appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Cat Thomas

When Filipino domestic worker Prescilla Pancho found herself at the mercy of a physically and emotionally abusive employer in Saudi Arabia, the 27-year-old knew of few places to turn for help.
Word of an appeal she had live-streamed on Facebook in mid-June made its way back to her employer, who threatened her with further violence should she attempt something similar again.
Fortunately, Pancho knew of someone she could reach out to – a Taiwan-based Filipino vlogger Linn Silawan who has made a name for herself by drawing attention to fellow overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) plights in troubled times.
Linn Silawan, real name Elanel Ordidor, works as a carer in Taiwan’s Yunlin County – and oddly it was an attempt to silence her that made her a household name.

In April, she was accused by the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment of “cyber libel” because of videos she had shared criticising President Rodrigo Duterte for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fidel Macauyag, the Philippines’ labour attaché in Taiwan, said representatives from the Philippine Overseas Labour Office had told Ordidor that her actions meant she could be prosecuted both on the self-ruled island and back in the Philippines.
Taiwanese officials, however, were quick to quash the notion that a deportation order would be approved without going through the proper legal channels, stressing that Ordidor had broken no laws in Taiwan.
The offending videos, Ordidor said, were born of a desire to highlight Taiwan’s rapid pandemic response and related travel restrictions, in contrast to what she saw as Manila’s frustrating inaction.
Taiwan, which had early success containing the virus before snapping its borders shut to tourists in mid-March, has reported 506 coronavirus cases in total with seven associated deaths. As of Saturday, the Philippines had confirmed 283,460 infections, 4,930 of whom have died.


Ordidor told  This Week In Asia that she had only wanted to share what she saw in Taiwan “because I love the Philippines”.
Despite this, she became the target of a virulent campaign of online harassment from some of the Philippine president’s most ardent fans – a group calling themselves Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS). They signed petitions calling for her deportation and took screenshots or snippets from her videos that presented her words out of context, a move Ordidor said she suspected was intended to drive traffic to their monetised social media channels.
She maintains that she is just an ordinary Filipino speaking up for others like herself, but the controversy – and threats – surrounding her videos resulted in her being interviewed on the topic of free speech by several Philippine media outlets, raising her profile and giving her a chance to set the record straight.
I want to recognise myself, and say ‘I stand for you’
Elanel Ordidor
“I could explain and perhaps then some of the DDS would think ‘oh maybe she is right’ because of our government’s failings – especially [compared to] the Taiwan government’s response,” she said.
“I am just saying the truth. I’m just showing the difference between Taiwan and the Philippines.”
In the months since being interviewed, Ordidor says she has noticed that the attacks on her have become less frequent, and she continues to regularly post videos to the Linn Silawan Facebook page, which can rack up tens or even hundreds of thousands of views.
“That was my original inspiration, why I started all this,” she said. “I want to recognise myself, and say ‘I stand for you’.”
The month before Ordidor was first contacted by Pancho –the distressed helper in Saudi Arabia mentioned earlier – she was messaged by another Filipino working in the Middle Eastern kingdom, 27-year-old “Mark”.
From Australia to India and the Philippines, are lockdowns working?
He was out of work after testing positive for Covid-19, but had been unable to receive the US$200 in cash aid for OFWs affected by the pandemic that the Philippine government had promised in March.
Ordidor’s emotional video on the topic was widely viewed and a number of her followers got in touch to see how they could help – which in turn encouraged other OFWs to get in touch in the hopes of raising awareness of their own difficulties.
Among them was Pancho, who contacted Ordidor in late June after her employer had forced her to record a series of bizarre and unconvincing videos saying everything was fine. She asked Ordidor to post a video on her behalf which resulted in her “rescue” by the agency that had employed her – though she soon discovered that this was conditional on her repaying certain fees and stumping up for her own airfare home.
In response to Pancho’s employment agency effectively holding her hostage, Ordidor live-streamed a seven-minute phone call she made to the migrant workers’ section of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila. On the call, she identifies herself as Linn Silawan and explains the situation to the agent. Two days later, Pancho was in the care of the Philippines Overseas Labour Office in Riyadh and was successfully repatriated by her own government on July 29.
Pregnant, jobless and stranded: helpers shelter in Hong Kong safe house
Speaking from her family home in Bacolod in September, Pancho said the experience had changed her and expressed her gratitude to Ordidor, describing her as “a very good woman who wants to help workers who are being abused whatever country they are in”.
Ordidor, who cares for an elderly Taiwanese woman, said she hopes to return to the Philippines to visit her mother and children once her current contract is up, though she does plan to continue working overseas.
“I think I will stay in Taiwan, because they have protected me,” she said. “So in return I want to serve [Taiwan].”


‘Never too late’: Filipino domestic helpers pursue degree dreams they put on hold

Philippines’ short-lived Discord ban exposes cracks in online safety strategy

Philippines pardons death row inmate repatriated from Indonesia

Philippines impeachment: is path now clear to convict Sara Duterte?

The Philippines

Linn Silawan: champion of overseas Filipino workers in their times of need

Elanel Ordidor, alias Linn Silawan, pictured in Taichung, Taiwan. Photo: Cat Thomas

In this photo provided by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. The Philippine president pardoned a U.S. Marine on Monday in a surprise move that will free him from imprisonment in the 2014 killing of a transgender Filipino woman that sparked anger in the former American colony. (Ace Morandante/Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP)

Overseas Filipino worker Elanel Ordidor, alias Linn Silawan, pictured in Taichung, Taiwan. Photo: Cat Thomas

This Week in Asia

People

Politics

Lifestyle & Culture

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


Philippine officials had tried to silence Linn Silawan, real name Elanel Ordidor, after she criticised President Rodrigo Duterte’s pandemic response
But the Taiwan-based carer still fights for the rights of OFWs less fortunate than herself on social media – and her voice is increasingly being heard



By day Linn Silawan, real name Elanel Ordidor, works as a carer in Taiwan. But in her free time she campaigns for the rights of other OFWs on social media.
