by Maya Meyewski
An estimated 50 000 Filipinas and Filipinos work as migrant domestic workers in France. 30 000 are in Paris, the rest in the southern part of the Hexagon, including Monaco. Only 6000 are officially registered and documented.
If you take a good look at the Philippine community in Paris, through the years, you will see the shaping up of a duplicata of the country of origin. You find the same characteristics, the same problems (indiscipline, corruption and all…) and the same reasons for hope (faith, spirituality, caring attitude, the value of the family…).
You do understand that when we say migrant Filipinos and Filipinas in France, we are talking about migrant domestic workers, the majority (around 80%) of whom are women.
The map of the Philippines is drawn and delineated by all sorts of regional organizations: LUZVIMIN, VISAMIN, Ilocandia, Caviteño, Batangas, Hiligaynon, Pampango, Mindanao… and by religious leanings: majority Christians of all tendencies (Catholic – El Shadaïi, Couples for
Christ, Mabuting Pastol, Marianne movements…; Protestant sects – Iglesia ni Kristo, Born again Christians, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses…), minority of Muslims and Indigenous peoples.
Take a look at the larger Philippine society in France and you recognize a familiar economic hierarchy: an infinitely small number of “mayaman” (either rich families from the Philippines with secondary residences in France or Filipinas married to rich French or other non-Filipinos, usually businessmen), a small “middle-class”(small entrepreneurs or Filipinas married to middle-class non-Filipinos) and a large majority of “mahirap” (domestic workers) which is still multiplying with new arrivals and second generation migrants, including the recently counted 20 births per week registered at the embassy.
The only difference is that unemployment is rarely a problem in this French-Philippines, where misery is manifest only among those who are dependent and handicapped due to physical ailment, drugs, alcoholism, etc. ….
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