For decades, they’ve called us Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) “modern-day heroes.” We fuel the economy with billions in remittances, we build homes we barely step foot in, and we sacrifice years with our children so those kids will never know hunger.

But after all those years, what awaits us when we finally come home? A medal? A certificate? A pat on the back, and an empty future. That’s it.

Yet, the government pours millions into the Aksyon Fund, even channeling money to people who were never OFWs (victims of online job scams or fake recruiters). The noble lifeline meant for us distressed workers abroad has become a catch-all cash box: generous where it shouldn’t be, and painfully silent where it matters most.

When Compassion Turns Into Confusion

To be clear, no one blames the victims of job scams; they deserve justice and empathy. But this is the painful truth: when vital government aid meant for us, the real overseas workers in distress, is diluted by non-OFW cases, we all lose.

Instead of investing in reintegration programs or a stable pension system, the fund is wasted reactively on short-term relief, not long-term protection for us. Worse, poor vetting and lack of coordination among agencies (DMW, OWWA, DFA) have created a system ripe for abuse, double-dipping, and political endorsements masquerading as compassion.

Compassion is necessary, yes. But without accountability, it simply becomes institutional bleeding.

Rewarding Crisis, Neglecting Our Commitment

Here lies the stark, insulting irony: The government readily finds 10,000 pesos or 20,000 pesos in ayuda for scam victims, yet they cannot promise a single peso of monthly pension to an OFW who worked 20 or 30 years (faithfully remitting, enduring brutal homesickness, and representing the Philippines with dignity).

They’ve funded repatriation. They’ve funded legal aid. They’ve even funded calamity relief. But they have failed to fund our dignity. They haven’t funded our retirement, our security in old age, or the respect due to those of us who gave our lives overseas.

The system has learned to reward crisis instead of honor consistency. They help when we are already broken, but fail to build systems that prevent the breaking.

What Must Change for Us

1. Redefine the Aksyon Fund’s Core Purpose. It must stop being a catch-all and return to its original intent: emergency assistance only for verified distressed OFWs.
2. Create a Genuine OFW Pension Program. Imagine a system where long-term OFWs, those who have worked abroad for 10, 20, 30 years, can retire with dignity. A Migrant Workers Pension Fund where the government matches our contributions. Because our heroism deserves more than applause, it deserves security.
3. Demand Transparency and Accountability. Publish non-negotiable regular fund reports. Political endorsers must have zero influence on aid approval. Every peso of the people’s money must be fully traceable.
4. Focus on Prevention, Not Just Reaction. Invest in anti-scam campaigns, digital literacy programs, and inter-agency coordination, so fewer of us Filipinos become victims in the first place.

They Must Remember Who We Are

It’s easy and politically convenient to extend cash to those crying in front of a camera. It is infinitely harder to build a secure future for the millions of us who worked honestly, remitted quietly, and stayed silent for decades, believing the government would remember us.

The Aksyon Fund was never meant to be a political tool, nor a band-aid for systemic neglect. It was supposed to be a lifeline.

But lifelines can’t just be thrown into the sea; they have to lead somewhere safe.

And for us OFWs, that safe place must be a future with security, dignity, and care, not another round of temporary aid, but a lasting promise kept to us.

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh!