This is where the fight is to be won. Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim Thursday struck a sensitive chord at the National Conference on Civic Education and Democracy at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) when he sought a review of the government's policy towards foreign employment. Aside from Lim, the other panelists during the plenary session on the role of government in civic education were Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo, Marikina Mayor Maria Lourdes Carlos-Fernando and Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento of the first district of Samar. Others who spoke during the three-day conference were Dr. Jesus Estanislao of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia , Sen. Edgardo Angara, Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Bureau of Secondary Education Lolita Andrada, Maria Ressa, vice president of ABS-CBN for news and public affairs Aguedo and Annie Faustino of Couples for Christ, Dr. Bernardo Villegas of UAP and Gawad Kalinga chairman Antonio Meloto.

“One thing that disturbs is emphasis on foreign employment. It is disturbing when government itself encourages migration by paying tribute to OFWs as “present-day heroes”, he noted. The mayor said it is disturbing because “we deliver the message that our only hope is foreign employment.” “This is tantamount to treason and betrayal,” he remarked. Lim said no country can expect to rise again by depending extensively on others but it has to “stand on its own, by itself and for itself”. In calling foreign employment heroism, he said the government itself is saying that those who remain are “less heroic”. “By paying glowing tribute to migrants, it reduced those of us who labor under harsh conditions here as fools who refuse to read the sign of the times,” he stressed. Lim said it is true that OFWs have contributed a lot to the national economy but what the country failed to consider is the price it pays for the foreign remittances they bring in.

“Foreign employment has caused marital problems, juvenile delinquencies, teen-age pregnancies, abortions, academic deficiencies, drugs, alcohol and tobacco addictions in families where one or especially both parents are working abroad,” he lamented. Lim said there is no debate about the need for precious currency for our cash-strapped economy, but it should not come at such a terrible social cost. The mayor said there is a need to reorient the people's thinking. “We need a long haul, not quick fixes. We need to fight the battle for national deliverance right here, not by remote control in comfortable confines in some exotic far-away land,” he stressed. To emphasize his point, the mayor brought up a little bit of history. “On Aug. 21, 1983, Sen. Ninoy Aquino came home against all warnings. As most feared, he was killed, but his death hastened the collapse of the dictatorship. He knew the fight had to be fought here, and history proved him right,” he added. Lim said that in a similar way, the people must accept the reality that “for our country to rise again, we need to recognize that the battlefield is right here.”