CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “Look at migration not as a panacea to financial, economic ills. Consider the high social cost the Filipino nation pays for it.”
So speaks San Fernando Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto at the launch of the celebration of the 28th National Migrants Sunday in a media conference at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary here.
While acknowledging its contribution to the economy, Aniceto said the Filipino workers’ migration has had “destructive consequences to the Filipino family with the absence of paternal or maternal authority.”
“Too often, the children are left to fend for themselves, thereby falling to the corruptive temptations of materialism,” he noted. “The quality of life is not measured in wealth, but in decency, dignity and integrity.”
“No life of luxury could compensate for disharmony in the family,” Aniceto said. So the Church has been strongly advocating for increased domestic employment to “keep our people here, with their loved ones,” he added.
The local church’s pastoral ministry for OFWs is coordinated by the Pampanga Archdiocesan Migrants Desk (PAMD), now on its 10th year. “PAMD conducts counselling to OFWs and their families to keep them intact. We educate and guide their children to understand the situation of their family,” said Fr. Arnie Serrano, head of the ministry.
This, aside from networking with government agencies, non-government organizations and other church groups engaged in the promotion of the cause of OFWs, especially those in situations of distress. The PAMD has also organized the Sons and Daughters of OFWs (SDO) as a support system.
It has currently 14 member schools in the province and is now into its fifth year of recognizing Outstanding SDOs. The theme of this year’s celebration of National Migrant’s Sunday focuses on PAMD’s decade of service, “Unselfishly caring for the people on the move and their families.”
Events lined up from March 12-14 include an SDO forum on “Understanding the Psychology of SDOs: at the Holy Angel University; OFW services forum, exhibit of OFW products and Job Fair at Walter Mart; a migrants ministry congress at the Arzobispado here, to be capped by a concelebrated Mass.
