Militant groups honor deceased feisty member

Macatol being seen off at the airport by her employers and friends in July last year

By Daisy CL Mandap

A somber mood came over most of those who gathered on Sunday, May 27, for the victory and thanksgiving party of Makabayan supporters in Hong Kong, as they paid homage to one of their own who passed on just days earlier.

Tellez paying tribute to 'Tita Vio'

Violeta Madeja Macatol, 63, died at about 6:30am on May 16, less than a year after she was found to have stage 4 blood cancer, forcing her to bid Hong Kong goodbye.

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Cynthia Tellez, general manager of the Mission for Migrant Workers, led the remembrance, recalling how their feisty volunteer case worker had vowed to outlast the three months she was given by doctors in early July last year.

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“I  will get stronger, I will get better,” the woman who preferred to be called “Tita Vio” had reportedly said.

She left Hong Kong for good on Jul 1 last year, and was seen off at the airport by her employer Edith Yuen and her siblings, whom she had served for 16 years.

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Also on hand were a couple of friends including Tellez, who handed a last-minute “Happy Homes” award to both Macatol and Yuen.

Macatol's photo on her coffin

Although she bravely fought to live longer, even checking herself into the hospital straight from the airport, Macatol’s health seemed to have gradually worsened.

She was laid to rest on May 22 in her hometown of Bansud, Oriental Mindoro, with dozens of family members and friends gathering to bid her farewell.

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At the Hong Kong memorial, Tellez remembered with sadness that Macatol was among those who had joined the fun in the last post-election outing the group had, also on Repulse Bay.  

She was an ubiquitous presence in many other activities organized by allied organizations, including United Filipinos (Migrante) Hong Kong, and ACFIL, or Association of Concerned Filipinos.

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Tellez also remembered Macatol’s contagious sense of humor, like how she preferred to be called Tita Vio instead of Violy, saying it was more “sosyal.”

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But it was her firm militancy that Macatol will always be remembered for.

“You were always a fighter,” said Tellez of her late colleague and friend. “May you rest in power.”

See related story here: 

https://www.sunwebhk.com/search?q=violy

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Prevalence of cancer among Pinoy workers alarms OWWA

By Vir B. Lumicao

Filipinas who have been working in Hong Kong for a long time seem to be most vulnerable to cancer, and this phenomenon is baffling officers of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Welfare Attaché Virsie Tamayao told The SUN that many of the medical cases reported to her office recently involved cancer patients. But she could not provide  exact figures due to a lack of statistics.

At the end of June, two OWWA  officers escorted home a female worker who was suffering from a type of cancer. At about the same time, a former domestic worker who had overstayed here for 10 years surrendered and was taken to hospital in Kowloon with an advanced-stage cancer.

Most recently, longtime Mission volunteer Violy Macatol chose to go home, accompanied by an OWWA staff, after being found to be seriously ill with a rare type of blood cancer. And before her, political activist Lily Jimenez who had worked in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, flew home to her native Albay province, along with a concerned friend, after being diagnosed with late-stage bone cancer.

Tamayao, who assumed her post in late May, said she had been assigned to other places, such as Abu Dhabi and South Korea, but it is only here in Hong Kong where she has seen cancer being prevalent among OFWs.

Tamayao said this had prompted  her to wonder  why this is so.

“Notable is, most of those afflicted have been working here for quite some time,” Tamayao said. This has led her to ask the patients about their lifestyle – what kind of food the workers eat here.

“About 80% of illness comes from our food and also lifestyle, stress, stressful work, the environment, even the family, if the worker doesn’t get support system from the family,” Tamayao said.

The phenomenon has prompted her to consider compiling a database of illnesses afflicting OFWs, including cancer.

Cancer victims among OFWs. A group of Filipinos (and an American) gave Lily Jimenez a warm sendoff recently. Violy Macatol bid a teary goodbye to her employer when she left for good (above) while Violy Macatol bid a teary goodbye to her employer when she left for good (below).

Tamayao said OWWA Hong Kong is already preparing its first-semester report on death statistics and hopefully, could make a comparative study on the causes.

She said OWWA is always there to give support to ailing OFWs, starting with the psycho-social aspects.

“We give all kinds of support other than the interventions, like bringing them to the airport, giving them escorts up to the airport in Manila, and requesting the head office if they need an OWWA ambulance to bring them to the hospital in their home place, and contacting their families,” Tamayao said.

OWWA also contacts other agencies that can help a sick OFW set up a livelihood activity so she can reintegrate back home  with some ease.

OFW activist seriously ill but still in fighting form

By Daisy CL Mandap

Nothing it seems can faze Violy Madeja Macatol, not even cancer.

The feisty 62-year-old left Hong Kong today so she can continue her treatment for blood cancer in the Philippines, but she remained as upbeat as she was when she used to interview distressed clients at the Mission for Migrant Workers.

Before she left with a Hong Kong staff member of the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration office, she and her employer Edith Yuen received the Happy Homes award from the Mission in Migrant Workers, where she worked as a volunteer. Yuen's siblings, who are Christians and who came to the airport to send her off, also prayed over Macatol and wished her recovery.

A happy Homes award for Violeta and her employer before she boarded her last flight home.

A tearful farewell.

In an interview days before her departure, she was asked why she sounded chirpy just days after being discharged from the intensive care unit of Nethersole Hospital in Taipo. The former stalwart of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno in the Philippines answered, “Ano ang magagawa ko? Nasa dugo na namin ito.”

She nonchalantly shared that both her father and a brother had died of the disease.

But this warrior of a worker also has a wicked sense of humor, as shown by her Facebook profile in which she describes herself as a “CPA. Certified public atsay.”

Her sons’ names also reflect her wacky outlook. The older one, who is 25, she named Kimuel (for KMU) while the younger one, who is 24, is called Maynard (for Mayo Uno, of course).

Violy Macatol in hospital with her employers.

Behind the humor, however, is a steely determination to improve her lot. She left her impoverished life in her native Mindoro province, still in her teens, and settled in Manila, where she first worked as a housemaid, then as a garments factory worker.

All the while, she sought to further her education, finishing high school at age 26, and would have gone on to college to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher if the fates had allowed it.

In 1998, with two young sons to provide for on her own, she decided to accept a retrenchment offer from the garments factory, Novelty Philippines, so she could work in Taiwan. She worked there for three years, then briefly returned to the Philippines before setting off again in 2002, this time for Hong Kong.

She has remained here since, and except for a few months working for an elderly ward at the beginning, has been with her current employers.

Macatol has been very much in control of her life that when she decided to go home for further medical treatment, she worked on the preparations herself. First she contacted an old friend at Philippine General Hospital. Dr. Ted Herbosa, so she could get herself admitted to there straight from Manila’s international airport.

“Nakilala ko siya noon pang 1989, nung nagpapatingin sa PGH ang tatay ko dahil may cancer,” she said. They have become close friends since.

After being told of her wish, Dr Herbosa immediately asked for her medical records so he could begin studying them, and assured her that he would coordinate her transfer to PGH.

He also told her that Philhealth “has the Z package for blood cancer meds,” meaning she shouldn’t worry so much about the cost of her treatment.

This aside, what also helps lift Macatol’s spirits is the support she continues to get from her female employer and her siblings who like her, are all in their 60s, that they are often mistaken as “barkada”.

“Sobrang simple lang nila kaya parang hindi ako ang katulong,” Macatol said, before letting out a guffaw.

The siblings whose eldest is a pastor, have paid for Macatol’s costly medical tests in private clinics because they didn’t want to put her in the long waiting queue at public hospitals just to know exactly what she was sick of.

They also visit her regularly at the hospital to bring her food and comfort, and when told of her wish to go home, immediately went to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to work out her termination pay and other benefits.

Macatol said she will have to go to the airport in a wheelchair and hopefully with a companion as she often gets dizzy, but is not otherwise worried about her impending trip.

True to form, she has been spending much of her time in hospital sending text messages and photos to people she thought should know about her condition. She also worked remotely on getting her final salary deposited directly into her account in the Philippines.

“Gusto ko lang masigurado na may sarili akong perang magagamit kung kinakailangan,” she said.
Truly, gritty warriors know no fear.

Aray ko po!

Namimilipit sa sakit si Violy, Ilokana at 50 taong gulang, nang dalhin siya sa Ruttonjee Hospital sa Wanchai noong Enero 8. Pagbaba niya kasi mula sa higaan niyang mataas ay nasabit ang kanyang tuhod sa hagdanan nito, at nasugat.

Kinailangan siyang operahan dahil sa dugong namuo sa kanyang tuhod. Muli ay matinding sakit ang naramdaman niya dahil nababanat ang balat sa kanyang sugat kada hakbang niya. Agad naman siyang pinauwi pagkatapos ng operasyon, at pagkalipas ng ilang araw ay pinabalik para sa therapy.

Pero nang tingnan ng doktor ang kanyang tuhod ay nakita nitong may natira pang dugo sa sugat, kaya kinailangan niyang maoperahan muli. Magkahalong takot at sama ng loob ang naramdaman ni Violy nang muli siyang operahan.

Mabuti na lang at umayos na ang kanyang pakiramdam pagkatapos nito, at dahil binigyan siya ng isang linggong pahinga ng doktor. Alalang-alala naman ang kanyang amo, at lagi siyang sinasabihan na magpahinga.

Alam ni Violy na aksidente ang nangyari, pero tuwing binabalik-balikan niya ang pangyayari, naiisip din niya na dapat ay naging mas maingat siya. Kagigising lang niya kasi noon at marahil ay aantok-antok pa nang bumaba sa hagdanan ng kanyang kama kaya sumabit ang kanyang tuhod.

Ang payo niya, “huwag agad babangon at bababa mula sa higaan, mababa man o mataas, dahil madaling mawalan ng balanse at masabit o matumba”. Mag-inat inat daw muna at siguradong gising na ang diwa bago tumayo at nang malayo sa disgrasya. – George Manalansan

‘Paalam, Ate Violy’

Patuloy ang pagdagsa ng mga mensahe ng pakikiramay sa Facebook account ni Violeta Pascual sa biglaan niyang pagpanaw noong Martes ng hapon, Hulyo 12, nang dahil sa sakit na lung cancer.

Inulila ni Violeta o Violy na isang biyuda, ang dalawa niyang anak na sina Dane at Danel Pascual.

Si Violy kasama ang anak na sina Dane (l) at Danel (r)

Ayon sa nakababatang kapatid ng yumao na si Emma Celso, lubhang napakabilis ng mga pangyayari. Na-admit si Violy sa Queen Mary Hospital noong Abril, at hindi na siya naka-uwi sa kanyang amo. Noong Mayo 23 ay ninais niyang umuwi na lang sa Pilipinas para doon ipagpatuloy ang pagpapagamot, at makapiling na rin ang mga anak. Ito rin ay payo ng mga doctor na nag-asikaso sa kanya sa Queen Mary at sa Tung Wah Hospital kung saan siya inilipat bago siya umuwi.

Matapos ang isang buwan ay kinailangan ni Violy na sumalang sa radiation therapy dahil sa matinding sakit na nararamdaman, at sinundan ito ng dalawang operasyon sa ulo. Isasalang na sana siya sa pangatlong operasyon ngunit hindi na ito nakayanan ng kanyang katawan.

Marami ang nabigla sa pagpanaw ni Violy, bagamat marami din ang may alam na matagal na itong maysakit.

Kilala si Violy sa komunidad dahil aktibo siya sa iba-ibang organisasyon, katulad ng Balikatan sa Kaunlaran Hong Kong Council, kung saan siya dating bise-presidente, sa Rhapsody Hong Kong, Filcomsin, Kababaihang Rizalista, at ang dating Pinay Justice.

Naging presidente din siya ng The Sun Organization, at nagsulat ng pitong taon sa The SUN, at pagkatapos ay sa Friends International magazine.

Si Violy ay nagtrabaho sa Hong Kong ng 28 taon, at ang dalawang naunang dekada dito ay ginugol niya sa iisang amo. - Cristina Cayat

Habilin ni Violy sa mga kapwa ina

Aniya, kailangang laging may balanse sa pagtatrabaho at pangangalaga ng kalusugan. Hindi raw dapat na isakripisyo ang kalusugan para lang kumita ng malaki at nang may maipantustos sa pamilya.

Gayundin, napaka importante daw ng pagsali sa mga usaping pang pinansyal para mahawakan nang maigi ang kinikita at nang hindi na sila magtagal sa pangingibang-bayan.

 “Dapat ay matuto ka munang humawak ng pera para makapag-enjoy ka bago magkasakit”, ito ang mariin niyang turan habang nakikipag-usap sa mga kaibigan.

Malaki daw ang naitulong ng iba-ibang organisasyon na nagtuturo ng tamang paghawak ng pera para mapagtanto niya ang mahalagang aral na ito. Kabilang sa mga sinalihan niyang grupo na nagbigay ng aral sa kanya tungkol dito ang Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship ng Ateneo School of Government, Enrich Hong Kong, CARD OFW Foundation, at BSK.

Ayon kay Violy, nabuhay ang kanyang pag-asa na makapag-umpisang muli sa Pilipinas dahil sa mga turo ng mga grupong ito. Balak niya sanang umuwi na nang tuluyan ngayong Oktubre ng taong kasalukuyan sa pagtatapos ng kanyang kontrata.

Biglang paghahanda sa planong pag-uwi, nag-aral siya ng iba ibang kursong pangkabuhayan. Kumuha siya ng agriculture, pananahi, at paggamit ng computer, na itinuturo sa ilalim ng livelihood program ng OWWA o Overseas Workers Welfare.

Sa kabila ng kanyang paghahanda, hindi niya ipinagkailang marami siyang naging maling desisyon kaya hindi siya nakauwi agad para samahan ang kanyang mga anak, kaya naman mahigpit ang bilin niya na ipaabot sa ibang ina ang kanyang natutunan.

“Matutong hawakan ang pera nang maayos para hindi magtagal dito,” sabi niya.

Ito rin marahil ang hinaing ng kanyang panganay na anak na si Dane, na ang saloobin ay ipinahayag niya sa kanyang Facebook account. Ayon kay Dane, ang pinakamalaking pinanghihinayangan niya ay hindi naranasan ng kanyang ina ang mag-aruga sa kanila, at gampanan ang pagiging tunay na ina. –CC