[Rappler Investigates] Beyond Donald and Kamala

As early as 1 pm Wednesday, November 6, the Rappler internal Telegram channel, as well as community US Vote 2024 chat channel, were already sensing a triumph by Donald Trump. If CNN had a Magic Wall, the New York Times had its live Needle, and seeing the live projections of various American media, election coverage veterans could already predict what sympathizers of the Democrats would be feeling. After all, the last presidential election here was held only in 2022, and the images of crest-fallen Leni Robredo supporters and exuberant Bongbong Marcos die-hards have not yet been forgotten.

Defying predictions of a tight race, like a violent storm of epic proportions, Trump barreled his way through most, if not all, of the battleground states of North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, and Michigan to claim a decisive victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. If you want to make sense of why she lost, this is a good read: Kamala Harris made a historic dash for the White House: Here’s why she fell short. 

What would this stunning Trump comeback spell for the Philippines and the world at large? Get the latest updates via our Developing Story page. But even before early election projections were known, it was clear why this faraway election would have an impact on Filipinos. [WATCH: 3 (main) reasons why Filipinos should care about the 2024 US elections] But the US, for sure, can pick up valuable lessons, too, from the Philippines.

DUBAI ESCAPE. Away from America, a recent joint investigation by Rappler’s Lian Buan and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found that personalities linked to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation (yes, sounds familiar, doesn’t it), had fled to Dubai and purchased millions of dollars’ worth of properties in luxury residential estates. 

Recall that Pharmally, an undercapitalized company that had as financier Michael Yang (aka Yang Hong Ming, the Chinese businessman appointed economic adviser of former president Rodrigo Duterte once upon a time) had bagged billions of pesos in government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Yang got entangled in a web of controversies over his alleged association with the illegal drug trade and his friendship with Duterte. I had to jog my memory and dug up, in the process, the following stories which remain very relevant today, given the ongoing congressional inquiries.

• Michael Yang, associates expand businesses under Duterte presidency
• DDS insider links Rodrigo Duterte, Michael Yang to drug trade
• Duterte and Michael Yang’s friendship through the years

Pharmally, according to an indictment by the Ombudsman, can be regarded as a “dummy” of Michael Yang’s business partner, Lin Weixiong. Both men are still subjects of a House investigation, but for still unknown reasons, Yang has been spared from the Ombudsman’s updated May 2024 indictment. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

FILIPINO OFWS. From Dubai, we move to the Netherlands where Lian discovered that Filipinos, who constitute the largest group among foreign seafarers, experience discrimination in terms of wages and benefits. She spoke with a Filipino complainant who filed a suit in the Netherlands to reverse its unequal wage system. 

The Equal Justice Equal Pay Foundation, which is leading the claim, said that Europeans are being paid “up to twice as much as Indonesian and Filipino crew members for the exact same job on the same ship.” 

The complainant, after years of working on a chemical tanker, has been diagnosed with “chronic lacunar infarct,” which is a kind of stroke caused by blocked small arteries in the brain. The discrimination is best captured by the narration of the complainant who requested that his real name not be used: “We had a Dutch chief engineer, he suffered a heart attack as I suffered a stroke, he was immediately airlifted. A helicopter took him to the shore in Florida to get immediate medical attention. Because he’s Dutch.”

SEASONAL WORKERS. Our reporter Michelle Abad did a two-part series on Filipino workers who are illegally recruited to work in Korean farms. She discovered that deployed workers, who work for five to eight months per season, are asked to pay exorbitant fees only to be subjected to physical, if not verbal, abuse, as well as racial discrimination. 

The Seasonal Worker Program, which started deployment in 2022, addresses chronic labor shortages in Korea during its busy farming and fishing seasons. What’s unique about it is the direct involvement of local government units (LGUs) here which facilitate recruitment for their partner LGUs in Korea. The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is kept out of the loop in the process, which is perhaps one of the reasons why workers under the program have been vulnerable to abuse.

Recent good news we got is that after the story was published, the DMW suspended recruitment and deployment by seven unnamed LGUs of Filipino seasonal workers. Looks like DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac intends to tighten compliance with protective mechanisms for workers under the program. Thank you for the prompt action!

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