Filipina: Mail-Order Brides

"'E-brides' seek to escape poverty" by Ambika Bhushan (Reuters) explains why some Filipinas wish to marry foreigners.

If you'd like to know more about the situation, check out "Human Trafficking: Mail Order Bride Abuses," which provides links to the testimonies (pdf) of expert witnesses who testified before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations, and the recently-filed bill (note: not yet a law) entitled "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005."

In "Mail-order Bride," Feel-good Librarian agrees that "Love can survive against the odds," but asks specifically about the customer she assisted from first email to talk of meeting at the airport, "Is what they have, after four days, love?"

And then there's the side that we hardly ever read about: the man's side. In Jason's Beach Resort, Jason, an American, refers to the Philippines as his future home country, arrives in Manila and gets married, feels betrayed (part 1 and part 2), and finally decides to divorce his Filipina wife after less than a year of marriage.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I am not making any judgments about either the Filipina who marries a foreigner, or the foreigner who seeks a Filipina wife. This post is for those who would like to understand the situation better. Remember, not all Filipinas who marry foreigners are desperate, and not all foreigners who marry Filipinas are abusive.


Category: Filipina