Homesick Filipino migrants count cost of separation for a ‘better’ future

For more than a decade, Jeffrey Ongoco has watched much of his daughter’s childhood unfold through a screen.The 46-year-old, who works as a document controller for a construction company in Doha, left the Philippines in 2007 for a job in Saudi Arabia before moving to Qatar in 2010.He and his wife work in Doha to support their 16-year-old daughter, who has lived in the Philippines since infancy, cared for by relatives in Bataan province, about 130km (80 miles) northwest of Manila.It was a sacrifice the couple felt they had to make to give her a better life.“As parents, we don’t want our kids to experience the hardships we had before. So even if it’s very difficult for parents to be away from their children, we will do everything we can for their future,” Ongoco said.Being away from your family is never easyTheir story reflects the tough trade-off in the lives of many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs): the chance to earn more abroad, but often at the cost of years spent away from the people they left home to support.