National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC)
Statement

Mothers’ Day:  A salute to the brave Filipino Mothers

May 14, 2006

On this Mother’s Day, we, as overseas Filipino men, women, fathers, and children in Canada, honour the millions of Filipino mothers in the Philippines, in Canada, and in many other countries around the world who have made considerable sacrifices and have shown their unbreaking strength to ensure the survival of their families.
 
Daily, Filipino mothers in the Philippines struggle with the chronic and intensifying poverty of the Philippines.  Peasant mothers are increasingly and massively displaced from their land and their livelihood.  Working mothers in the cities are unemployed or underemployed, working far below subsistent wages under poor working conditions.  This worsening poverty pushes many of our mothers into the informal economy, including prostitution.  Filipino mothers who fight for the promotion of human rights and democracy, like Congresswoman Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Partylist, are victims of the growing repression under Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Filipino mothers are also part of the diaspora of thousands of women who are forced to migrate abroad to find better opportunities for themselves and their children.  Daily, 3000 Filipinos, 70% of whom are Filipino women, leave the Philippines to work in difficult, dangerous and low-paying jobs.  In fact, nearly 10 million Filipinos are working in 186 countries.  The hard-earned salaries of our overseas Filipinos are sent back as remittances estimated at $10 billions US dollars a year.  These remittances superficially maintain the Philippines from economic collapse, but to the sacrifice of our women.  The overwhelming majority of Filipino women are domestic workers, entertainers, and mail-order brides.

Our Filipino mothers who migrate abroad carry the burden of years of separation from their children and families.  Physical and psychological trauma is just two of the impacts Filipino mothers abroad endure.  
For 20 years, nearly 100 000 Filipino domestic workers have come to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program and its predessor the Foreign Domestic Movement.  Under this program, Filipino live-in caregivers are relegated back into low paid private service of live-in domestic and 24-hour care-giving work for middle and upper class Canadians.  While separated from their own children, Filipino mothers care for children not their own. And when eventually reunited with their own children, they are reunited as strangers.

Thousands of Canadian mothers are freed from their household chores at the expense and suffering of our Filipino mothers.

For this, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) dedicates Mother’s Day to these “forgotten mothers” who have shown their sacrifice and resilience for the sake of their families.

We salute the Filipino mothers who are in the forefront of the struggle not only for their own families’ survival, but also for the struggle of upholding the rights and welfare of the Filipino community.  We dedicate Mothers’ Day to all the brave Filipino mothers, in the Philippines and abroad, who continue to fight for human rights, genuine peace, and democracy.  We salute our Filipino mothers for truly carrying forward the tradition of resistance.

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN CANADA