THE SECRET LIVES OF OFWs has an irresistible premise. What if the Filipino migrant worker is actually a mythological creature, with enough supernatural power to take revenge against abusive foreigners? 

Events creative (and former OFW) Jet Tagasa’s first book is a collection of eight horror stories, each featuring a kababayan who happens to be more than human. Horror fans will pick up the book because of the promising plots, yet what kept me reading was the human heart driving each story.

“For every man and woman longing for home and family, was a human being sending out waves upon waves of their loves… all that yearning, craving, aching fervent desire flowing out of their lovelorn hearts and into the sea where the Bakunawa could swallow it all and feel loved herself, even if it is love for other people.”

The stories are a mixed bag, with a few stories markedly different from the others; some seeming to be more polished, sentences wrought with greater care. But the overall artistic average is impressive for a debut, and this reader is genuinely excited to read more of Tagasa’s future works, with time and practice honing her artistic powers.

I thought Tagasa’s pairing of each creature with specific occupations was very clever. The Bakunawa as a seafarer is only one mythological creature (I hesitate to call them “monsters”) to be found within. 

There’s the pious Bible-quoting domestic helper turned Manananggal, the unwitting Balyena balikbayan who wakes up vomiting human viscera and doesn’t know why, and the NHS nurse who turns out to be an Encanto. We also meet the Aswang waiter who takes revenge on those who target gays, as well as the Oryol who works as a part-time sex worker and happens to be assigned to a drug addicted psychopath (perhaps the best written among all the stories). 

My personal favorite was the story of the Mambabarang who seeks a job as a beauty therapist in Dubai. Hell truly hath no fury like a dark magic practitioner and mother scorned. The collection ends with the Anduduno / Aswang na Lakaw cook who has to eat the unthinkable in order to seek justice for a great wrong.

In a time when some countries are increasingly becoming less tolerant towards migrants, this book is more than an entertaining read (though it is, decidedly, that, too). It is trauma transformed into literary tribute, and an education in Filipino culture that has its own kind of power, as real life OFW heroes tap into it for the courage to continue serving their families.

Over the decades, headline upon headline of OFWs being abused in different continents (ranging from mild racism/ unfair treatment to truly heinous crimes) made this reader ask herself if there has been one sad, unintended consequence. Have we become desensitized, have we unwittingly come to accept poor treatment of migrant workers as the norm? 

And this is why this horror collection matters. Tagasa has taken true crime stories and fashioned memorable stories out of them, highlighting the heartbreaking struggles and immortalizing the monstrosities done to real Pinoys. 

Before reading the book, I was initially worried how the real-life suffering would be used as fodder for fiction. Thankfully, in Tagasa’s book, one detects not only the greatest respect for her fellow Pinoys, but also a strong desire for retribution, a kababayan crying out against the injustice done to her countrymen. It could have been me, she seems to say, then writes a narrative where the foreign oppressor suddenly finds the tables turned when the would-be-victim turns out to be not-so-helpless, after all.

“Many of the circumstances that have inspired these stories are horrific in nature. So horrific that I wanted to change the narrative,” Tagasa writes in her Author’s Note.

It’s definitely recommended for mature readers, as Tagasa’s descriptions do not shy away from the horrific things done unto Filipino bodies. Some scenes are very explicit (never gratuitous, and necessarily so). Sensitive readers would do well to consider that the whole book is a literary trigger warning, with artist Ricky Tagasa’s black and white illustrations adding a great deal of added emotional weight. 

But this is the whole point of reading: to trigger reactions and spark change. This reader’s reaction to a mambabarang’s curse-infused beetle being inserted into a certain orifice prompted an internal realization, as good books do. 

Tagasa’s stories make us realize that, had the situations been reversed, we would probably do the very thing that gives her stories its horror genre assignment. Perhaps there are monsters, after all, present in each one of us.

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The reader received a copy of THE SECRET LIVES OF OFWs for review. Jet Tagasa’s book is available from Fully Booked for P936.00, and Lazada (Acre International) for P900.00.

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ABOUT THE REVIEWER:

Gabi Francisco is a classically trained soprano who now performs in the English / Music / Drama classroom. On weekends she soaks in as much art and literature as she can, so she can pass her love for the arts on to her students. She passionately believes in the transformative role of arts education in nation-building. (IG: teacher.gabi.reads )