The unspoken importance of information literacy: Michelle Silvertino's death

The death of 33-year-old Michelle Silvertino, a Filipino maid employed in the country's metro, prompted national and global discussions on the importance of systemic information relay especially during the high risk lockdown period. Her death could have been easily avoided, if not for the lack of coordination among government and transport agencies and its people.

Michelle, like many who left their place of origin for "better" employment opportunities elsewhere, is a byproduct of decades-long cultural migration among Filipinos with high hopes for upward mobility and a possible return to their Philippine soil.

International migration history dates back to the Marcos' era when a bulk of Filipino workforce was exported to gulf, oil-rich Western Asian countries, and the succeeding decades saw more and more Filipinos sent overseas for land- and sea-based employment.

This systemic Filipino migration to foreign countries cemented the formation of satellite Philippine government offices overseas. The Philippine embassy would ensure that OFWs are properly documented and oriented about the bylaws in their host countries.

This, however, does not guarantee digital and information literacy required to function in a transnational working space. Many OFWs, especially those who belong to domestic/house help service industry, fail to meet the average information skill set necessary for their work life abroad. This is according to a 2016 study on the information behaviour of Singapore-based Filipino domestic workers.

With gaps in over a four-decade long system to streamline the export of Filipino workforce, Michelle's recent death shifts the focus from global to domestic workforce migration. There is an apparent lack of government systems to monitor workers' movement from rural to urban, from province to city and back; and how these province-grown workers navigate the city-based information landscape.

Michelle's death gives rise to these unanswered questions:

1.) Were there really no alternative transport choices to prompt her to travel on foot the 13-km stretch from Cubao to Pasay (with all her luggage in tow) when she knew that no bus service was available to bring her home to Camarines Sur? Was there no collective assessment made by her and her employers on the cost-benefit of calling transport operators by phone or checking alternative modes of transport online versus walking roughly 2.5 hours to become a chance passenger?

2.) Was there no further contact between her and her employers to ensure her safety, well being and temporary shelter during the 5 days she was stranded until she could have been assured of transport back to province? (Low paid transnational workers in foreign countries would easily form micro-communities, which are visible in group huddles formed in public areas during their off days. Unfortunately for Michelle, she seemed to have nowhere else to go but remain on a footbridge until strangers took notice.)

3.) Did Michelle have a bank account where she could have stored her pay amounting to P6,000, which was eventually reportedly lost? Are there efforts to hike low paid workers' financial literacy skills (regardless of industry) and do away with cash-based transactions? (Even if the "Kasambahay Law" requires employers to pay domestic workers in cash.)

4.) Is there an existing portal dedicated to the relay of transport and essential information during lockdown? The practice of mass communication is still dominated by mainstream media, and government portals are hardly used by Filipinos within and beyond Philippine shores. Michelle, like many others, would most possibly depend on unverified and serendipitous information sources which are mostly circulated through her inner human circle and online media.

Information literacy, especially among marginalised groups, is an essential but often unspoken life skill. It can spell the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, Michelle's life was abruptly cut short due to lack of proper orientation and poor information relay.