Overseas Filipino workers who toiled hard for years often encounter challenges in their daily lives. Sorely missing their families, suffering various illnesses, facing abuse from employers and losing their jobs. To many Filipinos based in Saudi Arabia who became part of collateral damage when petroleum prices sank, that last challenge has been specially painful as some of them may have yet to receive proper compensation but found themselves abandoned, hungry and owed thousands of dollars worth of wages.

Thankfully, some of those who were prematurely terminated from their jobs managed to go back to the Philippines — thanks to Saudi government’s assistance, cooperation from the Philippine government and kind-hearted fellow expats who provided them necessities to get by.

However, their ordeal is far from over as they return home to their families with bleak prospects for the future. Many of them considered overage in the Philippine labor market which often considers those above 30 years old as undesirable addition to a company workforce.

One of the ex-OFWs who shared a similar fate is Nonilo Naingue.

Nonilo, who claimed he used to send three times a month to her family in the Philippines from his regular job and tattoo side jobs in Jeddah. But now that he’s back home with no money on hand, he has been thrown out of the house by his wife Jonalyn and his mother-in-law.

In a tearful recollection, Nonilo talks to Raffy Tulfo in a radio interview that feels he was being thrown out of the house as he no longer has a job and treated useless by his own family. The radio program arranged a phone conversation with Jonalyn so the couple could talk. Jonalyn expressed dismay that Nonilo could not support her financially especially when their child got sick, so she expelled him out of the house. Nonilo had to fend for himself seeking shelter on the streets.

Nonilo admitted he does not have money anymore as he already gave all of his OFW savings to his wife, totalling to P80,000. When Tulfo asked Jonaly about the money, she confessed the money was used for christening of their child and only P20,000 was left.

Worse, Nonilo could not apply for jobs abroad because Jonalyn destroyed his employment documents. The wife confessed that it was during their quarrel that she had torn all of his papers.

As sad as it can be, the story could be paralleled by other OFW families who instead of rejoicing over the safe return of their breadwinners, now find them useless and kick them out of the very house these OFWs financed through their sacrifice abroad.

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