This Filipino diaspora, which started in trickles during the early Marcosian years, has opened the floodgates for a steady stream of OFWs over time and at present it is estimated that about 2,000 Filipinos daily leave the country to work overseas, braving the unknown fate awaiting them in a foreign land.

You may ask, when will this end? Not in the foreseeable future. The harsh reality is this: With poor job prospects at home and with surging food and energy prices jacking up our inflation rate to a high of 8.3 percent in April, the highest level in almost three years, the migration of Filipinos abroad will surely continue unabated.

Given the worsening economic conditions, even on a global scale, the foreign remittances of our OFWs have provided a safety valve in releasing the pressures on our economy. Last year, the OFW remittances hit US$ 17 billion contributing substantially to our gross national product.

In this context, and to use an analogy just to illustrate the point, the goose that lays the golden eggs will be kept exactly that way — laying the golden eggs.

However, there is one area of grave concern that must be addressed by our government officials involved in managing OFW affairs. Quite intriguingly, over a succession of administrations, public officials’ behavior concerning this issue has been consistent in its indifference and apathy. In an ostrich-like fashion, they bury their heads in the sand and pretend that everything is OK.

I am referring to the issue of women migrant workers who get deployed to serve (or slave?) as live-in domestic helpers in faraway countries with different cultures and climes and where everything is unfamiliar to them. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, this is the sector in the whole spectrum of OFWs that is inherently most vulnerable to abuses, maltreatment, contract violations, rape, sexual molestation and unsolved deaths.

The horror stories depicting the inhumanity suffered by our helpless Filipina domestic maids in the hands of their employers, at times ending with their homecoming in coffins, are horrendous and sickening as they are scorching to our collective soul as a people.

Our female OFWs falling under the category of household or domestic workers are an exploited and abused lot. Why we put up with this charade and knowing fully well that each deployment of a Filipina abroad, in a manner of speaking, is a deadly game of Russian roulette is a masochistic act because each time we learn of an episode of never-ending OFW horror stories our remaining pride in ourselves as a people is further eroded.

If our leaders can only be creative and visionary and courageous to do what is right, instead of just adhering to the formula of fast OFW remittances at the expense of our female migrant labor force, they will strive to shift the emphasis of our OFW deployment to high-paying, maledominated sectors.

Here’s good news: By 2012 some 7,600 new ships will be coming out of drydocks and, if we get our act together and position ourselves proactively, our marine officers, crew and aspiring seafarers can look forward to getting a big chunk of the growing global need for maritime labor force.

Let us bear in mind that sending out Filipino women, most of them married, to work in foreign soils where they are open to unspeakable abuses entail greater social costs such as broken homes – and that’s another troublesome offshoot of deploying female OFWs.