Nicole, 2 and Sharea, 9; are under the care of their grandparents. Both their parents work in that pilgrimage country as caregivers and their jobs are too demanding for them to bring their daughters there.
 Niño and his wife wanted to have their daughter with them, but they had no choice but to leave them behind. At the time of the Inquirer visit, the two were being cared for by their paternal grandparents Placido Frianela, 57; and Esperanza, 62. Sometimes the two girls stay with their maternal grandparents in another town.

The overseas employment phenomenon has made parents of many Overseas Filipino Workers surrogate parents of their grandchildren. They are tasked with taking care of their grandchildren instead of enjoying their late years in life. The young parents, too, are deprived of the responsibilities and joys of seeing their children grow.
 The Frianezas have total of 12 grandchildren, most of them being under their wings at one time or another.
Frianela and her husband Placido have seven children, two of whom are adopted. Nine members of the family are abroad — three sons, three daughters, two daughters-in-law and a son-in-law all. One would think that the couple is already enjoying a charmed life.
 But this is far from reality, Ezperanza said. "They earn just enough for the needs of their families, and they seldom send for us. On Christmas and birthdays, they send from P500 to P1,000."
 Even in his advance age, Placido works as a tenant-farmer for income.
 Like most Filipino parents, the couple values education. Placido worked in a mining firm and the two were able to send their children either to college or vocational schools.
 But their education did not able them to land jobs in the country so they applied for overseas work, Esperanza said.
The first to go abroad was eldest Arnel, an engineering graduate who went to Saudi Arabia nine years ago. He and his wife, a nurse, live with their four children there.
 Lorna (an AB graduate) followed a year later, going to Hongkong to work as domestic helper. Rowena (midwife) went to Hongkong, too, six years ago.
 Niño (who did not finish his college course) returned to Israel, where he had earlier worked, last December to be a caregiver. Her wife is a caregiver there, too.
Three Frianezas left for Dubai some months back. Percy is in that country earning Riyals as a domestic helper, Dexter (a son-in-law) as a crane operator) and Edmundo as a welder. Edmundo had worked in Taiwan as a factory worker.
"I'm worried for Percy because she said her employers are cruel," Esperanza said.
 But while they have their own expenses to think of, the Frianeza children were able to help build a house for their elderly parents. An unfinished bungalow stand at the back of a palatial house owned by Esperanza's cousin, Vivien and Andrew Marquez.
 "It still has no floor, but at least we have roofs over our heads," Esperanza said.
 The couple used to be the caretakers of the Marquez's old house. In 2002 when Marquez retired from the US Navy, he and his wife Vivien, who worked as a nurse also in the United States, demolished the old house and built a new one.
 The Marquezes and the Frianezas are actually a study in contrast - rich and poor cousins whose lives are "molded" by overseas employment. The Marquezes made well abroad and are enjoying the fruits of their labor. The Frianezas on the other hand, have children abroad but who continue to fight poverty.
 The Marquezes gave the Frianezas a parcel of land where to build their house, and they also help them financially.
"My cousins lend me money such as for placement fees of my children, and we try to pay them whenever we have extra money," Esperanza said. 
 Esperanza still helps in the upkeep of her cousins' house aside from taking care of her grandchildren.
 Life is still a struggle, she said. It is painful that her children and in-laws have to eke out a living in other countries. If she can have her way, she preferred that they are in the country where she can see them and not worry about them. But she has accepted the truth that they are away, far from her sight but not from her heart.