iisa ang pinanggalingan natin, iisa ang patutungohan: let’s help our kabayan

[ thanks and maraming salamat for being our Precious Reader this year. Thanks in advance to kabayan Guillermo Fabello for use of his pic, photo acknowledgment to NZ Herald, CTTO]

KAHIT PAPANO MO TINGNAN, there is no way you see what happened to the ELE Group collapse as fair to workers, lalo na’t mga kabayan ang mga nasagasaan.

The fact that our countrymen were laid off less than a week before the long Christmas weekend hurts even more.

Most of the 750+ workers didn’t even finish the day, and were told not to expect their last pay that week. How cruel is that?

But the deepest cut is that more than half, or two-thirds of the group affected by the company, placed under receivership last Thursday, are working as work visa, or temporary visa holders.

Your job as a work visa holder is everything to you. It’s the REASON you’re in the country. Sure, you can find another job, but you might as well tell an NZ migrant to move to Australia instead. Or the USA or Canada. It simply isn’t that easy.

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This kabayan should know. Our first job not so many years ago not far from Auckland, our employer’s company also went into receivership.

Creditors sued my employer before a court, who appointed a “receiver” whose sole reason for being there is to preserve the remaining assets of the company for the inuutangan, after of course they get their fee, which is usually a bloodsucker’s fee.

Meaning, tuyong tuyo na yung biktima, sinipsip pa yung natitirang patak-patak ng dugo.

Tinabas agad mga boss namin, kaming mga rank-and-file tinira.

After a couple of weeks, sinipa na rin kami, without so much as an explanation.

Being a work visa holder, I was in pretty bad shape, but a few days before my WV expired (wala pang emergency visa or worker exploitation visa nuon), I miraculously found a replacement job. I still found a happy ending.

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But their story doesn’t end here kabayan.

Let’s not allow our laid off kabayan to have a bleak, sad Christmas. In all the major cities, there are Noche Buena drives so that kahit media noche lang, mabigyan ang ating mga kalahi at mga pamilya nila.

Lahat tayo nanggaling sa work visa status. Imagine nyo naman kung habang may WV ka, biglang tataggalin ka sa trabaho. Sa listahan ng company na listed sa visa mo.

Sa isang idlap nawalan sila ng pag-asa, ng direksyon.

At least for the holidays, let’s help them celebrate. Longer term solutions can come later.

Sarili rin ang tinutulungan natin. Babalik din ito sa yo in one form or another, tenfold at least.

All the details are in Facebook, thanks to all the groups and individuals involved in helping our ELE kabayan, not the least Dennis Maga, Mikee Santos and lately Ms Katarina “Ina” Weischede. Mabuhay kayo.

Maligayang Pasko at mapagunawang Bagong 2024 kabayan!