At Home sa Abroad: Inside a migration reporter’s notebook

MANILA, Philippines – What comes to mind when you think of overseas Filipinos? You might think of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and all their hardships.

Time and again, the Philippine government has called them modern-day heroes. Personal remittances from OFWs reached a record $31.4 billion (P1.59 trillion) in terms of cash remittances in 2021, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

And yet horror stories of abuse always come up in the news.

While OFW challenges abound, the Filipino diaspora is far from all being the same. There are stories of jadedness and getting into precarious work. There are the dreamers, the success stories, and those content with their lives abroad yet missing home.

With such a variety of stories, Filipino journalists covering the diaspora become familiar with the ups and downs of the migrant experience.

In this episode of At Home sa Abroad: Stories of overseas Filipinos, Rappler multimedia reporter Michelle Abad speaks to Ana P. Santos, a freelance gender and migration reporter, to discuss what goes on in the making of stories about the Filipino diaspora. Santos writes investigative and in-depth stories for Rappler, as well as a gender and sexuality column called Dash of SAS. Watch the video on Rappler at 7 pm, on Monday, October 17.

At Home sa Abroad: Stories of overseas Filipinos is Rappler’s one-stop video podcast for all things Filipino diaspora. – Rappler.com

Watch other At Home sa Abroad episodes:

• What OFWs expect from new Department of Migrant Workers
• How this leadership program helped Fil-Ams connect with their roots
• How is the local economic crisis affecting OFWs?