STORY OF A FILIPINO TEACHER ABROAD

The resolve to sustain the financial needs of her family was one of the main reasons why Ms. Marizon C. Ortega, a
32-year-old Science Teacher considered work abroad as an option. Life was hard for her family in Zamboanga City back
then. Apart from taking care of her husband and children, she was the breadwinner of her sick father who needed medical
attention and provided the educational support of her siblings. With the meager financial resource, she decided to resign
from her Php 8,000 a month teaching job at Tagbao National High School, a public school located in the mountainous area
in Cebu City, to pursue an overseas job.
There was an offer for her to teach abroad. On August 27, 2008, a day after her birthday, her aspiration to work
overseas came into fruition. Despite of her apprehension to teach abroad due to the possibility of uncooperative students,
she grabbed the opportunity and brought her three-year experience as a high school Science Teacher in the Philippines to
the Ulaan Baatar Elite International School, in Mongolia, a school administered by Turkish Nationals.
She taught as a Science Teacher and acted as Head of Science Department and Coordinator of the Science Olympiad
for the span of seven (7) years which allowed her to receive a monthly salary of eight hundred (800) US dollar plus overtime
at eight (8) dollars per hour and tutorials. The experience made her realize what it feels to teach outside the Philippines.
It came to pass that in 2014, Ms. Ortega had to decide on the future of her teaching career overseas. Faced with
the near completion of her work contract and an opportunity for renewal for another three (3) years, she was in the midst
of deliberating, once and for all, whether to continue her teaching stint abroad or to return back to the country for good.
In her own words she revealed her decision.
“During that time, I have made up my mind to return back to the Philippines. It was the last year of my contract
and I did not intend to renew for another three years since I really wanted to go home. My husband convinced me to go
home since that time he was also applying to work abroad as a seaman. We were faced with the scenario that if both of us
will work abroad, what will happen to our children? My husband argued and told me about the importance of money or
family? We thought that family was more important.”
Ms. Ortega made up her mind to return back to the Philippines having realized that she had successfully sent her
siblings to school for them to graduate. She also had to compensate for her presence to provide the time, company and
guidance of her children. She felt her family life was not normal anymore due to the distance, since for many years she
was away from her husband and their children.
Amidst the uncertainties and fear of going back to the Philippines without a job, she applied online for a teaching
position and sent her applications in several educational institutions in the Philippines. Then, on September 2014, she came
across an article online about the“Sa Pinas Ikaw ang Ma’am/Sir” program for OFW LET passers of the National Reintegration
Center for OFWs (NRCO), which she inquired thru the Department of Education (DepEd).
In December 2014, she received the needed information on how to apply the program. By January 2015, hoping
to become an availee of the program, she applied online by filling up the survey form.
Her online application bore its fruits upon her return to the Philippines in June 2015, and in her own words she
said: “I got the news that I was part of the program. During that time I was at the airport in Manila for my domestic flight
bound for Zamboanga City. It was around the afternoon that I got hold of the list provided by the National Reintegration
Center for OFWs (NRCO) thru Facebook. Ms. Jennifer Cunanan of NRCO called me up for instructions and I was really very
happy. I was thinking that after I will arrive in Zamboanga, the following day I will visit the DepED district office relative to
my inclusion in the program. It’s really timely.”
At present, Ms. Ortega is working as a regular Science Teacher and a Human Resource Designate at the
Zamboanga City National High School West, Zamboanga City. She thought of her experience overseas and this is what she
has to share:
“Financially, it’s much ok abroad. But, you know, family is more important especially the relationship. Now, I have
the opportunity to guide my kids, and I can do the role as a mom, which I was not able to do…And then I can now attend
to the needs of my husband when he arrives and my bonding with my kids and husband become more stronger. The
emotional and psychological part becomes stronger,” she said.
She has a message to her fellow OFW LET passers. “Being an OFW is a very tough job. I know it, because I have
experienced being one for a long time. You are not just affected because of distance but you also fear for your safety.
The only shield that you have is your prayers and faith to the Almighty God that everything will be in the right place. So
just be very strong always and look at the brighter side of life.”
Sa ‘Pinas Ikaw ang Ma’am/Sir’ is a program of the NRCO which aims to re-direct OFW-teachers to pursue or resume
their teaching careers in the Philippines.
Launched in the last quarter of 2014, it is a pioneering convergence project of the DOLE, Department of Education,
Professional Regulations Commission, and other relevant government agencies and seeks to provide licensed teachers who
are working abroad as domestic workers or in non-teaching occupations to return to the Philippines to teach.
END (S. Mendizabal)