Note: I wrote the tagalog version of this article a few weeks back when pictures of stranded OFWs began to surface in social and mainstream media. Then its magnitude as a problem exploded to something unimaginable in front of our very eyes.

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I only see them in photos. And I no longer look for their actual numbers as there may not be an exact count of how many the so-called ‘stranded’ are in the Philippines today. I just want to draw attention to their plight as deep inside; it pains me seeing them suffer inhumane conditions due to the lockdown.

There are stranded OFWs or vacationing migrants. Seafarers who spent months in the sea and when sent back home, they ended up stranded in Manila Bay. There are also ‘locally stranded individuals’ or LSIs. And more who are not even aware that they are stranded. They are workers in construction companies who remained in their sites or barracks waiting to be informed of their work status. Are they still employed? Or will they be sent back home as they do not have places to stay in the city?

It really depends on how ‘stranded’ persons are regarded. But what is common to them to be regarded as such is their failure to get back home, go where they are supposed to go, or left in places which are not their permanent homes. Let us just imagine what hell of a life each stranded person has been living through.

The government’s lousy lockdown plan resulted in countless people stranded since March, enduring sacrifices they never imagined in life. A number, in fact, have died stranded in many places. There are OFWs who slept for days under the airport’s flyover. There are passengers who spent days and nights in ports because trips were suspended, or they lacked the required documents to be allowed to travel. And even those who are prepared to travel are held back by erratic lockdown policies.

Their pictures speak of how deplorable their situation is. And beneath those photos, we can imagine their pain while they fight against the unintended destiny, the enemy that is not an enemy, the friend who is not a friend, or the authority whose solution in hand is plain authority.

They are stranded. We see them anywhere because they remain stranded until they find the means to alter their condition. People who are not used to clutters in the comfort of their homes will always find stranded people as undesirables. That, exactly was how Tito Sotto wanted other people to behave and be compliant with protocols as breaches by VIPs do not disturb his mind. It is the stranded who cannot escape the eyes of the righteous whose sense of social order is troubled by people who stray in places they cannot call their own.

Stranded. They used to be your neighbors, your carpenters, mamang tsuper, tuberos, byaheros, and the likes. They are the jobless ‘tambays’, the jeepney drivers who became beggars, the street vendors who lost their usual market and capital, or factory workers who lost their jobs.

Are they part now of the 7.3 million new unemployed and 13 million ‘with jobs but not at work? Or are they part of the close to 4 million workers who dropped out of the labor force during the lockdown?

They may not have solid identities for now except than being called ‘stranded’. One thing is for sure, however. They remain our brothers and sisters who need utmost care and protection in this troubled time. ###