Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cologne (Agenzia Fides) – An interview with an illegal Filipino immigrant normally involves a gathering of the large Filipino community. All of them want to tell their story. The trip. Humiliations and the debts that have been acquired in the effort to make it here, and which they have still not paid off. Threats and blackmail, and even though the majority of them are now legal, they prefer to remain anonymous. All of them arrived through the so-called “agencies” which are nothing more than criminal terms for the traffic of those wishing to immigrate.
Agenzia Fides: I have traveled to the Philippines and I am familiar with the poverty and employment difficulties, the struggle to give their children a good education, the corruption and the misery...I understand why you would want to come to Europe. You probably wish to remain anonymous because you still have family members you wish to try to bring over here, even if it means using the “agency,” which will surely demand money, lots of money. The debt continues. Is that the case?
Yes, it is just as you say! Getting here to Germany has been a great sacrifice, being illegal and without documentation. It has been difficult. I have always lived in an honest manner, but even when I found a job, at the beginning they treated me as a slave and I could not speak the language. I did not understand. At times I certainly did make mistakes, because since I didn't understand the language I would sometimes do the opposite of what I had been told. However, I worked on good faith. They also knew that I couldn't understand, but I found no understanding from my owners. I would have gone back, but I had the debt that continued accumulating, as I could not afford to pay it off. In spit of it all, I continued on with the dream of being able to support myself, I thought of my family and my son's future.
Agenzia Fides: And, if you want – I repeat, only if you would like to – why don't you tell us how much you gave the agency and if you know, how much do people pay now?
When I finally found a good job, I still continued having problems on account of my lack of documents, although it was easier than at the beginning because I was able to continue paying back the money to the agency little by little. The constant fear of being sent back and then the fear of threats. I have taken years to find calm once more. Now I hope to reunite myself with my family, because now I am legal. There are people who say I should use the agency again, but I don't want to. It has been a terrible experience. I have recovered thanks to the activities we do in this community, thanks to the faith, the faith that God is great...I continue, we continue walking onward. Now I am happy, because I know that wherever I go, God is always there.
Agenzia Fides: Yes, and what about the agency....
I paid about 5 or 6 thousand Euros, but now it is more expensive...perhaps 10,000 Euros and it is very dangerous, very dangerous. (Luca de Mata writes from Cologne) (Agenzia Fides 23/12/2008)
