native Taiwanese ethnic groups (Hakkanese, Hoklos, and the very
small remaining aboriginal groups)66 and dramatic socio-political change have lead to a
surge in Taiwanese ethnic nationalism and a reconciliation with the dominant Han
mainlanders who came to Taiwan following General Chang Kai Shek (蔣介石).
According to Prof. Hsu Shih-kai, former Taiwan Independence Party Chairman and a
long-time advocate of Taiwanese solidarity (2004): “In the 1990s, when democratization
was under way, the four main ethnic groups were encouraged to strengthen their
identities, while at the same time showing respect (not integration and assimilation)
66 For more on ethnic diversity in Taiwan see Shih, Cheng-Feng, 1995. Ethnic Differentiation in Taiwan.
Journal of Law and Politics, No. 4, pp. 89-111. http://www.wufi.org.tw/eng/taiethni.htm See also Shih,
Cheng-Feng, 1997. “A Study of the Development of Taiwanese Consciousness: With A Focus on Linguistic
and Historical Distinctions. Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace Studies, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 55-76.
http://www.wufi.org.tw/eng/taiident.htm both retrieved April 12, 2004.
67 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/02/28/2003100469 retrieved April 12, 2004.
211
minority groups (primarily the aboriginal groups and the Hakka people)68, has been
(as independent from the mainland). Ethnic pride and political participation, centered on
the independence movement, among the predominantly Hoklo (Taiwanese) and mixed
Taiwanese nationalism that is, at least in rhetoric, more inclusive of Taiwan’s historical
The struggle pitting immigrant laborers against native minorities for jobs has
clearly has become a universal theme in the globalized market. Media reports and
these historically neglected groups: “Complaint against hiring of foreign workers was
from the Kuomintang, pointed out that while the number of foreign workers was
increasing, unemployment among aborigines was also increasing from 3.2 in 1998 to 7.5
among this population, quota restrictions on foreign workers have been placed on the
Kaohsiung Free Trade Harbor Zone (slated for completion in 2005) and the five other
free trade ports currently under development: “the new the number of foreign workers
must not surpass 40 percent of the total labor force employed in the zones. In addition,
68 The discrimination toward aboriginal groups is still a significant political/ social issue, often setting these
native groups against foreign laborers. For instance see: Mar 14 2003, Aborigines claim discrimination Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/03/14/197942 retrieved April 12, 2004.
212
enterprises established in the zones must reserve five percent of the jobs for aboriginal
workers.”
toward migrant laborers. Restriction on workers rights and lax protection from abuse
restrict the migrants’ mobility (both residential as well as within the labor force) and
make clear the class distinction between native born and foreigner, as well as foreign
white-collar (from core nations) versus foreign blue-collar workers (from peripheral,
developing countries). These policies reinforce the marginal status of migrant laborers
employment, protection from and litigation for employer abuses, and constant state
and biannual health checks. Dr. Shu-Ju Cheng (2003), Assistant Professor in sociology at
DePaul University and researcher of domestic migrant workers in Taiwan, notes that the
surveillance of the state is gendered and used to enforce racial/ethnic separation and
exclusion:
Many more rights and privileges are afforded to the professional classes. As a
former English teacher in Taiwan, I was quite aware of my privileged status when
“Wai lao,” literally meaning “foreign worker,” is the term commonly used
in Taiwan to refer to migrant workers form Southeast Asia employed on a
contract basis in three D (dirty, dangerous, and demeaning) occupations.
This terminology is rarely applied to other “foreign workers” such as
professionals, technicians, managerial, and language instructors, who are
mostly from Japan, North America and West Europe. Such a division is
endorsed by the state regulations that assign distinct statuses and rights to
these two categories of foreign labor. Low-end migrants are recruited
under quota control and contract rotation; one can work in Taiwan no
longer than six years (two terms of contract).
In contrast, on all three of my sojourns to Taiwan (1996, 1998, and 2003), I was granted
mobility (though I must register change-of-address with the Foreign Police and reapply
for new permits for change of employers), earned a relatively high income (two to three
times that of a native-born teacher), and had few restrictions placed on my ability to look
they are based “descent principle” (jus sanguinis). Citizenship for foreign-born children
or PARC) depends on the ability to prove continued legal residence in Taiwan for seven
years and may be revoked if, during the period of one-year, the resident is out-of-country
more than 200 days.69 Meanwhile, many Taiwanese have obtained dual citizenship,
including important elected officials such as legislator Hsiao Bi-khim,70 who sparked a
national debate over dual-citizenship among executive-level political positions.71 Yet, for
renunciation of the citizenship of origin and soon even passing a test on their knowledge
of Chinese.72
While permanent residence is at least within reach for the white-collar immigrant,
stipulations in the contracts of the blue-collar workers from developing countries restrict
them from ever achieving permanent status. Foreign workers are by definition
temporary, and thus are barred from ever becoming a part of the community. Robert
Tierney (2002) points out that not only does this temporary status marginalize foreign
workers, but their immobility within the employment market also further restricts their
rights:
69 See this website on acquiring legal documents for residence in Taiwan in which they say“...the reality is that
the requirements make it almost impossible to do so and remains a long-standing and very sore issue for many
in Taiwan's international community. Further, there never seems to be a consistent policy regarding permanent
residency status for foreigners.” http://www.oriented.org/legal/ID-2.shtml . See this article on limited
number of Permanent Alien Residence Certificate recipients
http://publish.gio.gov.tw/FCJ/past/03022871.html also this personal log of an expatriate in Taiwan trying to
get his citizenship http://jidanni.org/foreigner/index.html.
70 http://www.bikhim.com/english/about/about_1.asp
71 http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/20001207/20001207p6.html
72 Feb 28, 2004 article on the eTaiwan News.com about talk of Chinese language requirements of applicants
Legally restricted to work for a single employer, allowed to stay for only three
years at a time and six years total, foreign workers are further alienated from the
Taiwanese society by being denied basic human and labor rights. Currently, there are no
protections from employer abuse for migrants. Workers, when charging employers with
violating the terms of their contract, are routinely repatriated to their home country by
brokers and the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) without hearings or the opportunity to
change employers. Factory workers while covered by the Taiwan Labor Standards Act
are routinely paid in time off for overtime, and maximum working hours are often
ignored. Domestic workers, moreover, are not even covered under the Labor Standards
Act, and thus are exempt from overtime and minimum wage laws.73
differences between Filipino workers and the Taiwanese population. These real or
perceived differences work not only to exclude the Filipinos from Chinese society, but
also to limit the desire of Filipinos to become part of the community of their “strange”
hosts. Cultural barriers are clearly evident in material culture such as food, styles of
dress, valued commodities, etc., as well as in the non-material cultural differences such
73See Cody Yiu Foreign workers protest for better rights Taipei Times Dec 29, 2003
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2003/12/29/2003085549
216
as religious beliefs, gender roles, social norms, aesthetics, standards of bodily hygiene,
feeling sad or depressed their first few months here. Fr. Ciceri explains, “Culturally it's a
shock for, for the Filipinos. Because, it's totally different. Um, for the environment,
everything is, is different. The language, it's a big problem because they just come here,
they don't speak any, any language. And, um, so they try to, to adjust to this reality. But,
ah, they found it very, very difficult.” Even Analynn, who was raised within the Chinese
For the first time, well, it’s kind of, it’s 360 degrees, you know, turned
around. Culture, well culture, it’s not a very surprising thing to me
because you know I was exposed to a Chinese, you know, environment.
But, Taiwanese people are, if I am going to compare Taiwanese people
with the Filipino Chinese, they’re totally different. Because the Filipino
Chinese, they’re more educated, and they’re more, I mean they are, they
belong to the you know society where they’re open minded. Yeah, when I
came here, I was really shocked you know.
group, are easily noticed by both by the migrant and the community in which they were
beliefs, and attitudes. Most common among participants in the study was the reported of
disliked of Chinese food. Caroline, for example, exclaimed, “oh, the food, the food there
is terrible!” in reference to the food served in her dorms. Similarly, Marivel explained
that she doesn’t eat Chinese food, preferring to eat out if she can. Others explained that
74For an interesting study on material culture among migrant groups see this Dutch study by Dibbits &
Roukens (2002) Migration and Material Culture: the domestic interiors of twentieth century migrants and their descendents
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/medewerkers/hester.dibbits/migration.pdf
217
Chinese dishes that they had been exposed to in the markets and cafeterias of their
companies were “too oily” or “too spicy” for their tastes. When their companies or
dorms severed a cheap bien dang (便當), or a lunch box meal, the workers often would
go out to lunch counters run by Filipina wives of Taiwanese men. Caroline explains: “If
we don’t like the food, for example during week days, we buy food outside because in
front of Green House there are many [Filipino lunch counters]. I think three or four near
Green House.” The shipbuilders on Chi Chin island, more isolated from the enclave of
the EPZ, have taken to catching crab and fish and cooking for themselves.
Melchor explains that his company delivers bien dang for them every morning. He
shows me an unappetizing paper box with a small amount of rice, boiled cabbage, and a
small whole fish. Though charged 4,000NT a month (nearly a third of his base salary),
he tells me that it is the same meal everyday and he has no choice in paying the fee for
meals. He protests, “you cannot eat that everyday. You must change the menu... the
company provides the bien dang, but I don't know how many times we complain. They
don't listen.” Food was such a unifying cultural issue that Fr. Ciceri at one time
established a regular Filipino luncheon: “Every Sunday after the Mass, people they
would come here to St. Mary’s and we will have food, Filipino food. It’s such a stupid
thing, but for somebody that has been forced to eat bien dang, at least on Sunday, they
go and eat their own Filipino food. It means for them, really something, something
good.”
discussion with Josephine, another factory worker (translated from Tagalog), asks about
Taiwanese:
Josephine: ...it's like this, at first, ahh, you know we Filipinos we're very, we're
very particular when it comes to the type of dress we wear. Even if we run short
on our allowance, we still try to look good and right. We are so conscious of how
we look in front of others. We ask, "Is it okay if I wear this? Are my shoes right
for this dress?" and things like that. But, you cannot, at first I said, "Look at her.
She looks so formal in that attire, like one who's going to attend a party, but look
at the shoes. She's wearing tennis shoes."
Jenny: Yeah. Formal but…
Josephine: Uhm. Sometimes, I would think that maybe they just wear what is
comfortable for them to wear. Not like Filipinos, sometimes we don't feel
comfortable, but we…
Jenny: But it looks good.
Josephine: …We still try. Yeah. If it looks good, we still try to wear them even if
it's uncomfortable. But, for them, it's okay as long as they're comfortable with
what they're wearing.
Jenny: They wear whatever they want to wear.
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Josephine: … whatever, whatever they like to wear. Even if it's out of fashion.
Even though short on income, Filipinos still try to look their best.
Jenny: Yeah. As long as they look good to other people.
Josephine: Yeah. As long as they look good.
Different cultural standards of what is proper dress and physical presentation also
included dissimilar standards in bodily hygiene. Several migrants noted that a cultural
difference to them were the “body smells” at work and in public that they were
criticized as one of the leading factors contributing to the SARS outbreak in 2003 (Chu
2003).
Many participants reported that they felt left out of social activities at their
companies and isolated from the Taiwanese co-workers. Linguistic isolation may
attribute to some of this exclusion (less than 1% of survey respondents rated their
isolation was a result of not being invited to take part in social functions. At most
factories, relationships with Chinese co-workers were congenial, yet seldom progressed
workers. Segregated living spaces also contributed to the isolation of workers from the
Chinese population.
75See this note to nursing students regarding cultural preferences of Filipinos who “pay close attention to
hygiene and smelling good” http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/cne/Policy/cultural/Filipinos/activities.htm
221
employees. Traditional gatherings (called wei ya 尾牙) around the time of Chinese New
Year are held in which employees share a meal and may receive bonuses based on the
success of the company. Other holiday gatherings as well as spring or summer barbecues
are common. Often the festivities will include karaoke, dance, talent competitions and
other performances. Jenny recounts that while the Filipino workers were invited to the
Another cultural distinction causing considerable friction with workers was over
celebration of religious holidays that do not fall on the Chinese calendar. Employers
were found to restrict holidays only to Taiwanese national holidays. No provisions were
made for employees to have their own cultural celebrations. Melchor recounts that while
Taiwanese calendar), they were not permitted to have a holiday for Semana Santa or
Holy Week. Similarly, when institutions such as the Catholic Church do hold holiday
celebrations that are outside of the Chinese calendar, they receive numerous community
222
complaints about noise and even visits by police. Meanwhile, laterally hundreds of
Chinese cultural and religious celebrations, replete with thousands of firecrackers, horns,
drums, and other noisemakers, may occur at all hours of the day or night, throughout the
Residential segregation and limited mobility also cause factory workers to feel
excluded from the community. Factory workers are required by company and
government policies to live in crowded dorms or apartments near the EPZs. Dorms may
individual factories, or by the government. These facilities generally charge the worker a
fee for room and board. Some even charge additional fees for electricity, water, and even
for the used bedding and furniture. Likewise, they monitor the workers’ movements,
requiring them to sign in and out and enforce a strict curfew. Workers must request
special permission to spend an evening away from the dorm, even on their days off. Thus
curfew. They also enforce their own, sometimes arbitrary, penalties for violations of
dorm rules. One sign, in the government-owned dorms in Nan Tze’s EPZ, stated that
workers found disposing of styrofoam containers in the paper recycling bin would be
fined 1,000NT (roughly $30). In another company-owned dorm, one wall in the public
eating/ living area was covered with warnings, admonishing workers not to use their cell
phones during work (penalty an official warning), to maintain order in the dorm, and
even that "if someone is found very lazy or wasting of time" they will have “violated
company policy and may receive warning.” These sometimes illogical and vague
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penalties and warnings further alienate the workers reminding them even within their
The perception of some Chinese workers is that not only are the Filipino workers
there to take their jobs, but the female workers are there to “hunt” for Taiwanese
husbands as well. Lanie explains that this perception is not entirely untrue. As she
explains, some of her Filipina co-workers do like the idea of finding a Taiwanese man:
money.” However, in a focus group discussion with nine women, the discussion of
These cultural limitations on the eldest male often restrict him to marrying only Chinese
women. Filipinas who have dated Chinese men found acceptance by the Chinese families
especially difficult. Others, like Sarah and Loisa, now married to Taiwanese men, said
they were even resistant to the initial advances and invitations of their spouses as they
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were not interested in Taiwanese men. Moreover, legal restrictions prohibit these cross-
they must return to Philippines and apply for re-entry on a spousal visa.
Chinese family members. Many foreign spouses were seen simply as a servant for the
husband. Family concern was often limited to whether she could reproduce. Rosalyn,
now separated from her abusive husband, was told by her mother-in-law not to buy
things for herself as she earned no money. When her husband would drink and beat her,
her Taiwanese in-laws simply told her that she would have to “accept her husband like
that.” Made to cook, clean and take care of her husband and his family she explained that
she felt like their house maid: “yeah, because if he is going to take a bath or something,
he calls me to get his t-shirt and clothes, like that.” She stayed with him for almost eight
years but finally could take no more abuse from her husband or his mother. With help
from her cousin (also married to a Taiwanese man) and Stella Maris International
Service Center, she was able to take her two youngest children back to the Philippines,
but has returned now to try to regain custody of her eldest son who is being kept by her
mother-in-law. Several of the participating Filipina wives were in fact separated or in the
process of divorce after having provided the husband with children. Under Taiwanese
law, these women have few custody rights and must obtain alternative visas to remain in
Even when the relationship between Taiwanese husband and Filipina spouse are
agreeable, family rejection and social stigma of the relationship cause problems. Loisa,
for example, developed a romantic relationship with her factory supervisor. She said that
225
treatment by Chinese and Filipino co-workers changed abruptly when they learned of the
romance. When first introduced to her future in-laws, they were not very receptive:
“...maybe they heard that many Filipinas, they just like the money. So they were afraid
that [I’m] just fooling, I will fool him. So, at first they don't accept me. So, he asked for
help for his brother to explain to his parents that I'm different.” She admits that even
when they did accept her into the family, she was often lonely in the first years as she
had no Taiwanese friends. She also notes that most of her friends today are found among
the Filipino enclave in the Economic Processing Zone. Her children as well “very
seldom play with pure Chinese,” instead socializing mostly with other bi-cultural
Chinese-Filipino children.
Similarly, Mama Angel, who came as an arranged bride, found her husband’s
family distrustful and sometimes exploitive. Her sister-in-law, who had paid for the
marriage, would in-fact control all of their finances for several years as she was afraid
that the Filipina bride would make off with her brother’s earnings: “...we would give it
$29,000.” Left with only about US $300 a month, they lived in a single room and ate
instant noodles. She recounted being lonely, feeling cut off, and experiencing culture
shock: “for the [first] six months staying here, I was crying.... I didn't eat noodles. Yes,
that's why I'm always crying. I phoned to my family there to, to send some Philippine
goods here in Taiwan, because I still do not, I cannot eat here.” It was not until three
years later, although fluent in Taiwanese and working outside of the home in a beauty
salon, that she found a since of place. She discovered the then quite small community of
226
Filipinos centered about the St. Joseph the Worker Parish. Today, while accepted to
some degree by the Taiwanese community where she works as a beautician, she spends
the majority of her time helping the church community, helping Filipino factory workers
in need, and leading an evangelical religious group within the church. He husband too,
has joined the church as an active member. However, relations with her sister-in-law and
Linguistic Isolation
Few Filipinos speak Mandarin or Taiwanese before their arrival. Unlike other
sending countries (Indonesia for example), the Philippine recruiters are not required to
isolated from the community. Unable to really converse with Taiwanese co-workers or
the public, the are further limited in their incorporation into the community. As Fr. Ciceri
227
explains, linguistic isolation is compounded by their temporary status and few incentives
Filipinos, they don’t want to learn the language, they don’t, they don’t
learn. Culturally, I don’t think there is much of integration here because
first of all the migrant workers they know I come here only for one year,
two years, three years. So even here, we have people who stay with us [at
the shelter] for a couple of months sometimes and they cannot work,
because they have problems so they are not allowed to work. So, we
would like to, we don’t want them that they just sleep all day and
everything, so we try for example to have Chinese classes or English
classes for the Indonesians. There is no way. They are not interested.
Basically, these people, all they want to do is to make money. They just
come here. ‘I want to make money, I don’t want to learn the language.
Why I should learn the language? And after three years I go home.’ I said
yeah, but for three years you have to live with the family. If they give you
an order, you have to understand the order and things like that. But, there
is no way that the, even with effort to learn it’s very difficult. Maybe
because of that, they know the situation of temporality so why I should
make an effort for that?
Among factory workers surveyed, their average self reported Mandarin and Taiwanese
abilities were both only 1.1 (on a scale of 5). Few had learned more than enough to get
them through simple transactions in the shops and enough to understand the basic
assignments at work.
Those who had learned enough Chinese to be conversational often helped their
like Arlene, who was the most fluent often even translating documents for her employer,
...there was this incident where I went to Napoleon Pizza, yeah and I went
there and they usually give you a plastic cup for drinks. We had our pizza
and then were not given this plastic cup. So, the waitress, the service girl,
was telling that she gave it to me. So, I talked back to her and I was
talking to her in Chinese. She was shocked. She reacted with her big eyes.
Then all of a sudden, she was so embarrassed, because she never thought I
could speak Mandarin. Then the manager approached me and asked for
228
apology. Yeah, and when I, when I went to the public restroom, then there
was this young lady she was talking in Mandarin, she was talking about
me, about Filipinas, and then I, I told this young lady, ‘Hey watch your
mouth.’ I said, I was talking to her in Mandarin, she didn’t say anything.
But I noticed, you know, she had a dreadful face because I was telling her
you know, hey watch your mouth. I mean some Filipinos can speak
mandarin and understand Mandarin so you better watch out. So…she was
so embarrassed.
workers, there may even be a preference for those who do not speak Chinese as they are
unable to overhear the private concerns of the family and also may be called upon to be
English teachers for the family. While domestic workers are more likely than factory
workers to learn Mandarin or Taiwanese, most yet communicate with their employers in
English. Even, Mama Linda, who had been here the longest, said she could only speak “a
little” Chinese.
Filipina wives of Chinese men, on the other hand, were very likely to learn
Mandarin or Taiwanese. As permanent residents they had the most incentive to learn.
Sarah for example, a former factory worker who recently has returned on a tourist visa
and married a Taiwanese man she met at her company, says she is struggling to learn
Chinese to be able to better communicate with her in-laws. Now, she primarily
communicates with her husband and in-laws (with whom she lives) in English. Learning
Chinese has also been seen as empowering for other spouses. It was not until Mama
Angel felt confident in Taiwanese that she confronted her sister-in-law about her
financial abuses. Likewise, knowledge of Mandarin, has given Rosalyn the opportunity
for employment as a coordinator in one of the factories. Yet, all of the Filipina spouses
preferred to socialize on a daily basis with other Filipinos rather than with the
229
Taiwanese. Thus, while fluency is more common among the spouses of Taiwanese, it is
The results of their temporary status, no option for long-term residence, as well as
isolation, segregation, and discrimination in work and social life is a clearly seen
Filipinos. In the survey of factory workers, most reported neither a strong liking nor
disliking of Chinese. Nor did they report having either a “good relationship” with them
or “problems” with them. Likewise, few ethnography participants reported any strong
affinity for Taiwanese people. A few did, however, report outright dislike of the
Taiwanese most often when there were clear disputes with employers, supervisors or co-
workers.
Such was the case with Leonardo, one of the Chi Chin Island shipbuilders. A
dispute over back pay and unpaid overtime had been mounting. He and his co-workers
had already reported to the broker and were looking at going to MECO to file a formal
complaint. Apparently, recent management turn over and the merger with another
company had resulted in number of disputes with upper management. Typically neutral
Leonardo: ...I hate bad people. Like the secretaries. I hate them. The production
managers, I hate them also. Because....
Stephen: Why is that? What do they do you hate them?
230
Again, while most Filipinos were indifferent toward Taiwanese culture, there
were also a very few who had built strong relationships with individual Taiwanese. It
must be noted that in most of these cases, the Taiwanese person was quite unique and
76In Leonardo’s company, they routinely inspect the dorms. Anytime a light or fan is left on when no one is
around, they are fined and receive a warning letter. Three warnings may result in being fired and repatriated.
231
had first developed a strong affinity for Filipinos.77 Edwin, for instance, had been dating
a Chinese woman he met on his first trip to Taiwan five years ago. Recently returned,
they maintained their relationship long-distance while he was in the Philippines for over
two-years. He declares his intention to one day marry her, however, they have yet to tell
her parents of their relationship. They say this is in part due to the language barrier, but
CONCLUSIONS
Segregations, isolation, and exclusion from the social and political process within
Taiwan has restricted any opportunities of becoming integrated and incorporated into the
host community. Filipino migrants are excluded, not only by a xenophobic populace
fueled by essentialist depictions in the media, but also by governmental policies that
restrict movement, limit residence, and impede any opportunities of equality in the labor
racial discrimination and prejudice they experience in the workplace and in public
settings. These prejudices, while directed at all foreigners, are most forceful applied to
Southeast Asian laborers. Filipino migrants, socially and linguistically cut off from
becoming incorporated into the Taiwanese society, feel neither strong like nor dislike for
their employers. This indifference, thus restricts the path toward acculturation and
eventual assimilation.
77 Specifically there were three exceptional cases. Pastor Chris Marzo’s wife is a Taiwanese minister whom he
met in the seminary in the Philippines. Edwin’s fiancée is one of two Taiwanese members of his Jesus is Lord
church. Finally, “Joshua” spoke of his strong relationship with his boss whom he saw as a “mother” figure
who often gave him additional financial support.
Image 33 A Typical worker’s bunk (Chi Chin Island)
Image 32 “No Laziness” policy posted in the dorms
Image 34 A Typical worker’s bunk (Green House) Image 35 Nan Tze workers enjoying a meal in their room
233
CHAPTER 9
workers from developing countries. Struggling to negotiate its own sense of ethnic and
national identity, and its place within the international arena, it distances itself from other
governmental policies, has created a hostile environment that rejects labor migrants as
being “less than.” Importation of labor has been seen as unavoidable allowing Taiwan-
based manufacturers to continue to compete in a global market that now includes former
peripheral nations such as Vietnam and Malaysia, as well as historic competitors like
Within this space, I have argued that Filipino migrants are isolated and excluded
from Taiwanese society and culture. Recognizing the patron/benefactor relationship with
rejection and exclusion from economic, social, and political participation in the
community. Thus, their opportunity for integration into the mainstream is constrained by
the nature of the receiving context. Moreover, the temporary nature of their sojourning
limits the long-term possibility of acceptance within this context. Even those migrants
234
who eventually marry Taiwanese and permanently settle find that their only place is
While the Taiwanese context does not allow for full inclusion into the dominant
society, many Filipino migrants perceive themselves as having tried to adapt culturally to
the setting in which they live. As potential measures of ethnic/cultural identity, the
survey posed questions on feelings of being caught between cultures and strategies for
dealing with multiple cultural spaces.79 While 98% of respondents indicated that they
feel Filipino, nearly half (48%) also indicated feeling Taiwanese. Yet, I argue, this
perception is due more from their marginality and lack of fitting anyplace and the fact
that they are not living within their own cultural milieu. In all other measures of
culture. This statistic, however, may be of interest in studying returnees and their social
78 See for example the recent story of Bing Go who, after 13 years in Taiwan “is the owner of a Filipino
grocery store in Taipei. Her store has served her fellow Filipinos for many years.” While the January 3, 2004
China Post news report (Filipino Grocery Store Owner Enjoys Life In Taiwan) touts her as proof "that a foreigner
can fit in well in Taiwan and enjoy a comfortable life here," it is clear that her only place within the society is in
the economic fringes of the enclave that servers her co-ethnics rather than within the mainstream economy.
79 Based in part on the Benet-Martinez Acculturation Scale found
re-integration in the homeland as they may feel like foreigners after living abroad for so
long.
What's more, the concept of biculturalism holds that this duality of identities is
not inconsistent. Rather, in a given setting one may choose between cultures or even mix
and combine them. In this sample, nearly 60% of respondents indicated that they
space determines performance of cultural. 28% mix cultures in what has been called a
hybridized identity. Only 40% practiced Filipino culture alone. Further evidence of
perceived biculturalism is found in the fact that 44% felt “caught between cultures.”
Combine both
culture
Only Filipino 28%
40%
Only Taiwanese
1% Biculturalism
Monoculturalism
59%
41%
50
40
30
20
Frequency
this case, English, as an international language of commerce, was the de facto means of
communication with Chinese co-workers and employers, while Filipino languages were
most commonly used with peers. Understandably, those who had been in Taiwan the
longest indicated greater language ability, using Mandarin and Taiwanese with
employers, co-workers, and friends (correlation between trips and speaking Mandarin
R=.270 p<.000). Taiwanese was used more often than Mandarin with co-workers.80
There was a slight, yet statistically significant, correlation (R=.135 p<.01) between the
feeling of being caught between cultures and linguistic ability (computed as a summative
index of self-reported ability and frequency of use). This may be indicative of the effects
237
endeavoring to use the local language and “fit-in” with Taiwanese co-workers, the
worker is nonetheless excluded from the society and thus feels caught “between”
cultures. It may also be related to the length of time in the context. As Chinese or
Taiwanese language use increases over time, so too does separation from the homeland
maintain their homeland culture, as well as their frequency of homeland contact. Within
the context of the EPZ, where so many Filipinos live together, businesses catering to
minority migrants may be found. Likewise, the migrants themselves have opportunities
to establish formal groups and organizations that outlast their individual contract periods.
who have migrated to Taiwan) and formal groups are instrumental in the maintenance of
homeland culture. The more formal, semi-governmental institutions (such as the Manila
Economic and Cultural Office), in participation with churches and NGOs, host cultural
(owned by Filipinas married to Taiwanese) observe theses holidays and festivals of the
Philippines and thus help to preserve a sense of shared history and sentimental ties to
80 Nan Tze is located in Kaohsiung County in the South of Taiwan where, especially among the working class,
their native land. Accordingly, these establishments reinforce solidarity among Filipinos
These institutions also provide for ways in which to stay in contact with friends
and relations back home and to continue to participate in the social life of the homeland.
MECO for example permits the migrant to participate in the Philippine national social
security and insurance programs, and even to vote in national elections. Local businesses
provide courier services, money transfers, shipping, as well as selling imported Filipino
products, newspapers, magazines, videos, long-distance cards telephone cards and cell
phones. This frequent contact with homeland culture and communication with
individuals in the Philippines acts to maintain an orientation toward the native country
thus limiting the degree of assimilation that may occur. As return migration is
guaranteed, maintenance of social and financial ties in the Philippines is imperative for
signifies an orientation toward the homeland. These practices, again, are not mutually
exclusive. One may adopt the cultural practices of the destination country while
maintaining the important cultural events of the home country. Likewise, there are
In all, 61% of respondents observed at least one Chinese holiday, with 17%
celebrating three or more events during the year. Chinese New Year (57%), Moon Cake
Festival (34%), and Dragon Boat Festival (29%) were the most popular. For comparison,
77% of respondents marked a Filipino holiday while in Taiwan, and 53% celebrated
three or more. Most popular were Christmas (70%), New Year’s Day (66%), and
festivals. Jenny, for example, talked of having attended the Kaohsiung city celebration of
Lantern Festival (Yuan Hsiao Jie 元宵節):81 There’s something that I like about the
Taiwanese, the Lantern Festival. Do you know it?.. I went out two years ago with my
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Textual Media TV Movies
Media
cultural values, styles, language, and predominant beliefs of a society. In this way, media
represents an agent of acculturation to the migrant. It is expected that the greater the
exposure to the media of the host country, the greater the degree of acculturation will
result. In the case of Filipinos in Taiwan, they are exposed not only to the host country
media and imported media from the Philippines, but also to international media in
English. It was found that international media was by far the most commonly available
and utilized, followed by imported newspapers, magazines, and movies from the
Philippines.
In the survey, the amount and frequency of remittances, as well as the means and
regularity of communication with friends and family in the homeland were assessed.
241
90%
81%
80%
70% 68%
60%
50%
44%
40%
30%
26%
20%
13%
10%
4%
0%
0%
Phone Text message letters/ e-mail internet chat Couriers I don't
Packages via post communicate with
people back home
30.0%
28.3%
25.0% 24.4%
20.0%
17.4%
15.4%
15.0%
10.0%
8.4%
5.1%
5.0%
1.0%
0.0%
Never/ Almost Monthly Several times a Weekly Several times a Daily Several times a
Never month week day
One-hundred percent of respondents had some form of continued contact with friends or
family in the Philippines. More than half communicated weekly or more often. As a sign
maintained ties by two or more means of contact, 53% by more than two, and 20% by
more than three. Consistent with a recent study by Siemens Mobile Phones,82 Filipinos
prefer the ease and low-cost of cell phones for staying connected. Yet, 31% of
respondents used the internet (for chat and/or e-mail). By comparison, 63% of the US
population uses the internet, 83 approximately 58% of Taiwanese are users, 84 and only
4% of the population of the Philippines are users.85 Thus, this group (and by extension
those friends and family with whom they are communicating) are especially connected
Like most Filipinos, Roland has loved ones back home. He contacts his wife and
two children at least once a week. He prefers to use the cell phone to both text message
Stephen: How often do you call her or contact her now while you've been living
in Taiwan?
Roland: Hmm, About once a week.
Stephen: Once a week?
Roland: Yeah.
Stephen: Ah, Do you call or do text message?
82 “Filipino wireless subscribers would rather use their mobile phones first than resort to personal computers
(PCs), and if they don't receive a text message or call for a long time they constantly check their handsets.”
Tabingo, Manolette February 12, 2004 Filipinos prefer cellphones over PCs BusinessWorld
83 Pew Internet and American Life Project. 2004. “Complete data memo on wireless connectivity, e-shopping,
auctions, and Internet demographics” April 13, 2004 Retrieved on April 14, 2004
(http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/reports.asp?Report=121&Section=ReportLevel1&Field=Level1ID&ID
=516 )
84 China Internet Network Information Center www.cnnic.net.cn/news/92/7
85 3.4 million users (itmatters.com.ph/features/features_01282003a.html) ÷ 84.5 million Filipinos (Central
While the overall impact and value of remittances have been debated in terms of
furthering development in many countries, it has been observers that “the willingness to
in the lives of residents of the home country” (DeSipio 2000a).86 Again, almost all
respondents (99%) indicated that they remit funds with 80% sending money one or more
times a month. The frequency of this tie alone shows a strong bond and commitment to
Remittances are used for everything from everyday living expenses, future
indicated that the send between 5,000 to 10,000 NT monthly, or roughly one-third to
86DeSipio, Louis (2000a) Adaptation or a New Immigrant Reality? An Agnostic View of "Transnationalism"
Grace: ...It's okay if there are lots of money, but sometimes only have a little
overtime. So sometimes I, every month I will, ah, my money go to Philippines. I
give my money in the Philippines. To my mom. So...
Stephen: How much do you send back to your mom?
Grace: Maybe ten thousand.
Stephen: Ten thousand pesos or NT?
Grace: Pesos. So...
Stephen: So about seven thousand NT?
Grace: Yes. Maybe sometimes fifteen thousand. If I have lots of money. So I will
give my mother fifteen thousand.
Stephen: Okay. And what do you do with the rest of the of your money?
Grace: I spend in my, in my savings.
Stephen: In your savings? Okay.
Grace: Yes.
Stephen: You put it in savings?
Grace: Yes.
Stephen: Ah, how much have you been able to save in one year?
Stephen: In one year? I have two hundred thousand [pesos].
were remittances and savings, followed by living expenses and pasalubong,87 a Filipino
tradition of giving gifts upon return from travels. Surprisingly, 46% of respondents
indicated that they had borrowed money while in Taiwan. About half of all borrowed
monies came from other family members, while a full third were borrowed from
Taiwanese loan sharks. Often this was to pay off high interest loans that were used for
placement fees or to pay for unexpected financial obligations from families in the
Philippines. For example, when asked to explain loans typical survey responses included:
87 This cultural practice of sending or giving gifts when away on a sojourn often becomes quite costly. See this
remittances averaged about NT$8267 monthly (around US $240). The most popular
means of transfer has become the use of international ATM machines (39%). There often
is a fee at both sending and receiving banks, however it is less than wire transfers and
couriers. However, due partially to the lack of banks in more remote regions of the
Philippines, a fair number of survey respondents did use private money transfer
companies (28%) and even private couriers (22%) who have door-to-door service.
history of circular labor migration. This culture is readily apparent in the future plans of
Filipino labor migrants in Taiwan. Nearly two-thirds of current migrants had plans to
either return to Taiwan or step-migrate to another country when their contracts expire. Of
those who planned to go back to the Philippines permanently, 61% were on their second
or subsequent trip to Taiwan.88 Those survey respondents returning to their homeland for
good listed various plans from dreams of opening a business to hopes of getting married
• “Since this is my second time here, I am saving more of my salary and planning
to use it to stay and open a small business in the Philippines after I finish my
contract here”
• “Get married soon. Look again for another job in the Philippines after the end of
my contract here”
• “My plan is to have a business in the Philippines which will uplift the standard of
life of my family and to apply also the course I finished like working in
telecommunication company or computer area”
migration to other countries, return for another “tour of duty” in Taiwan, and permanent
return migration to the homeland. Most who planned for return to the Philippines hoped
to start a business, MaFe, for example, plans to stay for her full three years in Taiwan so
that she will be able to earn enough for her family to improve their situation. She
becomes emotional as we talk about this long period in Taiwan and her plans for return:
88 Recall that as of 2002 labor migrants are allowed to stay for two 3-year contract period in their lifetime.
247
Stephen: Do you think you'll stay for three years or just two years?
Fe: Three years.
Stephen: Three years.
Fe: Yeah. If the company wants me to stay in three years, I still three years. But, I
want to save. I want to save for, ah, when I return to the Philippines I, I have ah,
money to put a small business or for my, and for the education of my son.
Stephen: Right.
Fe: Anyway, I told my husband to be good to his child. Ah, so that if ever, that,
ah, that I, I return, we could still pay our debts.
Stephen: So, you're helping to pay off those debts and then go back to the
Philippines and then a small business. What kind of business would you have?
Fe: Ah, I plan to have a, I cannot say it now. I cannot say it now because I still
plan for it. Or what's, I’m still studying for, for it.
CONCLUSIONS
“caught between cultures.” However the other evidence presented indicates a lack of
language fluency, close personal ties with Chinese, and participation in cultural activities
and holidays of Taiwan all were low. Moreover, by means of the permanent institutions
in Taiwan that serve Filipinos homeland culture is maintained. Especially within the
enclaves surrounding the EPZs, we find that a transnational Filipino community has
well as continued daily participation social, economic, and political in the homeland.
Yet, the perception of biculturalism is important. Nearly 60% of labor migrants reported
cultures in separate social spaces. Thus, while they attempt to be included within the
receiving community and see themselves as a part of it, they are disallowed by the host
248
culture from finding a social space in which they may belong. Thus, they create a
transnational space of their own. While geographically located within Taiwan, this
community is borderless and unbounded while it goes about its pattern of everyday
interactions.
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CHAPTER 10
Lowe (2001) found that in Hong Kong workers constructed a strong social
identity as a “defense against their marginalization in their daily interactions with their
discrimination, looked to one another for protection and mutual support, forming a
businesses, and NGOs) have provided the core of this transnational enclave in Taiwan,
reinforcing the Filipino laborer’s sense of ethnic and national identity and providing a
social and physical space in which they may continue to perform homeland culture.
Each of the institutions has played a role in this maintenance of culture. Business,
often operated by the Filipina spouses of Taiwanese men, provide Philippine products,
251
formal legal services and help to arbitrate issues with the Taiwanese government on
behalf of Filipino citizens in Taiwan. Yet, it is the churches (and principally the Catholic
Church’s worldwide network of ministries for OFWs) that provide the ultimate sense of
When Christianity was first introduced to Formosa Island in the early 1600’s, the
island was already a contested space, with Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese laying
claim to the land. According to Dr. Chen Yang-En (2002), Associate Professor of
Church History at Taiwan Theological College and Seminary, Dutch missionaries were
the first to bring Western doctrine to the aboriginal population. Soon after, Spanish
Catholic missions were also established. Both the Spanish and Dutch were driven out by
the now-legendary Chinese folk-hero Koxinga. 89 It was over two-hundred years later, in
the mid-1800s that English and Canadian Presbyterian missionaries arrived. Dr. Chen
explains that, “because of the anti-foreign mentality of the Taiwanese people, many
Occupied by the Japanese from the late 1800s, Formosa Island was ceded to
China in 1943. Under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石) and the Kuomintang
(中國國民黨,also KMT or Nationalist Party), the island was governed from the
252
Mainland. However, Chiang Kai-Shek and his party were defeated in a civil war with
Mao Tse-Tung (毛澤東) and retreated to the island in 1949, bringing with them a
number of denominations (Asian and Western alike) that were exiled by the Communist
Party. According to Chen (2002), Protestants and Catholics combined make up only 2-
While the Vatican maintains diplomatic relations with the “renegade province” of
Taiwan, according to researcher Else DeVido (2002) of the Taipei Ricci Institute, only
about 1% of the population is Catholic. Formally recognized by the Vatican in 1951, the
Catholic Church in Taiwan established itself throughout the island in the 1950s, building
schools, orphanages, hospitals, and parishes. It was during this period that St. Mary’s in
Kaohsiung (where many of the ship-builders from Chi Chin Island as well as domestic
workers throughout the city attend) and St. Joseph the Worker in Nan Tze (where nearly
1975” the church was involved in many efforts to address “the disparities and social
special concern. Likewise, it was during this period that Stella Maris International
89This is the Dutch transliteration of his name. There are various transliterations of his Chinese name: Cheng
Chen-Gong (鄭成功) See http://www.premier.com.tw/Touring/Koxinga'sShrine.htm and even
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koxinga for more.
253
Seamen's Center in Kaohsiung was founded “for the American Vietnam soldiers who
were taking their ‘Rest and Recreation’ in Kaohsiung” and later to assist sailors of all
nationalities who were in need of repatriation, legal council, or simply a place to relax
(Ciceri 2001).
By the 1990s, labor migrants from the Philippines had begun attending English
masses at Catholic Churches throughout the island. With the mission of the church
turning to the “health and safety concerns for workers, employment counseling, worker’s
rest and spirituality centers” (DeVido 2002) more comprehensive social services
developed to meet their needs. According to Fr. Ciceri (2001), the formal
institutionalization of social-welfare programs for migrants began in the 1980s when the
church established the Migrant Workers Concern Desk, in Taipei to serve then
undocumented migrants. By 1994, the Episcopal Commission for Migrant and Itinerant
People (ECMI) was established and in 1997, National Migration Sunday was declared as
the last Sunday in September. In 1998, priests involved in the social and pastoral care of
In the 1990s, all over Taiwan, the Catholic Churches had become the focal point
for the communities of Filipino labor migrants. Small parishes, like St. Joseph’s, which
had dwindled to less than fifty Taiwanese members, became re-invigorated with the
influx of Catholic workers from the Philippines. With 800 to 900 regular parishioners
(most Filipinos) attending the English Mass at St. Mary’s in Kaohsiung social
celebrations such as Philippine Independence Day and other holidays were celebrated.
90 The second meeting was not held until July of 2003. I was fortunate to attend and videotape this conference.
254
The churches, thus served not only as spiritual centers, but also as social spaces in which
to build solidarity with other co-nationals. As Fr. Ciceri explains, the priests at St.
Mary’s (only a few blocks from the Seamen’s Center) recognized the special needs of
this population:
[They] realized that the needs of these workers were more than just
spiritual and opened the doors of the Stella Maris International Seamen’s
Center. On Sundays, the second floor of the Stella Maris became a “home
away from home” for many Filipino workers: free lunch was offered to
anyone who showed up at the door, parlor games, discos and other
activities were organized to ease the loneliness and the difficulties
experienced by the Filipino migrant workers (Ciceri 2001).
Equally, the churches provided a place where workers could turn for support and
assistance. As Fr. Ciceri (2001) explains, “the Church became a point of reference for
these workers with labor related problems: often the priest was called upon to mediate
between employer and broker.” In Kaohsiung especially, Fr. Ciceri indicates that there
the health and welfare of workers (i.e. the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, MECO)
I think, when I arrive back 1996, the situation was pretty bad with the, the
Filipino government. The official in that position, they were not really
helping the worker. They were really siding with the broker. And I don’t
have any problem to say, they were very corrupt. And they were getting, I
think, a lot of money from the broker and everything. And, ah, so at that
time I was fighting against broker, employer and the Manila Economic
and Cultural Office. But eventually we were able to change their labor
attaché. We have the sort of campaign here and in Philippines so the labor
attaché was changed and new people came in and I think they were really
reform the Manila Economic and Cultural Office
Recognizing all nationalities of labor migrants in need, Stella Maris was renamed the
Stella Maris International Service Center in 1999, with the shelter receiving some
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funding from the City of Kaohsiung Bureau of Labor Affairs as the Management and
newspaper article, Fr. Ciceri refers to his role at the center as the “‘7-Eleven’ nanny to
office to serve the foreign workers and sailors who take temporary shelter in Taiwan”
(Kuo 2001). Now, legally recognized by the Taiwanese government,92 the center
stranded seamen (Ciceri 2001). It also provides legal assistance and advocacy,
Fr. Ciceri also supervised the schedule of English masses at the smaller parishes in the
Kaohsiung area and much of Southern Taiwan (Tung Kang, Nan Tze, Ping Tung, etc.).
In Nan Tze specifically, he had taken over duties as the spiritual leader after the recent
departure of a Filipino priest. The parish, established originally in 1956, had a Taiwanese
membership of about 50 (served by Father Pan) and about 600 Filipino members. The
physical space of the parish was defined by a five-foot wall surrounding the property.
91 Kaohsiung was divided into two districts, with Stella Maris serving the South and the Management and
Counseling Center for Foreign Workers in Northern Kaohsiung (高雄市北區外勞諮詢輔導中心), operated by Rev.
Lin Cheng-Hong (林正宏牧師) and the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. It was my observation that the North
Center, located in Nan Tze, served primarily Thai and Vietnamese workers, with the majority of Filipino
workers preferring to go to Fr. Ciceri at Stella Maris or MECO for assistance. Jonah Lin, program secretary
and manager of daily operations at the center, provided me with a tour of the establishment and an on-camera
interview. While they did have a small number of Filipinos attending Bible study, the majority of their focus
appeared to be on serving the Thai population. Jonah indicated that they had better ties with the Thailand
Trade and Economic Office than MECO and had recently hired a Thai social worker to help with the
population.
92 A step they had to take after being raided by the Foreign Police in 1999.
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Image 37 Original 1950s building of St. Joseph and outside seating area
(note the television used to see the happenings inside at the altar)
The chapel, built in the 1950s, was far too small to accommodate the large Filipino
overhanging trees, was lined with plastic stools and wooden benches during Sunday
services. Several open-air bamboo structures were scattered about the property providing
space for small group meetings and gatherings. The entire grounds themselves were
covered in tropical flowers and trees, giving a very tropical feel in the midst of a highly
industrialized town.
This space, while providing a refuge for the Filipinos from the Nan Tze EPZ and
a focal point of social activities in the community, had recently become a contested space
as. The Taiwanese members of the church had plans to build a much larger chapel on the
property, however they lacked the funds. A struggle had ensued over the offerings
celebrations. Filipino patrons of the church had historically used the majority of these
funds to sponsor future celebrations, as well as to cover the daily operating expenses of
the church. Ellen explained: “They [the Taiwanese members] want the money, they want
to put in the savings of the Chinese because we’re in one church. But, it’s very difficult
because sometimes the Filipino need the expenses. It’s very difficult to get the money if
discrimination.” The division became even greater since it was decided that Mama
Angle, who is married to a Taiwanese member and has her Taiwanese citizenship, would
Angel: And then when Fr. Angelo come...he told me that I'm living here, so I'm
the one who'll be taking charge of the expenses and the collections. And then, the
Filipino priest, not the...
Stephen: He resigned?
Angel: Yes, and then Fr. Bruno, he told me that...I'm the one who can understand
what they are saying.
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Stephen: Right.
Angel: Yes. What, what they are talking about, that's why they just, they
always...talk to me bad words, other words, just like this priest...
Stephen: Yeah?
Angel: Yes. This, Taiwanese priest...
Stephen: Right?
Angel:.....always talking, just not like a priest, eh.
Stephen: He says bad words?
Angel: Yes, he say bad words. Yes, also.
Stephen: About the money.
Angel: Yes about the money. Yes. Because, they were looking after the Filipinos’
money.
Stephen: The Filipinos raised the money themselves, but before the Taiwanese
were controlling the money?
Angel: Yeah...
Stephen: So, you were saying that the problems you were having with your role
as the treasurer....
Angel: Yes. And, before, I just, the Taiwanese was there. They want me to come
out to talk to them. I don't want to talk to them anymore, because they're
shouting. They're shouting... they said that this place is, is, is for the Chinese
people only.
Therefore, while the property is contested and a struggle over control for the fiscal
control of the church is on-going, it is in effect a Filipino parish with over 90% of its
More important perhaps than the control of the church are the regular activities
that migrants find there. In addition to the regular morning and evening masses in
English and Tagalog, the church has a variety of religious and social groups that meet
there. Nearly half of respondents to the survey indicated that they were involved in a
church related group (with 10% involved in multiple groups). The most popular of these
groups is the El Shaddai movement93 followed by Bible study, Legion of Mary,94 and
http://www.geocities.com/elshaddai_dwxi_ppfi/phenomenon/profile-capsule.htm
259
the Three Kings at the church. Another 12% were involved in traditional dance
(Sinulog), and often practiced or performed at the church. Finally, St. Joseph’s was a
major organizer of community events, which included other denominations and non-
church-going Filipinos, such as the “Brain Twister” trivia competition and a very well
It was the church, and the activities that they sponsor, that have become the
central focus for the social life for many workers while in Taiwan. While no more
religious than at home (workers indicated attending church less frequently in Taiwan,
Other
Community outreach 9%
El Shaddai
4% 29%
Bible Study
16%
Choir
14%
Legion of Mary
15% Sinulog
8%
decline in religiosity. When offered over-time on Sundays most workers will choose to work rather than attend
services.
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a permanent institution, provided a continuity that was not possible from the short-term
groupings of migrants on three-year contracts. Nor was it possible for any of the
businesses, catering to the marginal economy of migrants with limited funds and dire
While they did provide daily gathering spots and cultural havens, the narrow profit
margins, competition with Taiwanese owned businesses, and rapid turnover were too
great to build the same level of community resources that the churches provide.
events, lacked the means and mandate to establish social centers in every town or
economic zone where migrants were located. Finally, while Protestant groups, like the
Higher Ground Free Methodist Church in Nan Tze and the Jesus is Lord Fellowship in
Kang Shan, were able to provide a social and religious space to some, the Catholic
Church’s fifty-year history of social activism with minority populations and workers in
Taiwan (via CARITAS)96 gave them an infrastructure with which to serve first the
undocumented migrants in the 1980s, and later the legally-imported laborers since 1992.
Catholics and the fact that more than 80% of Filipinos are Catholic (Central Intelligence
Bureau 2003) created a logical match between existing churches lacking members and
Filipinos needing a place in which to celebrate their culture. Yet, as noted by the case of
St. Joseph’s, this match was not without its problems as local parishioners struggle to
workers.
CONCLUSIONS
The void left in the Catholic church in Taiwan by dwindling numbers of Taiwanese
Catholics, provided a space in which Filipino migrants may reconstruct a cultural refuge.
flight of the Catholic church from the mainland to Taiwan provided an established, long-
term infrastructure that the Filipino migrants would utilize when they arrived in the
1990s. Moreover, as a long-term institution, the church may act as bedrock to the
setting in which to celebrate homeland culture, the church is the primary institution of
For me, it’s just a training ground, a training ground in different aspects
of our lives like in our, like here in the church. So, it’s a training ground
that we serve other people then. Not just the Mass alone, but the activities
outside. And then, when we go back to the Philippines, that’s the time that
we can really apply what we have learned here in different ways I think.
- Lanie
challenges them to renegotiate their self-concept as their various roles and statuses have
changed within the new social milieu. As explained previously, both micro and macro
forces work to transform the individual as their identity is reinterpreted to be the “alien
outsider.”
The receiving context plays a major structural role in this process. It is expected
that a more inclusive receiving environment, especially one with existing models of
a hostile receiving environment causes a loss of status and self-esteem. This exclusion
and rejection may lead some groups to return migration or onward (step) migration.
However, the constraints of huge debts, incurred as a result of labor placement fees, do
not permit this option for most Filipinos. In the case of factory workers, the formation of
an ethnic enclave, and institutions that maintain the enclave regardless of the temporary
status of workers, has provided another option. As Filipinos redefine themselves as the
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minority out-group, they begin a process of re-building their sense of self-worth and
strengthen their group solidarity. Following the argument of Tajfel (as cited in Smith and
Bond 1998), there is only one possible outcome for Filipino migrants in Taiwan. They
may not exercise Tajfel’s idea of social mobility, as there are no other minority groups
they may join and the Taiwanese society is clearly not one of “individualistic cultures
with their emphasis on equal opportunity and freedom of association.” Nor do they seek
outright social change by changing “the attributes of their [own] group so that it would
command more favorable evaluations in the future.” While, efforts are made by NGOs
and churches to influence policy changes, little can be done without governmental
support, educational, or media to influence the way in which migrants are perceived by
the society. Thus, they exercise what Tajfel terms social creativity by reinforcing the
Now Before
Code N Percent N Percent
PT – Negative 19 16.7% 39 49.4%
PT – Neutral 19 16.7% 13 16.5%
PT – Positive 76 66.7% 27 34.2%
Total 114 100.0% 79 100.0%
from an analysis of the 432 responses to the Twenty Statements Test and the subsequent
personality traits (PT), social roles (SR), and other statements. Group level comparison
of before and during migration statements were made, as well as scrutiny of changes at
Phyiscal Description
1%
SR - Ethnic/Cultural
0%
Other
5%
SR - Occupational
11%
SR - Relational
Social Role
29%
51%
Personality Trait
43%
SR - Religious 6%
SR - Non-Religious 3%
SR - Activity 2%
Before migration, the identity of the migrant was embedded within the context of
their social roles. 52% of all pre-migration statements were coded as social roles. In
contrast, only 43% of statements during migration were related to social roles. The
greatest portion of these roles were attributed to the relational social roles of the family.
In all, 56% of statements regarding social roles, or roughly 30% of all statements, were
associated with these relational roles. These statements most commonly located the
and more independent than before. Only 31% of social role statements were relational
roles. Moreover, these roles only accounted for 13% of all identity statements. Relational
roles also reflected the transition from family member to provider of resources for the
As the collective family roles became a less salient part of migrant identity,
religion and ethnic/cultural identity were seen as more important. While before migration
identity. More importantly, 63% of these ethnic/cultural identity statement were given in
the first three sentences provided by the migrants. Pride in national origin, citizenship,
and being an Overseas Filipino Worker, seen both as an important occupational and
cultural role, are seen as evidence of the redefining of self in nationalistic terms:
Due in part to the nature of the sample, primarily from religious institutions in
Nan Tze, more than 35% of social role statements were religious in nature. Nevertheless,
while the sample may be skewed in favor of more devote migrants, it does clearly show
that religion has become a major part of their sense of self. Only 13% of pre-migration
role statements were religious and 6% of role statements indicated that the migrant was
In contrast, the same individuals indicated that they had experienced a religious
conversion or had become much more committed to their social roles within the church:
SR - Ethnic/Cultural 4%
SR - Occupational 8%
Personality Trait
46%
SR - Relational
13%
Social Role
43%
SR - Religious
15%
SR - Activity 2%
Other
11%
The shift in migrant self-concept from the collective sense of self as a member of
the family to a more independent and individualistic self as member of a community may
be best witnesses in the 114 mostly positive statements coded as personality traits.
Before migration, nearly 50% of personality traits were indicative of a negative self-
concept:
Phyiscal Description 1%
Other
5%
PT - Negative
21%
Personality Trait
43%
Social Role
51% PT - Positive
15%
PT - Neutral 7%
In Taiwan, personality traits reveal an awareness of the transitions in self that the migrant
has undergone as the result of difficult work conditions, exclusion, and having to become
Other
11% PT - Negative
8%
PT - Positive
31%
Personality Trait
46%
Social Role
42%
PT - Neutral
8%
OTHER STATEMENTS
The majority of statements coded as other situated the migrant within their
current environment or spoke of the “public self” (the list of data we provide when asked
who we are such as name, age, residence, etc.). For example, while asked to answer the
question “who am I?” as if posing the question to oneself, six of the respondents began
with their names. While names could be coded as social roles,97 I saw them as
superfluous and not indication of the individual’s self-concept. Likewise, the eight work-
related statements were more labor grievances than statements of identity. The following
examples, while providing insight into the relationship with employers and feeling of
97 See for example Tan Sim Yin's coding system of the Twenty Statements Test in the Appendix of Personal
Attitudes, Early Childhood Recollections and Self-Descriptions HELP Institute Journal of Psychology online at:
http://www2.help.edu.my/departments/psychology/hijop/article/article04.doc retrieved April 12, 2004.
271
In all, 5% of pre-migration and 11% of during migration statements were coded as other.
TRANSITIONS IN SELF
that becomes even more evident in the interviews. As both a means of “breaking the ice”
and eliciting further examples of the shift in migrant identities, participants were asked to
explain in greater detail the statement made on the TST. Themes of independence and
self-sufficiency emerged, as well as a more clear picture of the role of work and religion
I have shown that social roles, especially obligations to the family, though no less
regarding personal traits become more positive as migrant first becomes independent of
the family, and then the primary source of income for them. This observance may be due
in part to the age of the workers. The majority of factory workers interviewed (especially
the women in Nan Tze), have only recently graduated from colleges and, until their
migration, have lived in multi-generational family units. They are now “on their own” in
the world having to rely on themselves and the connections they make independent of
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the family. In this way, they develop greater autonomy, a stronger sense of self and even
improved self-esteem.
Lanie, for example, explains that her decision regarding money have become
Stephen: You said that you’re independent and economical. What’s made you
independent?
Lanie: Independent in decision making, in planning how I can improve myself.
Everything in myself, because I am alone here. Just, I just have friends that can
advise me, but it’s me who will decide what’s good for me and then just prayer
for guidance. But, being economical, maybe because it’s my first job, a serious
job, that I have learned money. It’s very hard, but it’s easy to spend. I have to
spend only on the things that are necessary.
Similarly, Jenny finds in this interview with Josephine that she has become more self-
sufficient. Where before she would rely on her father for support, she has been forced to
Jenny: While you were here, did you, did you notice any changes in yourself that
you didn't notice when you were in Philippines? Has anything changed while
you're here in Taiwan?
Josephine: Ah, a lot.
Jenny: Yeah?
Josephine: For example, when I was studying, I had this attitude, "I can't do this."
I'd tell myself, "maybe this is wrong." But, I realized that if you, if you already
experienced, because for example, before, whenever I go home with an
assignment I just tell my father, "Tatay [Father], I have an assignment." He'd just
say, "Okay."
Jenny: Then he would do your assignment?
Josephine: He would do it. And, I would just watch TV. And then, after a while,
"[Jo], it's done."
Jenny: So you became dependent.
Josephine: It's done and all I have to do is copy it in my notebook.
Jenny: Great!
Josephine: Yeah. It's like, always like that. But, I didn't understand what he
wrote. All I did was copy it. So I became so dependent on them that sometimes
when I do things on my own I would say, "Maybe this is wrong. Something must
be wrong." Yeah, but you'll realize later, when you are alone. You would think
whatever happens, wrong or right, I did it myself. I feel confident.
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Josephine, who was only nineteen years old and used fake credential to come to Taiwan,
Josephine: ...I was also shy before. Before, if my mother has a visitor, I really
would, I would hide. I didn't want to, I didn't want to, there's someone at the door,
he would knock. I would pretend I didn't hear. I would run to the, I would pretend
that I used the bathroom, If somebody knocks, I run to the bathroom. I pretend I
had been there before somebody knocked. Then I would think, "Who was that?"
And, I would take a peek. "Ah, so, he's the one who knocked." But after Taiwan,
I don't care anymore whoever you are. I changed.
She attributes these changes to the process of maturation that she has undergone as a
result of becoming and OFW: “...my mind has broadened. My outlook on life has, I
became mature. It's different now. I'm thinking of different things now. It's like, it's more
Caroline, likened this process to one of rehabilitation. Unlike many, she had lived
in away from her family while attending university in the capital. As a result, she had
already experience a great deal of autonomy. The compulsory curfew and restrictions in
Taiwan, and having more friends who were church-goers acted to curb her “naughty”
behavior. Yet, the experience of being an OFW also carried a element of humility and
Caroline: ... here I don’t go out often. I just, during Sundays, and after work, I go
to Mass. After Mass, if there is no practice in the choir, I go home and sleep, like
that. Or, watch movie inside the room.
Stephen: So what did you do in the Philippines?
Caroline: ...in the Philippines, I have a lot of friends there. I have freedom. I don’t
have curfew. And then, I have many friends. We go out, anytime you want, I
smoke there. Here, I don’t smoke. I drink there. Here, I don’t drink. Something
like that. And then, here I go to church, and there in the Philippines, no time, like
that. I have time, but then I don’t. So, I feel like I’m being rehabilitated.
Stephen: Okay, by not having the opportunity to go out and all of the things
you…
Caroline: Yeah, maybe I’m, you know, in a person’s life, there’s a peak, and
then, after that, maybe I am, you know, I’m going down. Not, because the peak of
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my being easygoing and happy go lucky, naughty and, you know. Maybe I
already reach that peak. So now I’m…
Stephen: ...Longing to be more responsible?
Caroline: Yeah, more responsible, like that.
Stephen: Okay, And that’s what you said next, that you’re responsible,
hardworking, and God-fearing, okay. Tell me about being responsible, hard
working and God-fearing...
Caroline: God-fearing because it’s only now that I realize, you know, I’ve said a
while a go that here, maybe it’s the time for me, to, to, to realize the mistakes I
did before, you know. And, until now, I felt like, I felt like I didn’t achieve
anything, you know. Unlike my friends. My other friends, who are now, you
know, one of my friends in the Philippines, number 5 in the bar exam, while me,
I’m here in Taiwan as a factory worker. I didn’t, actually, I didn’t tell them. That
I’m here…
Stephen: Why? Do you think there’s any shame of being here?
Caroline: Yeah, because they don’t, they don’t, they don’t expect me to work
here as a factory worker.
Throughout the interviews, religious institutions were seen not only as a space in
which to come together with co-ethnics and celebrate homeland culture, but also as a
resource for developing the skills to overcome the hardships of life in Taiwan. The
message in many of the sermons and teaching was patience, perseverance, adjustment,
Lanie for example, explains that when she first arrived in Taiwan she was
tempted to spend her new earnings on “material things” (clothing and jewelry) and go
out with friends. It was through the church though that she learned to “live a simple life”:
serving here [church]. But then, eventually, so many things changed, that I have
to live the life simply. I just have to help my family. I have to help my co-
workers. I have to help.
Stephen: So the church, then. It was a slow process?
Lanie: Yeah. It’s not that easily changed. I became simple, became... A slow
process, yeah.
Others found in the church a refuge from both the problems of Taiwan, but also clarity in
Jenny: Just more God-fearing because I’ve away from my family for so long and
the family that I got is Him.
Stephen: So religion has become important to you because you depend more on it
more than before when you have a family to depend on?
Jenny: Hum um (nods).
Stephen: What other things have changed? You came here the first time for
adventure. this time, it’s because you…
Jenny: I need the money.
Stephen: You need the money. But, you also say you were bored in the
Philippines. You said that you were bored at your sister’s house.
Jenny: The, another reason why I go here, I went here, is because I want to get
away from something. I could not tell Father, Father Bruno. He told us that some
of you here are just to get away from their troubles in the Philippines. And he’s
right.
Stephen: What troubles are you trying to get away from?
Jenny: Those things, like you can’t face. The fact that we’re living with my
husband’s family. And…
Stephen: Did that cause stress on your marriage with your husband?
Jenny: Yeah. It’s always that and the family. And I want to have something of my
own. I want to earn something of my own, so that I could do all the things I want
to do.
Many of the men involved with the born-again Christian group in Kang Shan,
indicated that it was through the church that they overcame their “vices” and “sinful”
behaviors. Joshua talked of being an “unfaithful friend and husband,” an “alcoholic,” and
a “cruel person.” Now he plans on attending Bible school and becoming a preacher.
Similarly, Jin explained that during his wild-days in college he was “very lazy,” “a
chain-smoker,” “addicted to hard drinks,” “loved x-rated movies,” and was the “black
276
sheep of the family.” It was not until he married in 1997, that he began to settle down.
But, as he puts it he was “a little wild” still when he went to Taiwan in 1999. He
attributes his participation in the Jesus is Lord (JIL) group in Taiwan as having improved
his life, as well as his relationship with his wife and son.
Other positive personality traits may have resulted from the arduous work
conditions and even unfair treatment in the workplace. Positive statements such as being
“more patient,” “more versatile,” and “harder working,” could be directly linked to
enduring the conditions of the workplace. For example, Fe explains that she has had to
learn to operate many machines. Also, because she didn’t want to work for a particular
Similarly, Gina had to adapt to very harsh work conditions on her first trip. She learned
patience and perseverance as well a “dedication in whatever career or job [she’s] taken.”
She explains how difficult these conditions were at her first job in Taiwan:
Gina: Ah, we have six machines. It is very, very long. Very, very long and ah,
ahh, one side, one side of the machine has, ah, almost one thousand spindles. For,
for the thread. Yeah. And then, two sides. So one machine has almost two
thousand spindles. You have to look after that. Two thousand times six machines.
277
Marivel, on the other hand, was still in training. While having to learn new job
skills she said her greatest challenge was to become patient: “Ah, especially in, in the, in
the production. I'm, I'm now a trainee. I have to be patient with my trainer.” If she made
a major mistake while operating the new machines she would be subject to “disciplinary
action” such as loosing incentives or even being sent home after three such mistakes.
These sanctions made her more conscious of the fact that what she does may have a
It is clear from the Twenty Statements Tests and interviews that some change has
occurred in the perceived identity of the individual. This shift become apparent in the
278
shift in social roles of the migrant as well as in their individual personality traits. As a
result of the migration experience and the context of their reception, the Overseas
Filipino Workers in Taiwan have become: more individualistic; more independent; more
aware their ethnic/cultural identity; and they have a stronger, more positive sense of self
Before migration, the salient identity of OFWs in Taiwan was embedded in the
social roles of the family and the responsibilities or obligations toward the family. Nearly
30% of all before statements referenced these family social roles. Moreover, as explained
in Chapter 8, it was the deep sense of obligation to the family that resulted in the
economic need for migration. However, in the xenophobic context of Taiwanese society,
foreign workers are assigned the label of the out-group. They are treated as the “alien
other,” and assigned a lesser role in the socially stratified society. The obvious rejection
opportunities for assimilation are greatly limited by the structural constraints of their
employment, the governmental policies limiting their mobility, and the lack of a “place”
within the host society. As shown before, even the foreign spouses of Taiwanese men
experience this negative response and cannot provide a model of incorporation within the
society to other migrants. Rather, they too become part of the enclave instead of
Yet, while socially rejecting the foreign workers, the host community does supply
economic opportunity that they cannot find in their homeland. The outcome is an attitude
motivate the worker to seek an understanding of the Taiwanese and few opportunities to
explore the culture. However, for those living in the vicinity of the Economic Processing
279
Zones, there is a pull to reaffirm their ethnic/cultural heritage, and even nationalistic
pride, as the institutions of the enclave provide a sanctuary from the social isolation of
In-turn, a refusal to become like the dominate society, or reactive ethnic identity,
regionalistic identities of Filipino migrants. As they focus their free time on the
ameliorate their quality of life and mediate the discrimination they experience in the
receiving community. They also provide a transnational space that allows the celebration
festivals, music, dance, language, food, and activity groups centered on cultural
expression. Essentially, migrants recognize their national unity and citizenship and
Thus, while one’s identity was previously rooted in the collectivism of the
extended family, the migration experience itself has lead to a more salient national
identity as well as more importance in the individualized self. While the experience is
independence from family and the shift in roles to that of economic “provider” are
reflected in the many statements like, “I am doing everything for my parents, brother,
and sister,” and “I am financially supporting my sister's schooling.” For many this was
280
CONCEPT OF SELF
Rejection by host community: Xenophobia, exclusion,
discrimination, harsh working conditions, prejudice,
unfair labor standards
RECEIVING SOCIETY
Indifference toward host community, lack of
assimilation opportunities, reactive ethnicity,
formation of enclave
the transition from dependent to patron of the family helped to create a more positive
self-concept. Twice as many of the “after migration” statements in the TST were
personality traits, indicating grater individualism. Likewise, nearly three times as many
positive personality traits were given than before migration, point to an improved self-
98 Observational evidence suggests that the dance clubs, bars, and other non-religious social institutions, which
also cater to Filipino migrants around the EPZs, provide a similar place in which they may find refuge from
the host society.
CHAPTER 12
transnationalism, assimilation, and social identity theory and fit them within the
approach to studying labor migration. More importantly my interest was to show the
effect that the receiving community has on the individual migrants and their self-concept,
Similarly, the research has pulled from various ethnographic methodologies not
commonly found in migration research. While no one element of the project’s approach
tests, and the participatory nature of the work provide a more complete depiction of the
subject than any one approach may have accomplished. In this way, the project
ground in new mixed-methods approaches. Likewise, this approach will allow for a
peripheral nation, Taiwan has only recently become a receiving country. Unlike many
Western nations, it imports laborers through a regularized and legal system, but
282
disallows them equal rights within the labor market. It also bars them from ever
becoming permanent settlers, excluding them from real social participation in the
society. Both economic and cultural reasons are suggested for these practices. Thus,
Taiwan provides an ideal setting in which to test the hypothesis that a monocultural,
participation will result in creating marginalized individuals who’s sense of ethnic self is
population of migrants it was predicted that enclaves would form around this reactionary
description of the cumulative causes of Philippines –Taiwan labor migration and the
narrative of exit for individual migrants, to a depiction of the reception context and the
and then finally to the reactive formation of an enclave community and the individual’s
shift in self concept as a result of their migration experiences. Evidence of this exit–
levels and was drawn from the ethnographic survey data, interviews, field observations,
writings.
However, the limitations of the study must be noted. As with any ethnography,
generalizable claims may not be made, though special effort was made (by employing
broader sample than the participants in the interviews and observations alone. While the
283
arguments made herein seem to support the hypothesis, Taiwan, as a single case study,
countries would be of use (for example Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong). Likewise,
Nan Tze is only one of the Economic Processing Zones in Taiwan, and while there is
evidence that enclaves (such as “little Manila” in Taipei) do exist, it may not be the case
in all such settings. Instrumental in the Nan Tze community is the central role of the
recruited from these religious centers, the data may be skewed and atypical of
dissertation fitting them to the theoretical model established in Chapter 2. I then discuss
social and policy concerns arising from my inquiry of migrants in Taiwan and give broad
recommendations for governmental agencies in Taiwan and the Philippines and non-
that showed how early sojourning migrants help to promote future migrations by the
establishment of strong social ties between sending and receiving regions. The argument
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was made, in Chapter 5, that rapid population growth, a high dependency ratio, under-
and unemployment and lack of development “push” migrants from the Philippines to
seek overseas employment. The polices of the Philippines government to endorse labor
migration and international remittances, further promote the “culture” of migration that
has developed. In Taiwan, I contended that the rapid decline in the birth rate, low levels
companies to search elsewhere for low-cost laborers thus “pulling” workers from other
recruitment process and the creation of the placement-broker hiring system outlined in
Chapter 6. This system was instrumental in affording the migrant just enough economic
advantage to migrate, yet keeping their financial obligation and debt high enough that
they would be compliant workers throughout their residence in Taiwan. However, this
system has been challenged by NGOs and labor rights groups who have won small
consolations from the Chen government with changes in the policies regarding
centers and shelters. However, these concessions have been made at the same time as
wage cuts, quota reductions, and charges for room and board.
Chapter 6 further details the system of foreign labor recruitment that, in essence,
potential workers and often lend them money for fees borrowed against future earnings
of family properties in the Philippines. This practice creates debt at such levels that
workers must their first year, and sometimes longer, paying back what they owe rather
285
than supporting family through remittances or saving for future endeavors. Indebtedness
is further exacerbated by monthly fees and deductions for labor brokers in Taiwan and
especially the common practice of “side” contracts that exceed legally agreed upon fees,
well. This follows too from cumulative causation theory. While, in this case, material
culture of the host society is actually rejected by the migrants, the remittances they send
afford family the ability to purchase goods from beyond their local communities. In a
similar manner, material goods (DVD players, small TVs, Radios, and other electronics)
are brought back with returnees thus impacting the culture of the sending community and
encouraging, by example, others to migrate so that they may afford such luxuries.
often made at the family level as economic necessity and kinship obligations lead the
most “fit” member(s) of the family to migrate and thus contribute to the support of
others. Social ties within the context of reception and returnees further aid encourage
family, create a referral and support network that assist the potential migrant in locating
labor recruiters (and in some cases even jobs), loaning them funds to pay placement fees,
and providing them with information on the receiving context. In Chapter 7, we saw that
while economic necessity lead to migration, social ties were often essential to the
selection of a destination country. This is not to say that it is the only means of selecting
a receiving country. The data from the Nan Tze survey demonstrated that placement
286
agents in the Philippines also promote certain destinations through advertisements and
agency recruiters. Also, social ties and commitments within the institutions of the ethnic
enclave, also worked to keep the migrant in Taiwan well passed the time when some are
politically excluded and isolated from the dominant society. I argue in Chapter 8 that this
exclusion is the result of a cultural fear of foreigners, especially those who are from
by Taiwan’s ongoing attempt to define its own national identity (as separate and unique
from the PRC, and other countries in the region) and to protect historically marginalized
domestic minorities (aboriginal groups that now comprise less than 2% of the
population), the government creates an underclass of imported laborers who are not
given equal legal protection nor equal pay, and who are often subjected to policies that
disregard their basic human rights. As Taiwan attempts to enter the global political arena,
these violations of international labor standards99 and human rights laws will become
labor laws, lack of ability to select new employers among those approved for foreign
99 See the ILO’s Fundamental Conventions especially: Freedom of Association, Abolition of Forced Labor,
individual rights in negotiating contracts while “side contract” are unilaterally decided by
conditions, constant state surveillance, and unchecked employer abuses are all issues that
will play in the debate over the status of Taiwan as a full member of the international
community.
incorporation do not occur. Filipinos are not found to become incorporated into dominant
society in the linear structural sense (as an entrance of the immigrant group into the
social groups of the host society), nor in a “bumpy line” of socioeconomic assimilation,
Taiwanese, is limited only to the most extrinsic characteristics (perhaps eating with
(Filipina wives of Taiwanese men) is there any real evidence of linguistic assimilation or
attempts to dress like or present one’s self as Taiwanese. Though again, in the few cases
presented here, intrinsic traits of religion, values, and tastes, were still predominantly
Filipino.
language, and society. In the conclusion of Chapter 8, I contend that factory workers,
recognizing that they must, to some degree, “get along” with Taiwanese employers and
the public, develop only a limited proficiency in Taiwanese or Mandarin. Few adopt any
of the cultural practices of Taiwan other than using chopsticks or eating some Taiwanese
foods (usually those that resemble foods common also in the Philippines). Social ties to
Taiwanese are typically weak with some acceptance at an individual level if the
case that, at the group level, there is little in the way of acceptance of dominant culture
and thus very limited acculturation. On an everyday basis, migrants instead maintain
reinforced, especially among the factory workers. A reactive, ethnic identity that is
social participation in the host culture, look to co-ethnic ties for solidarity and group
identity. Especially in the areas around the Economic Processing Zones, they build
economic, social, and cultural enclaves. Chapter 10 presents the thesis that these
communities, centered on cultural and social activities in the churches and the economic
activities of Filipina spouses of Taiwanese men, are transnational in nature and facilitate
the movement of goods, services, information, and people between the Philippines and
Taiwan. The role of the migrant spouses in providing Filipino goods and services also
serve as an example of the marginality of permanent residents who are not active within
Identity Theory, presented in Burke and Stets (2000) and recounted in Chapter 2,
discusses the self as occupying a role. Identity, they explain, is determined by the role
the individual assumes within the social structure and the internalization of the role
processes occurring as a result of the shift in social roles. For the individual, the
migration and employment experiences lead to a shift in roles and status within the
workers in particular gain independence and improved self-esteem from the experience
individual’s group identity (i.e. ethnic or national). All of the migrants in this study were
found to have developed a more salient Filipino identity as the experience of “othering”
(or being the out-group to the dominant society) challenged their ethnic identity. At the
group level, this challenge has lead to a celebration of cultural heritage and a group
These group activities, for the factory workers in particular, become the basis for
group solidarity is reinforced. Following Faist’s (2002b) argument the activities of the
enclave are transnational in nature as they create distinct social spaces that transcend the
boundaries of nations. Cultural celebrations, the remittances of funds and material goods,
the constant circulation of individuals between the countries, the everyday ties that are
three realms that Faist lays out: transnational kinship groups, transnational circuits and
transnational communities.
THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS
While providing only a single case study in this project, this work may develop as
and the social structure of the receiving country. It has combined the individual and
group levels of analysis and fit them within the macro economic, political, and
demographic context. This research has interesting implications for the discourse on
for the distinct outcomes of various migrant groups within a given context. Contextual
factors such as ethnic composition of the receiving community, social constraints on the
aspects like governmental policies, economic processes, and demographic factors are all
The primary concern that I have from this research experience involves the
Taiwan over migrant laborers. From the analysis of the survey data, the system of
291
placement agencies and brokers has been shown to systematically overcharge workers.
Both placement agencies and brokers alike are culpable. Placement agents were on
average charging workers twice to three times the legal fees allowed by the Philippine
The profiteering and other exploitive practices are created from the migration
system itself. While legitimated by both the Taiwanese and Philippine governments,
brokers and placement agents are comparable to the illegal smugglers of undocumented
“coyotes” at the US-Mexico border, “mafiosos” in the North-Africa to Spain trade, etc.).
These intermediaries, with governmental awareness, operate outside of and around the
laws of both countries. Migrants are coerced to “borrow” monies to pay exorbitant and
illegal placement fees from “lending agencies” associated with the broker/placement
agency. Likewise, they often pay legal, but unscrupulous, additional fees for jackets,
hats, “extra” paperwork, and the like. While at the airport and ready to depart (after
paying large sums or deposits on their placement) they are made to sign “side contracts”
that, in effect, negate the legitimate contracts negotiated between governments. These
side contracts impose additional expenses, deductions, or harsh living restrictions (such
as no day off, no overtime, no cell phones, etc.). The migrant has little agency or voice in
the system and are thus marginalized in the global labor market.
are offered substantial incentives to move their operations to the Economic Processing
Zones of Taiwan including exemption from import tax, commodity tax, and business tax.
Canon, Epson, and numerous suppliers of other major international conglomerates profit
from this arrangement. In effect, companies are paid to locate in Taiwan, while workers
from other Southeast Asian countries must pay for the opportunity to work at reduced
wages in the these EPZs. Employers too were found to be exploiting laborers by not
operating multiple machines simultaneously), and paying earned overtime as days off.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
There are a number of policy recommendations that emerge from this research
and may be of use to governmental agencies, NGOs providing relief services to migrants,
and companies that employ migrant laborers. These recommendations are related to a
network migrants, addressing labor and human rights concerns, and changes to the
would be the area that is in most need of restructuring. While attempts were made to
allow companies to hire workers directly from the sending countries, thus circumventing
placement agents and brokers, no incentives were used to promote this undertaking.
Taiwan, while offering huge incentives to companies to locate in the EPZs, could do
more to promote direct hiring by offering a streamlined visa program for these
293
efficient for employers to contract with brokers for maintenance of paperwork and the
six-month cycles of updating of working permits (with the employees paying the
expenses). If this process were made less cumbersome, with perhaps only yearly or every
other year updating of documents, employers would be able to maintain records from
their own human resources departments rather than employing labor brokers. Moreover,
labor brokers, who are supposed to represent the employee in disputes and negotiations
with employers, have been found to collude with the employers to suppress and control
workers.
Social, health, and mental health services, while being provided by the regional
counseling centers could be better administered through local churches and other
trained social workers from the sending countries, and perhaps train permanent resident
migrants such as co-ethnic spouses of Taiwanese men. These social workers should be
placed within the setting of the migrant enclaves, near dorms or other centers of
congregation. Domestic workers in particular are subjected to serious human rights and
housekeepers, including occasional visits to the homes where they are employed, should
be instituted. Changes to the laws and penalties regarding illegal work by domestic
workers should be established to protect the worker, rather than the employer. The
current system of a warning the employer on the first offense before reassignment of the
worker results more often in employers illegally deporting workers who contact
authorities.
294
For all workers there should be rights to collective bargaining and equal pay.
be provided for each sending country. Current laws disallow the individual agency in
negotiating contracts, instead giving all power to the employer and broker by upholding
“side-contracts” that forced on the worker in a coercive manner. All addendums signed
after POEA approval of the labor agreement should be deemed illegal and penalties
Workers should receive full and equivalent coverage under domestic labor
standards laws in all sectors and industries. Separate contracts should be offered based
on the specific industry and job duties. Employees, often hired simply as a laborer, find,
only after they arrive, that their positions involve handling of caustic, hazardous and
carcinogenic materials or their duties entail other unsafe work conditions. Thus, while
employers have the option to dismiss workers within the first days of their contracts
without cause, workers too should have the rights to move within the labor force at least
within those sectors and companies that are authorized to hire them.
of the workplaces. Audits of company labor practices and allegations of abuses should be
carried out and unethical employers should lose the right to hire overseas workers.
Arbitration and mediation should be moved from the realm of the broker to an
independent agency. All cases where employees are to be repatriated should first be
industry and NGOs included. Currently, there are no provisions for workers who are
295
being illegally repatriated other than to escape and seek shelter with one of the
counseling centers.
must do more than adopt the rhetoric of human rights and fair trade. Taiwan has become
increasingly embedded in the global networks of trade and, while historically a sending
country itself, it will continue to develop as a destination for migrants from core nations
as well as other developing Southeast Asian countries. While struggling with its long
history under the authoritarian rule of General Chang Kai Shek (蔣介石), reconciling the
past mistreatment of domestic minority groups, and searching for its own national/ethnic
identity, Taiwan’s populace must learn to become pluralistic and inclusive of the
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APPENDIX A
股份有限公司
外籍員工管理手冊 RULES AND REGULATION FOR FOREIGN LABORER
本管理手冊內容為本廠管理外籍員工各項規定,與中華民國法律及勞動契約、本廠廠規,共同約束外籍員工
行為,本廠外籍員工均需遵守之。
RULES AND REGULATION HOW TO MANAGE FOREIGN LABOR.IT WILL BE ACCORDING TO TAIWAN LAW.AND THE
CONTRACT SIGNED BY BOTH PARTY.ORDERS AS FOLLOWS.THE FOLLOWING ORDERS MUST BE OBEY BY ALL
WORKERS:
出勤 WORKING SCHEDULE
1. 上班:日班 08:00~16:30 (8小時),夜班 20:00~08:00 (12小時)(射出班輪班)
DAY SHIFT 08:00~16:30 (8HOURS),NIGHT SHIFT 20:00~08:30(12HOURS)SHIFTING.
2. 加班:依現場主管指示加班與否。
OVERTIME :IT WILL BE ANNOUNCE BY THE DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR.
3. 用餐:中餐、晚餐、夜點、各有30分鐘用餐。
MEAL TIME :BREAKFAST,LUNCH,DINNER IT WILL 30 MINUTES EACH MEAL.
4. 休息:視各單位規定。(10分鐘)
BREAKTIME:IT DEPEND ON DEPARTMENT RULES.
5. 上班及交接班應準時並打卡及配帶識別証,逾時上班以遲到論。
ALWAYS BE ON TIME AND DON’T BE LATE ON GOING TO WORK AND CHANGING OF SHIFT, WEAR YOUR
PROPER UNIFORMS AND I.D.
6. 無事先請假未上班者,以曠職論。(曠職一日罰三日薪資)
A.W.O.L ONE DAY (DEDUTION AUTOMATICALLY 3 DAY.
7. 曠職三日即屬脫逃,由警方發佈全國通緝歸案。
IF THE COMPANY DEDUCT YOUR SALARY FOR THE OFFENCE A.W.O.L,DONT GET MAD OR ESCAPE,
PUNISHMENT WILL TURN OVER TO TAIWAN LAW.
8. 上班時間內,嚴禁喝酒、吸菸、罷工、怠工及曠職。
THERE WILL BE NO SMOKING,DRINKING LIQUOR,STRIKE,HAPPEN IN WORKING TIME.
9. 上班時間內,應聽從現場主管指派工作。
OBEY ALL ORDERS OF YOUR SUPERVISOR.
請假 LEAVE
1. 病假:於病假前一日填假單提出申請,看病取診斷證明銷假。(重大傷病及意外傷害除外)
SICK LEAVE MUST BE INFORM TO YOU SUPERVISOR FIRST AND FILE A SICK LEAVE FORM WITH
DOCTORS CERTIFICATE.(EXCEPT THE MAJOR ACCIDENT)
2. 假單需經管理處批淮後生效。
FILE A LEAVE, FILL THE FORM AND MUST BE APPROVED BY THE ADMINISTRATION OFFICE, BEFORE
YOU CAN MAKE AN ABSENT.
薪資 SALARY
1. 月薪:每月最低薪資為 15,840 元。(非加班費計算基礎)
MONTHLY BASIC SALARY: 15.840.(OVERTIME NOT INCLUDED)
2. 加班:男生每小時 元/時,女生每小時 元/時。(假日亦同)
OVERTIME : MALE : /PER HOUR, FEMALE : /PER HOUR (SAME AS HOLIDAY)
3. 發薪:每月5日發放上一月薪資。
SALARY :YOU CAN CLAIM EVERY 5TH OF THE MONTH.
4. 領薪:月領3,000元零用金,月存3,000元保證金,其餘薪資扣除貸款後匯回外籍員工指定國外帳戶
。
ALLOWANCE AND DEDUCTION: MONTHLY ALLOWANCE 3.000 ONLY, BANNED MONEY 3.000 DEPOSITED IN
YOUR ACCOUNT (TAIWAN) THE REST MONEY WILL AUTOMATICALLY SEND OR REMMITTED TO THE
PHILIPPINES, ON YOUR ACCOUNT.
中 華 民 國 年 月 日
320
APPENDIX B
This survey is anonymous and confidential. None of the information you provide will be shared
with your supervisor/ line leader or employer, government, agencies or brokers. The interests of
this survey are for academic and social justice purposes. Generalized information about the lives
of Filipino OFWs will be used to better the conditions of Filipinos and other labor migrants
throughout the world. Thank you for your participation.
A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. Sex:
○Male ○Female
2. Age: _______ years
3. Marital Status:
o Never Married
o Engaged (How long? ______________months/ years)
o Married (How long? ______________months/ years)
o Separated
o Divorced
o Widowed
4. a. How many children do you have? _________________________
4b. Single parent?
o No
o Yes
5. Which region of the Philippines are you from:
___________________________________
0 1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
13. Rate your overall English
None Little Some Fluent Perfectly Native
language ability
Knowledge Knowledge Fluent Speaker
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
14. Rate your overall Mandarin
None Little Some Fluent Perfectly Native
language ability
Knowledge Knowledge Fluent Speaker
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
15. Rate your overall Taiwanese
None Little Some Fluent Perfectly Native
language ability
Knowledge Knowledge Fluent Speaker
30. What problems have you had with your supervisor/ line leader or employer (check all
that apply)?
o Unpaid overtime o Employment other than as stated by
o “Unreasonable” workload* contract
o Lack of rest breaks o Fees, Charges, Deductions, Taxes other
than those agreed by contract
o Lack of lunch/dinner breaks
o Unpaid days off (due to lack of work) o Verbal abuse by manager/employer
o Lack of payment of wages o Physical abuse by manager/employer
o Late payment of wage o Sexual advances by manager/ employer
o Overtime paid as days off o Sexual abuse by manager/employer
o Other________________________
* “Unreasonable” workload (please explain) :
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
31. What problems have you had with your broker (check all that apply)?
o Fees greater than contracted (1800NT 1st yr, 1700NT 2nd yr,1500 NT 3rd yr)
o Side contracts for additional fees
o Did not defend your interests in dispute with employer
o Broker working with employer to uphold any non-contractual conditions
(e.g. illegal fees or deductions, side contracts, illegal working conditions, etc.)
o Other
________________________________________________________________
32. How much was your placement fee in the Philippines? ________ pesos
33. Roughly, how much were your additional expenses not covered by the placement fee?
o ___________Visas, document preparation, passport, and other paperwork
o ___________ Photos
o ___________ Health check and other medical fees
o ___________ Jackets, hats, etc charged to you by the placement agency
o ___________ Other fees (explain)
______________________________________________________
34. Did you take a loan against your wages to pay for placement?
325
o No
o Yes
¾ What was the interest (%) rate?_______________________
¾ How much is deducted monthly?_________________________
35. Did you take a mortgage against your home or other properties in the Philippines to pay
for placement?
o No
o Yes
¾ What was the interest (%) rate?_______________________
¾ How much is deducted monthly?_________________________
36. Did you have any problems with the placement agency in the Philippines?
o No
o Yes
¾ Explain
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
37. Have you had any other problems with your broker?
o No
o Yes
¾ Explain
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
38. Have you had any other problems with your supervisor/ line leader or employer?
o No
o Yes
¾ Explain
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
D. Financial
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
326
¾ If yes, was it from a friend, family member, “loan shark” or other?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
E. MEDIA PREFERENCE
0 1 2 3 4 5
41. How often do you read Tagalog ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
newspapers/magazines in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
42. How often do you read English
Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
newspapers/magazines in Taiwan?
Seldom
43. How often do you read Mandarin ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
newspapers/magazines in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
44. How often do you watch English ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
shows on TV in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
45. How often do you watch Mandarin ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
shows on TV in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
46. How often do you watch Tagalog ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
movies in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
47. How often do you watch English ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
movies in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
48. How often do you watch Mandarin ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
movies in Taiwan? Never Very Seldom Sometimes Often Always
Seldom
F. ETHNIC RELATIONS
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
327
0 1 2 3 4 5
49. I like Taiwanese/Chinese ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
people. Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
50. I have good relationships ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
with Taiwanese/Chinese Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
people. Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
51. I like Filipinos.
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
52. I have good relationships ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
with Filipinos. Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
53. I like Thais.
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
54. I have good relationships ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
with Thais. Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
55. I like Indonesians.
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
56. I have good relationships ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
with Indonesians. Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
57. I have had problems with ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Taiwanese/Chinese Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
people. Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
58. I have had problems with
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Filipinos.
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
59. I have had problems with
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Thais.
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
60. I have had problems with
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Indonesians.
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
G. CULTURAL IDENTITY
0 1 2 3 4 5
61. I feel Taiwanese ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
62. I feel Filipino-a ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
328
63. Which of the following Pinoy festivals have you celebrated while in Taiwan?
o Chun Jie (Chinese New o Qi Qiao Jie (Cowherd & o Double-Nine Festival
Year) Weaving Maiden o Ten-Ten
o Qing Ming Jie (Chinese Festival)
o Tomb Sweeping Day
All Souls' Day) o Zhong Qiu Jie (Mooncake o Other
o Duan Wu Jie (Dragon Festival)
__________________
Boat Festival) o Dong Zhi (Winter
Solstice Festival)
o Mid-Autumn Festival
65. Which of the following other Filipino cultural activities do you participate in while in
Taiwan?
o Traditional Filipino dance
o Singing Traditional/ Folkloric Filipino Songs
o Cooking of Filipino foods
o Making of a Filipino craft item (embroidery, sewing, Tapis weaving, basketry,
woodcraft, etc.)
o Wearing of Traditional Filipino clothing (Barong, kimona, malong, etc)
o Practicing Arnis Balite or other Filipino Martial Art
o Playing Filipino games ( pusoy dos, tong-its, or other Pinoy games)
o Membership in a cultural activities group
Other ________________________________________
As a Filipino living in Taiwan, you have been exposed to two cultures: Filipino and Taiwanese.
Please think how much the Filipino and Taiwanese cultures feel as SEPARATE or COMBINED
cultures for you. Next, read the statements below, think about their meaning carefully, and choose
the one that best describes your particular experience.
H. RELIGIOSITY
69. How often do you attend worship services? (Check the answer)
o Everyday o About once a month
o Several times a week o About every six weeks
o Every week o About every three months
o Nearly every week o About once or twice a year
o About three times a month o Less than once a year
o About twice a month o Never
70. How often did you attend Sunday worship services when living in the Philippines?
(Check the answer)
o Every week o About every six weeks
o Nearly every week o About every three months
o About three times a month o About once or twice a year
o About twice a month o Less than once a year
o About once a month o Never
71. How often, if at all, do you say table prayers or grace before meals?
o I say grace at all meals
o I say grace at least once a day
o I say grace at least once a week
o I say grace, but only on special occasions
o I never, or hardly ever, say grace
72. How often, if at all, did you say table prayers or grace before meals when living in the
Philippines?
o I said grace at all meals
o I said grace at least once a day
o I said grace at least once a week
o I said grace, but only on special occasions
o I never, or hardly ever, said grace
Devotionalism Index
73. How often do you pray privately? (Check the answer that comes closest to what you
do.)
o I never pray, or on1y do so at church services.
o I pray on1y on very specia1 occasions.
o I pray once in a whi1e, but not at regular interva1s.
o I pray qui1e often, but not at regular times.
o I pray regu1ar1y once a day or more.
o I pray regu1arly severa1 times a week.
o I pray regu1ar1y once a week.
74. In which church groups do you actively participate?
o El Shaddai
o Choir
o Sinulog
o Legion of Mary
o Holiday/ Festival groups
o Bible study
o Volunteer project/ community outreach
o Other (please list)
331
I. WELL-BEING
0 1 2 3 4 5
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
75. I feel sad or depressed Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
76. I feel pessimistic (negative) about Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
the future Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
77. I worry about things that might go Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
wrong Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
78. I feel fearful or anxious Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
79. I feel like I lack companionship Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
80. I feel isolated from others Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
81. I wish I could have more respect Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
for myself Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
82. I feel dissatisfied with myself Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
83. I am satisfied with my life Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
84. The conditions of my life are Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
excellent Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
85. In most ways my life is close to Strongly Somewhat Disagree Agree Somewhat Strongly
my ideal Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
J. RELATIONSHIPS
86. Please think of your closest friends (by friends, we mean people who you have
interacted with as personal friends, but not your family members). Write the initials of
FOUR friends:
87. Next please indicate on the lines below the nationality of each of the previous
individuals using the categories below 1= Filipino
o 2= Chinese/ Taiwanese
o 3= Indonesian
o 4= Thai
o 5= Vietnamese
o 6= American
o 7=Other (please specify F1. ______________F2. ____________F3.
____________F4. ____________
88. If you are in a romantic relationship, what is the nationality of your partner? _________
(use categories from above)
92. The person I most admire is … _________ (use categories from above)
K. Homeland Contact
94. How do you stay connected with friends and family back home (check all that apply)
o Phones
o Text messaging
o E-mail
o “Live” internet chat
o Letters/ packages via post
o Couriers other than government post
o I don’t communicate with anyone back home
95. Do you use the internet to contact anyone other than family friends, such as to look for
boyfriend, jobs, make investments, etc?
o No
o Yes
¾ Explain
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
o Monthly
o Several times a month
o Weekly
o Several times a week
o Daily
o Several times a day
97. How often do you send money to friends/ family back home?
o Never/ almost never
o Once or twice a year
o Every few months
o Monthly
o Several times a month
o Weekly
98. How do you send money?
o I don’t send money to anyone back home
o Cash sent by friends/ family returning to Philippines
o Private couriers
o Governmental post
o Private money transfer company (iKobo, Western Union, Pesocard, etc.)
o ATM via Bank account in Taiwan
o Other ______________________________
99. On average how much money do you send back home each time? _____________NT
L. Future Plans
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX C
INFORMED CONSENT
335
Date: ____________________________________________________________
If you have any questions about your rights as a subject/participant in this research, or if you feel you have
been placed at risk, you can contact the Chair of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, through
Karol Householder, at (480) 965-6788.