A FEW WEEKS ago I was watching a short video on Filipinos who refused to leave Ukraine. Outside of marriages and familial connections, their decision to remain is both inspiring and stupid. It’s a sign of bravery and perseverance on one hand, and desperation and stupidity on the other.
This isn’t the first time Filipinos have done this. Back in the 2000s when the US invaded Iraq for “human rights” and “weapons of mass destruction”, many Filipinos have remained in that country and region. Remember Angelo Dela Cruz?
When Cruz was kidnapped by militants, the Arroyo Administration was forced to remove Philippine Forces from the Coalition otherwise Arroyo would have earned the ire of overseas Filipino workers.
But Cruz’s kidnapping was his own fault. He had remained in a hostile environment, and that decision led to his kidnapping. The government did the right thing in meeting the militant’s demands, but it was an entirely preventable situation.
Fast forward today. If Filipinos in Ukraine get shot, killed or captured by Ukrainian or Russian forces, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves. It’s their decision to remain there, and they should be prepared to accept it.
They are foreigners in a foreign land. Their rights are a non-priority to the combatants. That’s just a fact of war and politics in general.
And since I foresee many countries throughout the world, even developed ones, face the same problems in the future, will overseas Filipinos continue to hang on to foreign countries, even when they become dangerous?
I wonder what it would take for them to come home. Travelling overseas has always been an interlude, a product of peace and a unipolar world order. Now, that we are entering a new era, Filipinos must understand that travelling and migrating abroad is more dangerous than what we used to believe. It has been that way throughout most of history, and we can’t expect rights or protections when we do.
In a world where international institutions are weak, or exist at all, immigration generally becomes more dangerous than staying at home./PN
