Tonight on i-Witness: ‘From Korea With Love’

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PUBLISHED ON March 10, 2008 AT 9:08 AM

Sandra Aguinaldo reports how overseas Filipino Workers used to send home Balikbayan boxes to their families. The boxes usually contain chocolates, imported clothes, shoes and toys.

But times have changed. They now send home babies.

Korea is one of the few countries with lenient laws against illegal foreign workers, resulting in the steady increase of Filipino TNTs or OFWs without valid working visas. Despite the leniency, Pinoy TNTs still take precautions to hide.

Many TNT couples send their newborn babies home to the Philippines via a “biyahera” to avoid deportation.

“Biyaheras” are Filipino women who travel to Korea to sell Filipino products and act as “storks” that carry babies back to Manila. A baby’s parent either buys the biyahera’s ticket home, or pays 350,000 Korean won, roughly P15,000, for the baby delivery service.

Nelson and Liza Atienza met and married in Seoul while working in a garments factory. Liza gave birth to a healthy baby boy. To spare themselves from trouble, the couple decided to send their baby home.

For its 9th anniversary, I-Witness presents in-depth documentaries on the plight of OFWs around the world.

Sandra Aguinaldo opens this month-long celebration by flying to Korea to document the Atienza family’s final days together and follow the newborn baby’s journey back to the Philippines.

Sandra discovers that the transaction has been ongoing for years and is known by the Philippine Embassy there. She also met Alma Montalbo, an OFW who sent her child back to Mindoro seven years ago.

Follow the heartbreaking journey of these babies “From Korea, with Love” this Monday midnight on I-Witness, with New York Festivals Gold and Silver Medalist Sandra Aguinaldo.

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