Nez, my housemate and a fellow colleague, told me a news bit one night, which gave me a hard time sleeping afterwards. She just got home from a testimonial dinner that night in celebration of her passing the geodetic engineering licensure exams. Aside from the recent developments at our department in UP Diliman--which were in fact good news--she told me that a classmate and former co-teacher of mine at the department was already in Singapore practising hydrographic surveying. Another friend and colleague of ours was in the Netherlands working for a dredging/construction firm.
She went on saying that each of them were actually making hefty sums of money as GE professionals, which according to my calculations amounted to a little over three times while the other even six times as much, respectively, to what I was currently earning from my part-time consulting work. I was extremely happy for them, and for all of us for finding our own niches and making it well after college life.
But after hearing that, my mind was whirring, bombarded by thoughts of career, success, and decisions in life. My thoughts did not allow me to sleep so soon to cap what was an easy and fulfilling day, and instead, it continued to snowball into exponential projections and alternatives. The over-arching question, "WHAT IF?", immediately occupied my daily contemplations in the days that followed. Rina even noticed how pensive I was. She said my countenance effortlessly betrayed that I was lost in thought.
The truth is, Nez's scoop got me thinking. It's definitely not her fault.
I knew for a fact that working overseas meant unparalleled opportunities and monetary compensation that working in the homeland could not match. Millions of Filipinos work abroad, either voluntarily or forced due to circumstance, for lack of employment in their own country. I, for instance, can earn and save money faster and greater than what I presently make here.
The Philippine economy presently thrives on revenues earned from remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) from abroad to support their families back in the Philippines. It is estimated that $8.50 billion worth of remittances were sent by OFWs to the country in 2004 alone, which according to PCIJ puts overseas work as the the country's main source of foreign exchange and a primary driver of the local economy.
And the Arroyo government, given their profound insight, even endorses this by strengthening OFW programs. Don't they get it? In the long term, they're keeping Filipinos abroad while this country is badly in need of their skills! Thousands of doctors in the Philippines, new graduates and accomplished professionals alike, opt to work abroad as nurses or as caregivers, which could have been badly needed "doctor to the barrios." Right now, even hospitals in Metro Manila are experiencing a scarcity of medical professionals resulting into more unattended patients and diminishing quality health care.
While this country is living on good money earned abroad, Filipino families left by OFWs in the Philippines are slowly degenerating and are being destroyed. The rudimentary ingredient to a healthy Filipino society--the family--is being neglected. The family is the basic unit of society that is of primary importance in Filipino culture, which is why you'd easily notice that Filipinos are very family-oriented. Many have said that OFWs around the world are one of the most noble and selfless Filipinos, and I am very proud that they are my countrymen. However, it is greatly unfortunate for them that their decision to earn a living abroad to support their families back home comes at an intangible price that they pay by being separated from the families they serve and cherish most.
Why isn't the government exhausting all means to keep Filipinos at home? Can't opportunities be created for Filipinos to flourish in their own country? Can't working abroad be treated only as a temporary solution? The Arroyo administration has definitely got its priorities mixed up. It is only in the Philippines that Filipinos are the last to benefit from opportunities in their country, which is regrettably the effect of skewed government policies that favor foreigners. The Filipino is a stranger in his own homeland. What an absurdity!
You know why I greatly admire and honor former Pres. Calros P. Garcia? His policies ran in favor of Filipinos--the Filipino First policy. Pilipino Muna! This made him tremendously unpopular to international money lending institutions because he refused to put the Philippines in debt by borrowing from them. Then, his successor, former Pres. Diosdado A. Macapagal, spat on the monumental achievement of his administration by becoming the first president to access "aid" from these international lending facilities. Succeeding leaders, especially former Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos, further exacerbated the Philippines' worsening debt condition. And decades later, Macapagal's daughter and now incumbent president of the republic , follows in her father's footsteps by showcasing to the world that she inherited a double portion of her father's ineptitude.
But why be bothered by Nez's news? Am I envious of my friends' and fellow colleagues' stellar compensation? Probably.
Truth be told that even the idea of working overseas crossed my mind. Dimi and I a few years back were discussing the possibility of working in another country (but not to live there permanently) even just for the briefest of times up until we mustered enough savings to start up a business of our own back in the homeland. Sounds fair and justifiable. But somehow, in my mind's deep recesses, I can't keep myself from equating leaving this country as abandoning ship.
I listened to PCIJ's podcast interview with Jim Paredes, one of the members of the Apo Hiking Society trio, for their article commemorating the 20th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. They featured 20 Filipinos who were--in one way or another--involved during the Marcos regime. Jim had his part to play by staging rallies in the guise of concerts and writing/singing songs that spoke against the ruling despotism. However, in his interview, he tells of migrating to Australia with his family for a change and expresses a baffling: "I'm taking a vacation from being Filipino." I truly have deep respect for this man who utterly fought for freedom and took part in People Power. But his latest statement baffles me up to a point where I'd wish he'd take them back. Was he abandoning ship? Maybe not since he declared that he still wanted to come back to the Philippines. But when? When the dust already settles and the Philippines is already rebuilt from the ashes? Maybe he was temporarily pulling back from the frontlines to lick his wounds and to fight again another day. Maybe so. But why say that you're "taking a vacation from being Filipino"? It's like saying you're "tired of being a Filipino"!
In the course of the last two months, I'd say my political consciousness grew somewhat. And blogging contributed much to this newfound intellectual hunger for scrutinizing relevant (and even personal) issues. I've also realized how profoundly my principles are being tested especially when the issues hit closer to home and I find myself at a fork, needing to personally deal with them while overturning my gut in the process.
The issues I have just shared have taken me to a state of contemplation about how I define being a Filipino and how much of myself am I willing to sacrifice for love of my country, which branches into another question as to how do I define love for my country. Would leaving the Philippines to work overseas for a while make me less patriotic, or more so, mean that I abandoned my country? Is it a question of which country should benefit from my skills, or which country should I permit to exploit my talents? Am I at a point in my life when idealistic pursuits are scorned and mocked to keep it close to the ground as much as possible? Or am I just being plain silly and should get on with being practical? Who cares? Everybody's going abroad--why can't I? Am I not entitled to that same choice?
But no, my country needs me and the only way I'm ever gonna help change this nation is by engaging in where the battle is--by staying in the battlefield.
[Photo credits: People Power crowd from this website, Pilipino Muna banner (Don)]
4 weeks ago
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1 comments:
sigh..... And now the ultimate filipino dilemma comes full circle.
I too listened to Jim Paredes' PCIJ interview last month. I was inspired by his activism and outside-the-box intellect -- but was astonished by the way he phrased his need to step away from the Philippines, however temporarily. I also began studying the OFW phenomenon last semester when I watched the documentary Chain of Love on Filipina domestic workers/helpers/nannies. Katulongs, essentially. I was heartbroken by their lack of options; but moreso, I was infuriated by the governmental programs and institutions in the Philippines that are designed to encourage a culture of labor exportation. There are so many flaws in the OFW programs, from the fact that workers (skilled & unskilled) are needed in the Philippines, that the income is needed in the Philippines, that dependence on remittances leads only to continued failure to reach self-reliance, that Filipinos are trained (read: brainwashed) into thinking that this is the best and only solution to the country's woes, to the reality of children growing up without mothers and fathers -- only to grow up and follow in the same footsteps.
Ultimately, I know that you are as capable as you are patriotic. You are of sound mind. I know that whatever you ultimately decide will come only after hard-fought deliberation. There is no shame in idealism, just as there is no shame in temperance with pragmatism. It is a balance -- one that I have no doubt you will find.
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