For Filipino workers, nostalgia inspires literary creation

Conventional wisdom stereotypes migrant workers in Taiwan as uneducated laborers working in the so-called “3D” industries — dirty, dangerous and difficult. But in truth, many of them are gifted and articulate.

The poem above, titled “The Poet Behind My Shadow,” written by Melvin Laureano, a young Filipino worker who toils in a Taipei County factory, is just one example of their talent and literary potency.

During a recent interview with the Central News Agency, they spoke not of their wages, treatment or subpar living conditions, but rather of their passion for poetry and their pride in being Filipinos.

Migrant workers have made enormous contributions to the country’s economic development since Taiwan began allowing local companies to hire foreign laborers in 1989. According to the Council of Labor Affairs, there were 86,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan as of February 2008, with 70.3 percent working in manufacturing jobs and the remainder employed as caregivers. Most of them are devoted to their jobs, putting in long hours, while maintaining a strong sense of longing for their family, friends, and hometown.

To express their nostalgia and joys and sorrows in the exhausting and monotonous environments in which they work, some Filipinos have taken to writing poetry. In doing so, they say, they have rediscovered their pride and dignity, fostered an environment celebrating the Philippines’ cultural heritage, and found a release for their souls.

The Samahang Makata International-Taiwan Chapter (SMI), an informal association of Filipino poets and writers, was created in 1999 by Jun M. Sanchez, a Filipino working in Taiwan. It has 550 members islandwide, but only about 70 are active, as many don’t have the luxury of holidays.

After Mass on every third Sunday of the month, these active members gather in a park near St. Christopher’s Church on the Zhongshan North Road, where the largely Catholic Filipino migrant community gathers after a week’s work. During their regular meeting, they discuss the organization’s annual program and activities and recite poems they have composed in both English or Tagalog, the most widely spoken language in the Philippines.

Their poems are regularly published in migrant people’s journals such as “The Migrants” and “The Filipino Post,” said Ma. Cristina Artugue, who will become SMI president July 20. One of the most important activities is called “Balagtasan,” a traditional literary form in the Philippines that they perform on special occasions like Independence Day.

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