...the "bagong bayani"s (OFWs) in Brunei

Pinoys find respect in Brunei

 

By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO

June 3, 2011

Manila Bulletin

 

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei — One takes charge of the sartorial style of the Brunei royal family while the other takes charge of keeping the royal home in tip-top condition.

They arrived here under different conditions, motivations, and circumstances, but there is no denying they found a second home here in Brunei.

Fashion designer Edwin Bantigue and mechanical inspector Feliciano Caringal Jr. are just two of the thousands of Filipinos working here who have made themselves indispensable in their adopted country.

They are the country’s unsung ambassadors of goodwill—earning the respect of the people of Brunei and making their “kababayans” here proud that they are Filipinos.

Filipino workers here have a high sense of self-worth and command respect from the Brunei people. Some of them are professionals, in high-paying jobs and in managerial positions.

He may be relatively unknown in Manila’s fashion world, but here, Bantigue brushes elbows with the members of the royal family and wives of politicians.

He has been one of the most sought fashion designers in Brunei, with his works combining contemporary and traditional styles.

Bantingue wanted to become a priest but God had other plans for him.

His talent for fashion designing blossomed when he was still a college student at the University of Santo Tomas. He found part-time work with some of the fashion designers in Manila.

After college, he worked at a local garments firm and was tasked to oversee the product development division. “We create products for the next fashion season. We scour materials in the US for launch in the Philippines.”

In 1987, an offer came for him to work in Brunei. “I was fish out of a pond. I don’t know Brunei,” he admitted.

His initial clients were flight stewardess of Lufthansa Airlines. “They opened the doors for me,” he said.
Eventually, a member of the royal family, a sibling of the Sultan, became a regular client.

Thereafter, he found himself designing clothes for the princesses and the Queen’s sister.

In 1994, at the height of his fashion career, he went back to the Philippines. He felt he had a “calling.”
“I wanted to enter the seminary,” he said.

He joined the Oasis of Love, a Catholic charismatic group which counts among its members artists from the entertainment industry.

He renewed his life in Manila, putting up a business. But Brunei beckoned for the second time.

In 2005, he went back to Brunei only for a visit. But while there, his old clients, finding out he was there, sought and begged him to design gowns for them.

He realized his calling is really in Brunei.

Bantigue said the royal family and the rich and moneyed Bruneians liked his contemporary take on the traditional clothes, like the Badyo Kurong and Kabaya, without compromising convention.

His clients expanded to the wives of politicians and government officials.

He would adopt and adapt his designs according to the fashion taste of the client. “Is she conservative or fashionable, things like that,” he said.

Like most overseas Filipino workers, Bantigue helps support his family and relatives in the Philippines. What he liked most in Brunei “is everything is accessible.”

For his part, Caringal arrived in Brunei in 1982 and was among the construction staff that built the $350 million official residence of Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah—the Istana Nurul Iman.

“I was a mechanical inspector during the construction of the Palace. I was in-charge of the mechanical construction, from the airconditioning to plumbing,” he said.

He has not looked back since.

Caringal decided to stay for work, and now, he is the assistant technical working officer of the Palace — overseeing the maintenance of the whole Nurul Istana Iman complex from gardening to electrical and other utilities.

“Well, it’s a very demanding and challenging job actually. Of course they are expecting a high level performance. Everything has to be done expeditiously and accurately,” Caringal said.

With his more than two decades of work here, Caringal said however he could only count with his fingers the time he personally met the Sultan.

“I mean, basically the security within the palace is quite tight,” he said.

Such matters are of little consequence to him.

Caringal said he is proud of the fact that Filipinos like him are well-loved in their adopted country.

“I can say that Filipinos are well-respected community in Brunei in the nation building. I think the local Bruneians are recognizing the contributions of Filipino nationals and other walks of life,” he said.

This high sense of self-worth was evident in interviews with other OFWs here in Brunei.

Ramir Arcena, a native of Ilocos Sur, quickly found work at the Giant Times Square in a grocery store.
Compared with workers in the Philippines, Arcena said he earns a monthly income of 500 Bruneian dollars, or P16,000.

And he is pleased to say that he is a regular worker here.

“It is easy to find work here, especially if they find out you are a Filipino,” he said.

Arcena, a father of a two-month old baby girl, said he is satisfied with the working conditions in Brunei. He has been working here for the past three years.

The only downside, like most OFWs, of working in Brunei is the fact is that they are away from their love ones. “But I go back home every two years. We are doing good here,” he said.