Son explains moms suicide

NEW YORK Romar Confieso, 18, a member of the community service organization Philippine Forum has denied that his mother, Marietta Confieso-Bechroui, 38, committed suicide because of financial woes. Romar told the Forum that in fact his mother was able to provide well for them given her two shifts as a dialysis technician.

She was a typical Filipina immigrant mother, states Lorena Sanchez of Kabalikat, a Filipina domestic workers support group and project of the Philippine Forum. He described the cause of his mothers death as unknown. She even visited the Forum office where she was taking line-dancing on the weekends before her death. She was separated from her son and unable to raise him in hopes she could find a job and provide for him. Eventually, she was able to petition Romar and bring him to the US. She continued to work hard, including as a domestic worker, to make up for their years apart as mother and son. Family separation is a common occurrence for Filipino families who migrate because there are no jobs in the Philippines.”

With Confieso-Bechraouis mysterious death, a new trend of suicides among Filipino migrant workers is beginning to rise. The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) claims that there are many factors associated with migration that can lead Filipino immigrant women to such a decision. Every time a very tragic human incident like this happens, you begin to reflect and look at the deeper problem of Philippine migration and its root causes.