OFW Wannabes

In Philippine Educational Theater Association’s (PETA) latest offering, Pinoy Wannabes, five one-act plays revolving around the issue of OFW migration explore how the promise of a better life could ironically gnaw away ties and shatter dreams.

Using an ever-present red luggage as a unifying element — at least visually — the five sketches portray present-day Filipino realities.


Yung Plano is a tale of the disintegration of an OFW family, with its first scene being that of three kids trying to take care of themselves in a home with absentee parents, and its last being that of the parents as idealistic ‘70s activists. The backward telling of the story gives it a more powerful impact than it would have had if it were told the usual way. The irony of the parents’ strong convictions and ideals when they were young losing out to the promise of a better life — in the land of the “enemy,” no less — is not at all missed among the audience.

Ang Kamera ni Mang Leon, on the other hand, hits home quite easily, in the light of the ongoing mass exodus of health workers abroad. The issue of physicians working in the country as underpaid and overworked doctors versus being well-paid albeit of much lower status care givers abroad, is still a much talked about topic.

And when life in the country becomes too burdensome to bear, running off to other countries “to set things right” is all the more an easy decision to make. In Kalat, an abused wife decides to leave the country to clean up other peoples’ mess, and hopefully and eventually, her own.

Panaginip talks of young lovers oceans apart, with only a dream of one day being together to hold on to. Exhilarating and loaded with witty punches, and yeah — that same-sex kissing that made the viewers rowdy for no less than a minute — this mini-play might have been the last to leave the viewers’ minds, if ever it would.

And finally, who doesn’t want to have a pasaporte? Virtually every Filipino dreams of owning — and using — one. In Pasaporte, the Juan and Juana de la Cruzes of the country were given the center stage as they give their arms and legs for that elusive US visa. And fail.


While the five mini plays may not have wholly captured the lives of the millions of Filipinos working abroad — for surely their actual experiences are much more colorful, their dilemmas more heartrending, and their stories more moving — the sketches are simply poignant. With its emotional and social appeal (which is expected of all PETA productions), Pinoy Wannabes has managed to set the audience roaring with laughter. And hopefully, take home a message or two.