The Exodus: Pinoy Migrant Workers (OFW/OCW)

[bustero]

Don't know where to put this so will just start a thread on the Philippine Diaspora. And how it affects society .

You guys out there should know. Half the forum (or more!) is not here.

-mama padala pera-



RP among top migrant sending countries, says IOM study

First posted 09:46am (Mla time) June 22, 2005
Agence France-Presse



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GENEVA -- The Philippines is among the top migrant sending countries and its workers among the top for remittances, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Wednesday.

The Philippines ranks third, with seven million Filipinos abroad, behind India, with 20 million, and top-ranked China with a diaspora of 35 million workers in different parts of the globe, the IOM said in its new study, which showed that concerns in Western countries that immigrants cause job losses and increases in welfare spending were not only flawed but contradicted evidence.

Mexico topped the list for remittances, followed by India, the Philippines, Egypt, and Morocco, the IOM study said.

Migrants are a key source of income for many poorer countries, the report said. They officially sent home 100 billion dollars in 2004.

Another 100 billion dollars is thought to flow home through informal channels, the IOM said.

The world's estimated 185-192 million migrants -- up from
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175 million in 2000 -- boost the economies of their new countries and the homelands they leave behind, although the impact of the brain drain on poor nations remains a concern, the IOM also said.

"We are living in an increasingly globalized world, which can no longer depend on domestic labor markets alone. This is a reality that has to be managed," said Brunson McKinley, the IOM's director general.

"If managed properly, migration can bring more benefits than costs," McKinley told reporters at the launch of the 2005 World Migration Report.

Focusing on Western Europe, where many studies have highlighted a need to fill gaps caused by low birth rates, the IOM said direct competition between migrants and local workers is rare.

Migrants are concentrated at the higher and lower ends of the employment market, often in jobs the locals are either unable or unwilling to do, said the IOM.

They can also generate billions of dollars for government coffers, with their taxes outweighing welfare payments.

However, many governments, particularly in Europe, are still failing to get to grips with the need for proper immigration policies, said the IOM.

"Migration is not like goods and capital crossing borders," said Irena Omelaniuk, the report's editor.

"It has some irrational, personal and subjective elements to it, which make it more difficult for governments to understand and to manage," she said.

The United States remains the world's top destination, home to about 35 million migrants, said the IOM.

It is followed by Russia, with 13.3 million, largely people who left other republics of the former Soviet Union after 1991.

Germany (7.3 million), Ukraine (6.9 million), France (6.3 million), and economically booming India (6.3 million) are next.

However, the downside for developing countries is the loss of skilled people who would be essential for the homeland's development, the report said.

Estimates suggest that some 400,000 scientists and engineers from developing countries work in industrialized nations, compared with 1.2 million at home, the report said.

More Ethiopian doctors are practicing in Chicago than in Ethiopia, it noted.

The IOM has developed programs to bring professionals home, sometimes temporarily, to work or train others.

[rustyboi]

i'm more worried about brain drain.. :ohno:

[sandrin]

My siblings and I are planning to put-up multiple businesses in the Philippines. Each of us has a different specialization, in engineering and it communication, food, rtw, and soon arts and crafts. My brother has opened a start-up business and he’s up for expansion later this year. Working abroad helps me earn the capital to get things going because I am the so called “investor” and we don’t want to borrow money.

I don’t like the Pinoys living abroad who bad-mouth the Philippines. I tend to argue with them and ignore them in the end. At the same time I feel sorry for them because obviously life in Pinas was hard during their time and most of them had to come as tnt. I don’t associate with those people particularly the ones who act “pasosyal” and speak with a trying hard conyo accent, eeww. I notice that they are the ones clamoring for a blue passport. I don’t think I will give up my green passport ever. It’s my identity. I don’t care if I have to apply for visas to go for vacation. I’ve never been denied and the visa officer likes me during interviews:P

[mysaong03]

^^ oo nga. u couldnt blame them sometimes but their comments bout their own country are just too much to bear!! akala mo kung sino...crazy!!

:)

[bagel]

I would like to ignore the people who badmouth the Philippines as well. However, there is something constructive in differing opinions. No matter how disruptive or how negative people may be, these negative views are catalysts for change because they move people to reflect more on their own faults. After all, we have to accept the Philippines, warts and all.

I'm interested in the idea that like other places, the idea of culture or ethnicity is beginning to be transnational. People think that globalization means corporate globalization. But the very idea of Filipino is becoming global and less rooted in what we think of as geo-political boundaries. The Filipino national community is not just located in the southeast asian islands. It's something that exists in multiple localities, in the ether (here in the internet), and most importantly in our imaginations. "Filipino" becomes less an attachment to a geographical center but becomes attached to an idea or an emotion. After all, who is to say what is more "authentic?" What does authentic mean?

[ramvingar]

A few years ago, I sat behind this Filipina lady (who was obviously a balikbayan) and an American passenger on a plane to Manila. The American was a tourist going to the Philippines for the first time with his family. The American asked the Filipina about the Philippines and where he and his family should go. To my dismay and disbelief, the Filipina asked the American why he even thought of visiting the Philippines. She said that it was stinky place with trash all around and that it was a dangerous place to visit. She started ranting about all the smoke and pollution and how we had the worst traffic jams in the world. I could not believe what I was hearing! I mean I was not expecting the lady to lie and tell the American that the Philippines was perfect but the least she could have done was bring up the good things too. Anyway, apparently my dad and I were thinking the same thing and so he ended up butting into the conversation and telling the American about our beaches, Tagaytay, Cebu and other places (di pa uso Boracay non e). Till this day, my blood curdles whenever I remember that experience.

[ramvingar]

To go back to the topic. I will be going back home to Manila in September after four and a half years of being away and will be putting up a business with my bro (while helping run my dad's business too). I guess after almost five years, I've come to realize that the Philippines, despite it's shortcomings, is the best place for me. I left basically due to what I shall call "political fatigue" and of course the basic need to provide for myself and my future family. It's a bit ironic that there is once again political turmoil back there just when I am about to go home. I plan to give a try again this time though. However, I may have second thoughts if they succeed in ousting GMA and bringing Erap and his cohorts back to power.

[jbkayaker12]

In the United States it's so hilarious how some Filipinos who were born and reared in the Philippines pretend they are Hawaiians, I know of someone who pretended to be Hawaiian in the salon I frequent for haircuts but I quickly shut her down and started conversing with her in Tagalog. I have no patience for such antics and I don't care for people who are maarte and "trying hard".

Regarding overseas Filipinos, remittances last year amounted close to 17 billion US dollars which was coursed thru banks, remittance centers, relatives and other means. Remittances coursed thru banks almost reached 9 billion US dollars. This definitely buoyed the Philippine economy.

[Lili]

Bakit nga ba may ganon? (pertaining to ramvinger's and jbkayaker's experiences with Pinoys/Pinays abroad.) Ano kaya ang psyche nila? No pride in their roots.

I'd like to consider myself as a global Filipino or Filipino-American to be exact. Is that an oxymoron? Well as Mike (boybaha) stated, "Filipino" becomes less an attachment to a geographical center but becomes attached to an idea or an emotion. And as Carlos Bulosan wrote, "Philippines is in the heart." I am a dual citizen. For those who do not ascribe to dual citizenship, well it's just a matter of personal choice and conviction. I will not argue with you. My passport is not my identity. It is just a matter of convenience. Kung puede lang, wala ng passport-passport and people can travel freely around the world and be good global citizens.

I love the Philippines, the land of my birth and ancestry. I also love America, my home and benefactress. I don't think it makes me less Filipino in the heart. Can a good mother divide her love among her children. She loves each child wholly and not in terms of percentages. That's how I feel. I don't have divided loyalties. I am foremost a global person -- a humanist. I first look at the person as a fellow human being regardless of origin or ethnicity or religion, etc. Authentic to me is being true to one's self. Magpakatotoo ka lang. Well, perhaps I digress from the topic.

[paulkrps]

diaspora is in a sense, a blessing and a curse. but we cannot be choosers at this point. obviously our country is in a bad state of affairs. sometimes, i would feel the guilt wondering if i have bad-mouthed my country. i really hope not. when i call home, i would hear the usual rant, sobrang hirap na sa atin. this rant has been going for years, maybe even more. i thought about those childhood days where you don't worry about tomorrow, but, how did our parents thought of it then? sure life was not easy right, simple yes, not easy.

the scattering of filipinos, southasians, chinese and others is a fact. we cannot deny that people want to better themselves for a price. i remember my dad who had to work in indonesia for 16 years in the middle of a jungle. yes, for a promise of double his salary way back then. yes, life even then was not easy, that was way back in 1973.

diaspora may have given us a breathing room financially, it also claimed some social problems. but it has given us something, the willingness to sacrifice for our family's sake. frankly it's a give and take situation.

i too, have followed my father's footsteps, but luckily for me, i have text, email, cheap long distance calls, webcams, digital cameras, etc. my father? he had letters every 3 or 6 months. telegrams that was as slow as snail mail. very expensive long distance calls. and the marvel of technology then, telex.

now back to the bad-mouthing, pinoys i don't know for what reason, look down upon other pinoys. countless of times, i've encountered a lot looking at me from head to toe. hahaha. parang nagtataka na bat ka nakarating sa canada. oh yes, mainis ka na ng mainis, but it's real. yes, a lot are a trying hard, copycat, showing you that they have that twang even with a mangled grammar. hahaha. but one thing pinoys cannot be accused of? for not trying hard enough. you cannot see pinoys idling, they're always there somewhere, wanting to earn an extra buck. so kung ano man ugali mo, pinoys are a harworking lot, comparable to none, or maybe the chinese, or that southasian or ... oh well.

[ramvingar]

O my God! If I can just tell you all the stories I have about Pinoys having bad attitudes. I work part time at a Filipino restaurant and I have had countless encounters with Pinoys who seem to have forgotten (or want to forget?) about their past. Sometimes I answer the phone at the restaurant to get orders or give directions. There are those who pretend that they do not know how to speak Tagalog at halatang hirap na hirap mag Ingles (nothing wrong with that), so I speak to them in Tagalog, right? But they simply refuse to speak Tagalog. Ingles pa rin ng Ingles kahit halos di ko na sila maintindihan. And the funny thing is, pinipilit pa nilang mag- American accent! Ayayay! Meron din naman yung mga bastos na mababa ang tingin sa mga waiter at sa akin na rin (I'm the cashier). Kung mag utos ay kala mo sila si Queen Elizabeth. Ang nakakatawa pa e order sila ng order, open drinks daw. Halatang nagyayabang sa kanilang mga bisita. Tapos pagbayaran na e biglang lalapit sa akin at bubulong kung pwedeng libre nalang ang kanin at drinks o kung pwedeng may discount!!! Hahaha! Bigla nawawala ang yabang!

Anyway, anybody ever hear of the joke that says that the Philippine diaspora is actually part of a grand scheme for world domination? After we have placed Pinoys in every nook and cranny of the world, especially in the households of the rich, powerful and the world leaders, they will all at the same time hold them hostage (or assasinate them). Or ask for 1 biliogaziliomamilionanilion dollars! HWAHWAHWAHWAHWA!

[kiretoce]

Personally, my citizenship is the only American thing about me. My nationality/ethnicity will always be Filipino/Asian no matter how hard I try to forget it or don't. If a Pinoy person talks to me in Tagalog, I will answer back in Tagalog, but if they prefer to converse in English then I too will follow suit. It doesn't matter to me what language I use as long as the communication between the person and myself are clear and with no misunderstandings.

[jbkayaker12]

Personally, my citizenship is the only American thing about me. My nationality/ethnicity will always be Filipino/Asian no matter how hard I try to forget it or don't. If a Pinoy person talks to me in Tagalog, I will answer back in Tagalog, but if they prefer to converse in English then I too will follow suit. It doesn't matter to me what language I use as long as the communication between the person and myself are clear and with no misunderstandings.

I prefer to talk to Filipinos in Tagalog but the pretension of other Filipinos are really so "trying hard". If there are others around who dont speak the language then I speak in English just to show respect for the rest.

But with respect to all that has been said here, Filipinos tend to assimilate quite fast wherever we decide to live or work. It is natural for us to blend in right away with our surroundings without losing our identity and that makes us a cut above the rest.

So ok na rin pero ayoko pa rin sa ibang mga "trying hard" hehehehe.

[bustero]

Well it's ok for me if one chooses to pursue what they believe will be a better life for them elsewhere. It's a personal choice and ultimately they're responsible for their own happiness. Life is short so ces't la vie. But it is sad that some people do wish they were not who they are. If they want to be american or canadian or australian that's ok, people have been moving around and about before countries were made, but pretending to be someone you're not and worse badmouthing where you came from denies a part of yourself.

I'm personally not too worried about brain drain and the like. A lot of people I know who've left actually come back, better trained and stronger people with more realistic attitudes on life. If they prefer not to come back that's also ok, the fact is we've got to much human capital for our state of development and it let's people on the bottom a chance to get to the top. Our demographic problem lies not with our smart people going out but our smart people staying only in Manila/Cebu/Davao while the 2 hours away from those cities in lubang island/ leyte/ davao oriental, there are not enough doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc for filipinos who are living one generation away from the bronze age. (And I don't mean the tasadays lang!)

[Sou-jiro]

i too,..really really hate filipino's who live's abroad that bad mouth the Philippines.."i refer to them us social climbers"....or the village people...para mga nakalaya sa kulungan tapus akala mo kuung sino na...ang yayabang...ayaw mag tagalog pag kinausap mo tagalog...TAGILID NAMAN ENGLISH...WHEEEEWW I HAVE NO SYMPATHY OR TIME for those people !...i will always be a filipino...Im australian citizen coz i grew up here but i will definitely get my filipino citizenship back to prove my loyalty...im only Australian in Paper...but in heart im filipino...there's no other place like Philippines!!!...i hate filipinos living abroad badmouthing Philippines without facts!but based on what they see on TV...I'd rather save up now and live my life in Phils kaysa naman sa mga bad mouthers na nakatira abroad na malaki utang sa bank sa mortgages at nagbabayad until they're 80yrs old....im not gonna waste my time and grow old paying mortgage...i'd save up and start a biz in Phils...."opinion ko lang mga kabayans"!!.......peace..........

im home sick already...

one thing i wanna say though gusto ko mabago sa Pinoys....

"sana magkakampi mga Pinoy...hindi yung pagalingan tapus pag umaasenso yung kabayan mo sisiiraan mo"..dahil inti midated ka..instead dapat suportahan mo pa para sama sama tayo umahon....hindi naiiwan ng neighbour countries natin"....

[Solblanc]

I'm not one to migrate, but I'm a sort of person that can't stand being in the same place for an extended period of time. Maybe its because I've been moving a lot as a kid. I like to soak up culture and look at it from an outsider's view. Here in the Philippines, its been difficult. While I have learned Tagalog to a degree that I don't sound like a complete idiot when I speak it, I am hard-pressed to like the local culture. This is supposed to be my home, and yet I've never felt more like an outsider. I simply cannot bring myself to be entertained by noontime shows, showbiz bores me, and I find it very difficult to relate to fellow filipinos at times, and these include my cousins. If I were a foreigner, I would get some slack, but as I'm not, I'm derided as being too snooty. Oh well.

[sandrin]

Dapat yung mga OFW/OCW na nag-reremit ng dolyar ay hikayatin din ang kanilang mga pamilya na mag-negosyo at hind na lang aasa sa mga padala. Hindi habangbuhay may trabaho ang mga OFW/OCW kaya habang may income kailangan matuto na magnegosyo at palaguin ito. Kung kailangan nila ng tulong, pumunta sila sa TLRC at magpaturo ng gusto nilang negosyohin.
May nabasa ako na balita sa mga dyaryo na pagpasok ng remittance, agad din mauubos. Paano na uunlad ang buhay nila kung aasa na lang sila.

[bustero]

Solblanc, I believe Philippine Society (Manila in particular) has stratified to the point that there are two if not more distinct cultures emerging. One is the one which watches Channel 2 and actually finds there sitcoms funny, these guys voted for erap/fpj, still very traditional in values, (mano po, pakisama et al), may only be slightly western in attitude but only on the surface, then there's people who are quite westernized, look to NY or Paris or wherever for inspiration, and have a totally different outlook. Neither one is better just different.

[Christerdom]

This is the living proof that Pinoys starting to colonize the world hehe :)

Bebot
by Black Eyed Peas

Album : Monkey Business (2005)

A.
bebot bebot
be bebot bebot
be bebot bebot
be
ikaw ang aking/ay

B.
pilipino, pilipino, pilipino, pilipino

Verse I
hoy pare pakinggan nyo ko
eto nang tunay na filipino
galing sa baryo sa pangbato
pumunta ng LA nagtrabaho
para makatulong sa nanay
dahil sa hirap ng buhay
pero masaya parin ang kulay
pag kumain nagkakamay
yung kanin, chicken adobo
yung balot, binebenta sa kanto
tagay mo na nga ang baso
pare ko inuman na tayo

Verse II
masdan mo ang magagandang dalaga
nakakagigil ang beauty mo talaga
lambingin di nakakasawa
ikaw lang ang gustong kasama
yung bahay o kubo
pagibig mo ay totoo
puso ko’y laging kumikibo
wala kang katulad sa mundo ko
pinoy ka sigaw na, sige
kung maganda ka sigaw na, sige
kung buhay mo’y mahalaga, sige
salamat sa iyong suporta

[Lili]

Wow that's great Christerdom. Better listen to that!

[Christerdom]

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS_FLASH070220052071_6.htm

DOLE: Remittances of OFWs contribute 9.2 percent to country's GNP
07/02 3:20:40 PM

Filipinos working or living abroad have become a substantial subset of the Filipino society with their remittances contributing some 9.2 percent of the country's gross national product (GNP).

Labor and Employment Secretary Patricia A. Sto. Tomas said Saturday there are now about 8.1 million Filipinos living or working in 194 countries and territories all over the world.

The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and migrants, she said, now make up almost 10 percent of the total Philippine population.

Of the total, 3.2 million are permanently living abroad while 3.6 million are temporarily working overseas. Irregular Filipino workers overseas, on the other hand, are estimated to constitute some 1.3 million.

Sto. Tomas said the overseas Filipinos, including migrants remitting dollars to their kin in the Philippines infused into the economy in 2004 a total of 8.5 billion US dollars, which is roughly 9.2 percent of the GNP during that year.

She said that at least six percent of Filipino families are receiving income from abroad; six out of 10 of these families reside in urban areas and are relatively better off.

Today, she added, migrant workers and their families are looked upon as the emerging middle class and being accorded respect by the local community.

"At the same time, overseas employment is pivotal in easing the pressure on the local labor market," she said.

With overseas employment and the attendant infusion of OFWs remittances, the country managed to generate a consumption-led economic growth amidst recession and high unemployment, Sto. Tomas further said.

[jbkayaker12]

If banks could lower the fees they charge on money remittances it would mean less people sending through informal means. There are so many ways of sending money home from couriers, text messaging through Globe and Smart, relatives....

It will be very hard to truly gauge how much money overseas Filipinos send to the Philippines. I even read it could go as high as 12 - 17 billion dollars but it will be very difficult to really have a fixed amount on the total since not all monies are being coursed through banks.

[Mango]

^I know some of our kababayans and some Japanese, too, who send money through
a Pinoy store here.

PNB Tokyo has lowered its remittance fee (2000yen or 1,000pesos)for any amount you send to Phil. and registration is now free (2,000yen before) to attract more remitters. But still there are not few who continuously prefer the illegal means, that charge double than the PNB and the main reason is proximity of the place and they think it's troublesome to go to a bank.

[bustero]

For all of you in different places, I wonder how you in particular and the whole community in general view the current bouhaha. What does the Diaspora say?

It will be interesting because the demographics of Japayukis in Japan, Doctors and Nurses in the States, Mades in Hk and Italy, Engineers in Singapore and saudi, etc, all have different ideas.

and the people here in Manila just keep on shopping ( the bigger news from a very local (as in your office) is the evat - which I personally think is more important that the current GMA bouhaha, btw may sale sa megamall in a few weeks :))

[jbkayaker12]

I feel sorry for the Filipinos in the Philippines, GMA may not be the best president as far as the others are concerned but she's way better than some of the candidates of the opposition if they ever get their act together.

[bustero]

Actually you'd be surprised how people here are, in a way it's a sign of political maturity. The people here are much more calm than the comments I read from forumers abroad! There's a stronger belief that most institutions and the future are more secure even with the current scandals of GMA. As I said in the thread above I think more people are concerned about EVAT- a neccesary evil than GMA screwing herself!

[jbkayaker12]

Quite frankly if Filipinos would rather have Arroyo out of office that is your business and goodluck to you all in the Philippines. As far as I am concerned I will still be vacationing in the Philippines and continually enjoy my vacation regardless of who is in office while you people in the Philippines wallow in the problems you've created.

[sandrin]

My friends and I believe in the programs of President Arroyo.
The main reason why my friends are scattered abroad is because they don't like Erap and his cohorts. In other words, they left the country when Erap was seated as president.

[mysaong03]

Quite frankly if Filipinos would rather have Arroyo out of office that is your business and goodluck to you all in the Philippines. As far as I am concerned I will still be vacationing in the Philippines and continually enjoy my vacation regardless of who is in office while you people in the Philippines wallow in the problems you've created.

huh?! it would be unfair to say such a sarcastic remark :( how do u think u would want us(& urself) to look from that remark?! hindi ka nakakatulong...

:(

[jbkayaker12]

huh?! it would be unfair to say such a sarcastic remark :( how do u think u would want us(& urself) to look from that remark?! hindi ka nakakatulong...

:(
Just in case you have not realized yet whenever a Filipino overseas takes a vacation in the Philippines that in itself is help directly benefiting the people in the Philippines.

Who wants to help people who keeps commiting the same mistake over and over again and does not even want to try make things work. Case in point the most recent one, VAT.

By the way what I said on previous post wasn't sarcasm. It's life, we all create our own problems and we better deal with them and in the case of Filipinos in the Philippines well, goodluck is all I can say to you all.

[Lili]

jbkayaker,

Although you are entitled to your own opinion, I feel that the remark is a bit insensitive because not everyone in the Philippines created this problem. They are helpless with the unfolding of the events. A lot are not as lucky as you and me who are able to migrate to other more prosperous countries. I know that you don't feel as detached as that because you still have an interest in the mother land. Sana lang maayos na ang lahat para sa ikabubuti ng bayan at ng lahat.

[bustero]

I think a lot of people who go abroad share his view. I mean that's why they go abroad in the first place because they have a choice and they're not happy with this place. It's a logical thing to do. Obviously if you feel that most the population and you disagree on how to run the country (voting erap or gma etc) exercise whatever options you have and find an choice which you perceive will give you better and happier life.

[jbkayaker12]

jbkayaker,

Although you are entitled to your own opinion, I feel that the remark is a bit insensitive because not everyone in the Philippines created this problem. They are helpless with the unfolding of the events. A lot are not as lucky as you and me who are able to migrate to other more prosperous countries. I know that you don't feel as detached as that because you still have an interest in the mother land. Sana lang maayos na ang lahat para sa ikabubuti ng bayan at ng lahat.

Truth hurts doesnt it???!!! Let them fix their own problem, if they want somebody else aside from Arroyo more power to them!!

[Lili]

Still, as Mysa said, it doesn't help to make this remark... "I'll continue to vacation in the Philippines .... while you people in the Philippines wallow in the problems you've created." Someone in another thread mentioned something about rubbing salt to the wound.

[Lili]

I think a lot of people who go abroad share his view. I mean that's why they go abroad in the first place because they have a choice and they're not happy with this place. It's a logical thing to do. Obviously if you feel that most the population and you disagree on how to run the country (voting erap or gma etc) exercise whatever options you have and find an choice which you perceive will give you better and happier life.

It's a different matter to be able to exercise this option when it is available to you. A lot of migrants have also sacrificed a lot to live abroad. But it's quite a different matter to pin the blame on what is happening to the country to those who are left there and do not have this option as to say "while you people in the Philippines wallow in the problems you've created". It's too simplistic a generalization.

[bustero]

true, i myself find the said statement inflamatory and overlysimplistic, but that's his opinion nothing more, there are a zillion opinions here which have similar tone which I find outrageous but in the end it's up to each of us to process, and accept or not , the points made in the posts

[jbkayaker12]

Still, as Mysa said, it doesn't help to make this remark... "I'll continue to vacation in the Philippines .... while you people in the Philippines wallow in the problems you've created." Someone in another thread mentioned something about rubbing salt to the wound.

If you want to give them psycho babble go ahead Lili, you have my blessings but as far as I am concerned I don't like to beat around the bush. I tell it like it is and if you don't like it, tough!! You're starting to bore me Lili!!

Goodluck Filipinos in the Philippines!!

Tschau!!

[Sou-jiro]

well....i hope this thing passes......anyway im still also gonna continue visiting Phils although we cant blame some Filipino's overseas to get sick of these....kahit ako naiinis...but its such a sensitive issue...i guess education about these matters need to be implemented to the general Public....i mean if they changed Arroyo....do they expect Phils to go up right away?..then if a new leader comes and people get impatient again...opposition/and people will find a way again to topple the new leader...HINDI BA IMPATIENT YAN!!...did Japan gain stong economy in 2 or 3 yrs?...no!!i took decades......GUSTO KASI NG IBANG PINOY INSTANT SOLUTIONS!!!...WELL HINDI PO ITO INSTANT NOODLES....same .....NO!...it will take time i think....the poor are still poor now.....but if a new leader comes....the poor will still be poor.....it will take time to deal with poverty....Minsan naiinis ako sa mga mentality ng ibang Pinoy's...hirap ma describe...i feel na madami impatient....

im not trying to have a go at the poor....but im just saying kahit mabago leader...it doesnt mean that the poor will get better lives right away..."sad to say"...but no matter who is the leader..i think it will take time...and for me Personally i think PGMA can do more than those aspiring to topple here....

"less instability.....more unity"...........4 words, my advice...


i know many wont agree with me.....but thats my opinoin and i stick by it...peace...........

[mysaong03]

Just in case you have not realized yet whenever a Filipino overseas takes a vacation in the Philippines that in itself is help directly benefiting the people in the Philippines.

Who wants to help people who keeps commiting the same mistake over and over again and does not even want to try make things work. Case in point the most recent one, VAT.

By the way what I said on previous post wasn't sarcasm. It's life, we all create our own problems and we better deal with them and in the case of Filipinos in the Philippines well, goodluck is all I can say to you all.

well, if u dont anymore want to help just bec u think this country is hopeless, sana naisip mo mas marami pang Filipinong mas kawawa sa atin, na simple lang ang pangarap sa buhay. and sarcasm bout ur own country will just further leave them in a confused state of mind, leaving them finally w/o any hope at all :( ur literally saying magdusa kami lahat dito tapos sasabihin mong good luck??!! we never need luck, but hope...hindi ka nga talaga makakatulong...

:(

[Lili]

If you want to give them psycho babble go ahead Lili, you have my blessings but as far as I am concerned I don't like to beat around the bush. I tell it like it is and if you don't like it, tough!! You're starting to bore me Lili!!

Goodluck Filipinos in the Philippines!!

Tschau!!

Well, I'm not here to entertain you. I don't engage in psychobabble. I'm also speaking my mind, Mr. Bigshot. I don't need your blessings either. Ano ka, pope? Napaka-simplistic and arrogant kasi ng statement mo porke wala ka na sa Pinas. Mataas na ang ihi mo. Sige, start picking up fights again as you are wont to do. I will not dignify it any longer.

[Christerdom]

although some of you guyz have different opinion, still i am delighted that we are on same side here of seeing RP become a prosperous nation. this kind of showdown however (difference in opinion), is what exactly happening from top to bottom and all corners of the Phils right now.

Therefore, whoever from the Philippines asking OFWs to stop sending money back to the Philippines to show 'we dunno longer support the government', all I can say is 'ANU KA HILO!!!'. Gutumin ko ba ang family ko because of your stupid pakikibaka?!?

For me, whether opposition and administration, will still continue to send my remittances in the Philippines, why? Do I have a choice? No, i need to support my family and it not just because of the Philippines.

[bustero]

Here's a post from my cousin who moved abroad.


Australia used to consider itself a part of Europe and the English Commonwealth. For the past 25 years, that attitude has changed and Australians consider themselves a part of Asia. Hence anything that borders on a crisis is of interest to them. Here is an analysis by an Australian Reporter of the situation in the Philippines after GMA's COMELEC fiasco. It gives you a view of how foreigners see the Philippines at this point in time.

=======================================
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's crisis call

July 02, 2005

Greg Sheridan, THE AUSTRALIAN

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15791792%255E25377,00.html

'HI Garci," intones a stentorian female voice in the most popular new ring tone for mobile phones in Manila. If it weren't so tragic, it would be hilarious, for the voice is that of Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, taken from a recording of a phone call she made to a senior Philippines election official.

The President's phone conversation is one of more than two dozen that were illegally tapped by Philippines military intelligence and later released by Arroyo's political Opposition.

They reveal her ringing senior Commission on Elections (Comelec) official Virgilio Garcillano while the votes from last May's presidential election were being tallied. At that stage local votes were being consolidated into district and province aggregates, the stage at which vote rigging traditionally occurs in The Philippines. In a May 29 call Arroyo plaintively asks Garcillano: "So will I still lead by more than a million?"

Arroyo eventually beat her opponent, the movie star Fernando Poe, who died from a stroke a few months after the election, by a little more a million votes. Nearly half that margin came in Mindanao, the site of a murderous Muslim rebellion, a province for which Garcillano had responsibility. At one point Garcillano says to the President: "The way in which your votes were increased was done well."

At another point Garcillano appears to be comparing vote tampering in Basilan with that in Sulu. He says: "In Basilan the military wasn't so good at doing these things, like in Sulu, with General Habacon. But I already talked to the Board of Canvassers in Sulu. I think we should just ask the election officer of Pangutaran to hide so he doesn't have to testify."

Arroyo is facing an exceptionally complex set of scandals and accusations and, as usual in The Philippines, nothing is clear. It is just possible to interpret her recorded conversations innocently. She claims she was checking her lead rather than asking for vote tampering.

The scandals have given rise to thousands of Filipino jokes and eccentricities. Pirate CDs of the three hours of her clandestinely recorded conversations have been selling briskly, so much so that a spoof headline was posted on a website this week: "China files case in World Trade Organisation against cut-throat competition of pirate CDs in The Philippines."

But it's worth pausing to consider the strategic significance of what's going on in The Philippines. The National Security Committee of the Australian cabinet meets at least once a month in Canberra. It meets much more often than that when necessary. It has come to the conclusion that the country in Southeast Asia that is the weakest link in the war on terror, with the biggest challenge and least capacity to meet it, is The Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently updated its travel warning for the eastern Malaysian province of Sabah because of intelligence warnings that terrorists were planning to kidnap Western tourists. It's not Malaysian terrorists that DFAT is worried about but terrorists from the nearby southern Philippines.

The most senior US officials confirm that Washington is much more worried about The Philippines than Indonesia, in terms of Islamist terrorism as well as economic stagnation.

This week the political crisis plunged The Philippines' peso to 56.19 to the US dollar, near its record low of 56.45. Despite huge remittances from millions of Filipinos working abroad, economic growth this year is predicted to be 4.75 per cent - not quite catastrophic, but not nearly enough to make any impression on poverty or unemployment in The Philippines, which has one of the highest birthrates in the world. Rising oil prices are having a cruel impact on the economy.

Through the 1980s and '90s, when the communist New People's Army insurgency was very active, Australians were regarded as the second most likely foreign target of NPA terrorist attacks after Americans. In the past few years most Philippines terrorism has been directed at the state, or at sowing terror among civilian Filipinos. But intelligence agencies have picked up plans by extremists to attack targets with a higher Western profile. Again, it is just common sense that Australians and Australian interests will be a likely target.

While the West is understandably focused on Islamist terror, especially groups such as the Abu Sayyaf, arising out of the rebellious Mindanao province in the south, the communist movement is undergoing a rebirth. Philippines analysts report, dismayingly, that whereas the NPA was formerly a middle-class movement of educated urban radicals, it is now recruiting significant numbers of impoverished peasants.

While the communist movement is geographically dispersed, it is strongest north of Manila, in central and northern Luzon. Unlike Islamist terrorism, it has something to say to the bulk of the Philippines population that is not Muslim.

Mindanao serves as a training ground as well as a rest and recreation centre for regional Islamist terrorism, from home grown groups such as Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiah.

Philippines analysts had been hopeful of a peace deal between the Government and the MILF, the biggest Islamist group in Mindanao. But there have been many peace deals in Mindanao and their history is that as soon as the deal is negotiated, the leaders start to enjoy the good life and the radicals break away, because their irreducible demand is for an independent state.

US officials in secret talks have offered the MILF up to $US50 million as a first payment in aid to support a peace deal, aid that the MILF would be allowed to control. But nothing has so far worked.

The MILF claims that, unlike Abu Sayyaf, it is not part of the JI-al-Qa'ida infrastructure in Southeast Asia, but there is no doubt the MILF has co-operated intimately with JI, especially in training camps.

Hundreds of US soldiers and CIA and other agents continue to work with the Philippines forces in the south against the terrorists. Officially US forces are restricted to training and logistics, but it's hard to imagine they never get involved in operations.

The Howard Government is quietly doing everything it can to help the Philippines increase its capacity in counter-terrorism. There is a strong, semi-permanent Australian Federal Police presence, with special emphasis on forensic techniques, focused on helping in the fight against terror.

Our substantial military co-operation program is focused on maritime surveillance, which is designed to impede terrorist movement into and out of the vast Philippines' archipelago.

And in August at least three Philippines cabinet secretaries will come to Sydney for the first Australia-Philippines ministerial forum. Because the Philippines naturally does not want to be seen as a basket case in the grip of terrorists, it is important to put these efforts in a broad development context.

Not all the recent news is bad. Arroyo, though a timid reformer, has got a better tax system and has collected more tax than ever before. A much improved mining law, which could lead to substantial Australian investment, has been ratified by the Philippines Supreme Court. And kidnappings in Manila are down.

But Arroyo's perfect storm of crises has probably put her close to lame-duck territory one year into her six-year term, and may have paralysed her administration for years. This can only exacerbate the profound, long-term crisis of capacity that is crippling the state.

Even before the latest Comelec scandals, Arroyo had recorded the lowest presidential approval ratings in the history of opinion polls in The Philippines. It took her three weeks to respond to the telephone call revelations, and that response only came after a dozen of her cabinet secretaries reportedly threatened to resign.

Finally she made a statement admitting that the telephone calls were "a grave error of judgment" but denying that she had tried to rig the vote. Then, later this week, she exiled her husband, "first gentleman" Mike Arroyo who, along with her son Mikey and brother-in-law Iggy, was accused of taking huge bribes from the illegal juteng gambling industry. Some doleful commentators note that the first people power revolution, which ousted Ferdinand Marcos, was brought on by a rigged election, and the second, which ousted Joseph Estrada, by corruption allegations. Now an unpopular President faces both sets of accusations.

But there is little sign that the middle class or the Catholic Church, key players in the previous people power revolutions, have decided Arroyo must go. Although impeachment processes have begun in the Congress, analysts believe Arroyo will hang on for now.

But she is hugely damaged, and intensely vulnerable should just one more crisis break out. The ability of her Government to pursue desperately needed economic reform, or to resolve either the communist or Islamist insurgencies, looks weaker than ever.

In a nation of 85 million at the heart of Southeast Asia, this is bad news for everyone, not least Australia.

[bustero]

I fully agree with Christerdom, while we differ in opinions let's try to find our common bonds of being filipino and human, after all it's not being in the Philippines which defines the filipino but the values inside of you:) Am happy to see that all of you so far away still care enough to fight over it.

[wecky]

although some of you guyz have different opinion, still i am delighted that we are on same side here of seeing RP become a prosperous nation. this kind of showdown however (difference in opinion), is what exactly happening from top to bottom and all corners of the Phils right now.

Therefore, whoever from the Philippines asking OFWs to stop sending money back to the Philippines to show 'we dunno longer support the government', all I can say is 'ANU KA HILO!!!'. Gutumin ko ba ang family ko because of your stupid pakikibaka?!?

For me, whether opposition and administration, will still continue to send my remittances in the Philippines, why? Do I have a choice? No, i need to support my family and it not just because of the Philippines.


you're right Christerdom ... bakit sila ba magpapakain sa pamilya mo pag nagutom na? Anong pakikibaka ang gusto nila? Those who call and urging Filipinos abroad to stop sending their money is indeed SELFISH. Are they joking to campaign for that? Do they know what they are talking about? Kind of crap ... hehehe. Will they provide and help my family back home, just in case? I wonder whether this whistleblowers have indeed financially stable family in the Philippines? They act as if this is a kind of a big joke.

[jbkayaker12]

Well, I'm not here to entertain you. I don't engage in psychobabble. I'm also speaking my mind, Mr. Bigshot. I don't need your blessings either. Ano ka, pope? Napaka-simplistic and arrogant kasi ng statement mo porke wala ka na sa Pinas. Mataas na ang ihi mo. Sige, start picking up fights again as you are wont to do. I will not dignify it any longer.



Lili dont beat around the bush!! Speak your mind regarding the situation in the Philippines and how you feel towards our kababayan. You will gain more respect this way and enemies as well but at least you've voiced your opinion. It does not really matter where I am residing I will still voice my opinion regardless of my whereabouts!!

[sandrin]

So the unpopular opportunist NPA-thinktank is now asking OFWs not to send remittances. Para raw lalo bumagsak ang ekonomiya.
Sorry na lang sa kanila dahil ang OFW ay hindi nagpapadala para gamitin pang-pulitika kundi para sa kanilang pamilya.
I'm going to increase mine 5fold....

[Lili]

I don't know where to post this, but this is one fella that's still proud to be identified with Pinoy (and willing to still help and contribute).

Black Eyed Peas member to build up Pinoy artists
FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo
The Philippine Star 07/07/2005

Proud to be Pinoy.

That aptly describes Allan Pineda, a.k.a. apl.de.ap, the Pinoy member of Black Eyed Peas which came for a promo tour last year. Allan returned early this year by himself to visit his relatives in Pampanga. Everywhere he goes, Allan tells everybody that he is a Filipino – and proud to be one – and that he was born to Filipino parents but was adopted by an American couple who brought him to the US. His life story was featured last year in an episode of the ABS-CBN drama series Maalaala Mo Kaya (hosted by Charo Santos-Concio).

The good news is that, according to People magazine which featured the Black Eyed Peas in an early-July issue, Allan is putting up a record label which will concentrate on discovering and building up Filipino artists. Great, isn’t it?

Here’s the brief, full story from People:

In the Philippines, where apl.de.ap (real name: Allan Pineda) was born, "they have a movie about him," says bandmate Taboo (Obviously referring to the Maalaala episode. – RFL). "A movie!" Pineda, 30, who was raised in L.A. by adoptive parents, is hoping he won’t be the last Filipino to find worldwide fame. With a solo album of Filipino music in the works, he is starting a record label dedicated to discovering artists from his homeland. When the Peas went there last year, he was given a hero’s welcome – and got to share it with his biological parents. "I actually got to go back to where I was born and perform there," he says. "I just brought my mom up onstage and was like, ‘Look, here we are.’"

[pau_p1]

yeah.. I heard of that news before... It makes me proud to see successful Filipinos abroad who aren't afraid to shout to the world that they are Filipino... or has Filipino heritage.. :D

[bustero]

good for him!

ang question ko lang is sino ba siya doon, I could never figure it out, siya ba iyung matangkad o iyung parang maliit na egoy. Noon pa naman pinagdedebatehan.

[Lili]

He's the shortest one. The tallest one is Mexican-American.

[bustero]

ayun, lili, ty

[Sou-jiro]

NPA deserve to be listed as a terrorist organisation...
that makes Ka Roger mad!...heheh...hindi naman headache mga yan....its so easy to assasinate their main leaders."i dont care they do it to innocent people")...

deal with Abu Sayaf first....NPA can be executed one by one..then they can be hunted like wild pigs in the caves they burrow in..............

uy may galit sakin....baka may NPA dito ah .......... :bash:

[Lili]

^ as in No Permanent Address

[ThisFire]

I don't know where to post this, but this is one fella that's still proud to be identified with Pinoy (and willing to still help and contribute).

Black Eyed Peas member to build up Pinoy artists
FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo
The Philippine Star 07/07/2005

Proud to be Pinoy.

That aptly describes Allan Pineda, a.k.a. apl.de.ap, the Pinoy member of Black Eyed Peas which came for a promo tour last year. Allan returned early this year by himself to visit his relatives in Pampanga. Everywhere he goes, Allan tells everybody that he is a Filipino – and proud to be one – and that he was born to Filipino parents but was adopted by an American couple who brought him to the US. His life story was featured last year in an episode of the ABS-CBN drama series Maalaala Mo Kaya (hosted by Charo Santos-Concio).

The good news is that, according to People magazine which featured the Black Eyed Peas in an early-July issue, Allan is putting up a record label which will concentrate on discovering and building up Filipino artists. Great, isn’t it?

Here’s the brief, full story from People:

In the Philippines, where apl.de.ap (real name: Allan Pineda) was born, "they have a movie about him," says bandmate Taboo (Obviously referring to the Maalaala episode. – RFL). "A movie!" Pineda, 30, who was raised in L.A. by adoptive parents, is hoping he won’t be the last Filipino to find worldwide fame. With a solo album of Filipino music in the works, he is starting a record label dedicated to discovering artists from his homeland. When the Peas went there last year, he was given a hero’s welcome – and got to share it with his biological parents. "I actually got to go back to where I was born and perform there," he says. "I just brought my mom up onstage and was like, ‘Look, here we are.’"


I think this is a good thing being done by the guy, even though their music stinks. But anyways, there are many stories of Filipino and abroad-Filipino pride and development such as this one, and this is great to see.

And by the way, just quick responses to past posts here:

- please ignore those abroad filipinos who put down the Philippines. They're just "trying hard" and stereotype or not, just look at those people anyways and how they are. you could see how they present themselves and what they do, that they are complete fakes. And there are also people in the Philippines who put down their own country while still in the Philippines. Funny people. All of these kinds of people should be sent to the middle east, some parts of latin america and africa so they could really see how the Philippines is.

- and to the one (i'm sorry I've forgotten your name but i'm sure we've talked before) who mentioned the sad story of that filipina who was badmouthing the philippines to that tourist? Thanks for sharing that. We need to be aware that these things really happen. And we need to stop them. Ironic because we're supposed to have hiya! Well that filipina was walang hiya. Dumb bitch. I'm glad your father stepped in on the conversation and saved the Philippines from her false words. When I was reading the first part of the story, I actually started hoping someone interrupted that woman. Say thank you to your father for me. :)

[amigo32]

Wired (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/philippines.html)


Nation Overseas
Need (hired) help? Try the Philippines, the forerunner of tomorrow's distributed economy, supplying nurses, teachers, techies, and sailors to the global village.

By David Diamond

They're known as bagong bayani, a Tagalog expression meaning "new heroes." That may sound a bit inflated, but at a succession of December celebrations in Manila, Filipinos who work on contract in foreign countries get treated something like the Series-winning Yankees coming home to New York. One day is Health Awareness Day, when thousands of overseas Filipino workers, also called OFWs, are treated to free medical care, and another is Family Day, when at malls all around the nation, the government throws a mass party. Bright welcome banners stretch from rafters. Christmas music spills from loud speakers. Returned workers, along with their spouses and kids, walk around in costume from the Auntie Anne pretzel emporium to Ace Hardware to the Gameworx bowling arcade. They also make pit stops at the booth for free dental checkups and the booth for psychological counseling. Two years is a long time away.

December's bizarre climax comes when President Gloria Arroyo travels to Manila's Ninoy Aquino Airport to personally greet returning workers, who zoom through specially designated express lines for immigration and customs. After a welcome speech, Arroyo turns a big drum filled with tickets bearing the names of returnees and picks one from the batch to win a $2,000 grand prize.

It may look like a TV game show, but the Philippines has discovered the future of work. At any given time, about 10 percent of the country's 76.5 million population is hard at work - outside the country. During 2001, more than 800,000 people headed out on a commute that makes Rye-Grand Central seem like a milk run to the corner store. They went to Italy, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. They went to Mongolia and Equatorial Guinea. Unlike Mexicans, who flock primarily to the United States, Filipinos traveled to 162 nations in all. Unlike Indians, who fill mostly tech and medical positions, Filipinos toil as domestic helpers, engineers, nurses, bricklayers, teachers, farmers, seafarers, stenographers, hairdressers, crane operators, cooks, and entertainers.

Having discovered its prowess as an outsourcer of labor, the Philippines is now pursuing the opportunity with fervor. Whereas the US has spent decades bemoaning the export of its jobs (to Mexico, to China), the Philippine government revels in the export of its people. Using technology to stay involved in family life back home, Filipino global commuters constitute one of the biggest sources of stability for the economy of a country perennially known as the Sick Man of Asia. Remittances, the money they electronically send back to their families, account for 8.2 percent of the nation's gross national product, stabilizing its peso, improving foreign currency reserves, shoring up consumption, and making more than a dent in the unemployment rate (now 11.1 percent). Last year, overseas Filipino workers sent home $6.2 billion. Indians sent home twice the amount - with 13 times the general population.

In short, this archipelago nation has succeeded at creating the world's most distributed economy, where the sources of production are so far-flung it boggles the mind. The machinery has gears in Andorra and the Seychelles and even Diego Garcia, wherever the heck that is. (Answer: a 17-square-mile atoll of coral and sand in the middle of the Indian Ocean, mostly a joint US-UK military base that's become a temporary work location for more than 1,000 Filipinos.) With advances in transportation and telecommunications barreling ahead, it's only a matter of time before the Philippine miracle becomes a standard for the new mobile global order, with skilled and unskilled workers commuting over multiple time zones to fill in labor gaps, zapping their wages homeward through space, reentering for a new assignment. Welcome to virtual nationhood.

In fact, this thriving "trade" has already made the Philippines the envy of the developing world. Officials from such poverty-plagued countries as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam have come to Manila to find out how they too can be prime producers of labor. The market for contract migrant work, they know, is growing: According to the International Monetary Fund, worldwide remittances totaled $2 billion in 1970; by 2000, the International Labor Organization set that figure at $73 billion. After a visit to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Indonesia's labor minister, Jacob Nuwa Wea, said, "We learned some things we can adopt at home - like mechanisms to protect overseas workers, how to prepare candidates to meet skill requirements, and how to license private employment agencies." Pakistan has patterned its overseas workers welfare fund after the one established by the Philippine government.

Flexible, industrious, and frequently skilled, Filipinos are finding their way into unexpected niche markets. Nurses trained in the Philippines, for instance, are more likely to end up working elsewhere. Hospital recruiters from Norway and the UK travel to Manila to hire them. Likewise, American school districts having trouble attracting new teachers are discovering ample supply in the Philippines. Recruiters hop on a plane to Manila, where, in crowded hotel conference rooms, they handpick certified teachers, who are given crash courses in Georgia history or California politics before they arrive on US soil.

Signs of this future already abound. You see them mobbing Hong Kong's Statue Square any Sunday afternoon - young Philippine domestic workers who celebrate their day off together: Hong Kong is a temporary home to 200,000 Filipinos. You see signs in the Dubai airport, Filipinos napping on benches between connections to various Persian Gulf destinations: They have been a major source of labor - both white and blue collar - in the Middle East since the 1973 OPEC oil embargo. You see their mark on ships and in ports everywhere: At least 25 percent of the world's seafarers are Filipinos, and the majority of cruise waiters, too.

"It's an industry," admits Patricia Santo Tomas, the Philippine secretary of labor and employment. "It's not politically correct to say you're exporting people, but it's part of globalization, and I like to think that countries like ours, rich in human resources, have that to contribute to the rest of the world."


Fifty-three-year-old Vidasto Lantaca is wearing thick glasses, his hair a mess. He paces barefoot, holding an unlit cigarette, in his mother-in-law's tiny house in Barangalo Hulo, an overcrowded neighborhood in Manila's Mandaluyong City served by the Parish of Our Lady of the Abandoned. A college-educated mechanical engineer and the father of two sons, ages 10 and 13, Lantaca has been unemployed for three years. His wife, Percy, a nurse, worked on and off as a baby-sitter overseas until her age prevented her from getting another contract. When she came back to stay, she began work as a midwife, supporting her family on barely more than $2,100 a year. But the Lantacas' lives are about to change.

The perennial Sick Man of Asia now has a borderless business plan: "It's not politically correct to say you're exporting people, but it's part of globalization."

In nine days, Vidasto will make his way through Metro Manila to Ninoy Aquino Airport, where he'll depart for the Middle East. Having scrounged up a job placement fee - he borrowed $1,000 from a friend and took out a loan of $400 from his recruiter - he'll head for Dubai to work as a quality control manager for a construction company. His monthly paycheck of $1,400 will help cover food and schooling, and might even enable the family to save.

This isn't Vidasto's first job overseas. He's been a Philippine global temp before. He worked for six years as a construction supervisor in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, coming home for long-enough stints to meet Percy and marry her. He also did time as a mechanical engineer in Eritrea. But for the past three years, the family has been living on a mere $175 monthly while Vidasto searched out his next opportunity. That meant digging themselves into debt and giving up their TV to pay for his physical - but this job in Dubai will ultimately get the Lantacas' lives on track again.

In his new post, Vidasto will oversee the maintenance and operation of machinery, like cement mixers, for National Ready Mix, a construction company owned by the conglomerate Lootah Group. He'll be responsible for assigning jobs to about 40 equipment handlers and for ordering spare parts. When he arrives in the United Arab Emirates, he'll be met by a company representative, shown around, and settled into his own private room. Along with his salary, the firm will pay for his food and housing. He'll communicate with Percy and the kids via cell phone - perhaps the company will throw in some minutes - and within a few months, he'll deposit thousands of dollars into the family bank account.


What sets the Philippines apart from other countries whose legions also spill over their borders into wealthier lands (200,000 Malaysians commute daily to Singapore, for instance; some 200,000 Thai nationals, or about a third of a percent, leave home to work elsewhere each year) is that the federal government here is avidly encouraging the flow. In an example of socioeconomic engineering on an unprecedented scale, the Philippine leadership is embracing its role as temp agency to the world and structuring a political "business plan" accordingly. Although the ratio of remittances to GNP in nations like El Salvador and Cape Verde tops that of the Philippines, no other government maintains so sprawling a network of workers with as strict a hand.

The government official responsible for all this is labor secretary Santo Tomas, whose office is located on the seventh floor of a centuries-old building in Manila's oldest section. She is in charge of local and overseas employment; these days, for instance, her department is busily trying to fill demand for health care workers in developed nations where populations are aging. Santo Thomas also helps protect employees once they're relocated. Under her purview, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, funded by both employer and worker contributions, maintains a network of 27 worldwide and 14 regional offices to intervene when problems arise. It was the OWWA that was responsible for moving 30,000 Filipino workers to safety during the Gulf War.

Perhaps most important, Santo Tomas and her staff regulate the hundreds of recruiters who broker close to a million job placements each year. In 1974, Ferdinand Marcos created a mechanism for managing overseas workers on a government-to-government basis, but the phenomenon grew so quickly and became so unwieldy that four years later the government handed the business over to the private sector, choosing instead to provide regulation and oversight. Today, there are 1,300 private recruiters on record at the government's labor registry. They are the link between foreign employers - who also must register with the government - and job-seekers. They populate the upper floors of two- and three-story buildings along Manila's jeepney-clogged roads, advertising "Worldwide Jobs!" and they make money by charging the hired employee a placement fee. For a licensee to recruit legitimately, Santo Tomas and her staff require $7,000 up front as a surety bond, to be kept in escrow, and a clean legal record. Thereafter, her office keeps a regular public file of a recruiter's status (Good Standing, Delisted, Forever Banned).

"When I was young," says the labor secretary, "the only people in this country who traveled were the rich. Now we've democratized travel. I have a niece in Italy, a nephew in Bern, another nephew in Brussels. I have nieces in Los Angeles and New Jersey. By becoming an exporter of labor, we have broadened our horizons."

Santo Tomas has the poise and unharried demeanor of a long-ago charm-school graduate or pleasant younger grandmother as she sits back on a sofa in her massive office. She is open enough to admit that she pays her housekeeper the typical sum of only $50 a month and is willing to write her cell phone number on her business card in the event of further questions.

Appointed to her post in 2001, she weaves a convincing case for promoting and protecting international labor. The minimum wage in Manila is $5.30 a day, compared with the average $15 a day earned abroad under contracts approved by the federal government. Working in Manila, nurses bring in $15,000 a year; in the US they earn an average of $47,000. By diligently remitting money home, Filipinos help their local banks, which not only make a profit on currency exchange but use the capital to finance trade or buy Philippine bonds. The billions of dollars in foreign currency deposits go a long way toward underwriting the country's own development.

Of course, in the grand scheme of the Philippines' future, providing temporary labor to the planet is itself supposed to be only temporary. If the governor of the nation's central bank, Rafael Buenaventura, has his way, each productive, dedicated overseas laborer will be an advertisement for doing business right there in the Philippines. Buenaventura envisions global companies choosing the Philippines for establishing new plants, corporate headquarters dotting his archipelago and a million mothers working minutes from home. The push to send workers out of the country will pay back in spades. "At this time," he says, "it is too late to be competitive in manufacturing. The biggest boon we have is trained manpower that speaks English; therefore, we could be an outsourcing center." He pauses. "But if ever we can get our act together, we'll be like Ireland, where you can bring back skilled workers. That doesn't bring in remittances, but it provides jobs and raises export earnings."

For now, though, it's hard to imagine the labor flow reversing. Many Filipinos actually find their host countries preferable to their homeland: Among the estimated 7 million overseas workers, more than 2 million have chosen to stay permanently, either getting amnesty or marrying into foreign citizenship.

I MISS YOU; DO YOUR HOMEWORK; SEND MONEY - 100 million cell phone text messages a day are why overseas Filipino workers and their families remain families.


The Philippines' unique three-sided history has made it an oddity within Asia, perfectly suited to supporting this distributed economy. Until about 3,000 years ago, the islands operated almost completely in isolation. Most people lived in small villages at the mouths of rivers, subsisting on fish and rice. With the growth of trade, however, Chinese, Indian, Arab, and Indonesian travelers imposed an Asian influence on the islands. In 1493, Spain and Portugal made the bilateral decision to divide up the unexplored portions of the globe, and by 1521, Ferdinand Magellan wound up in what is now Cebu. He was killed by islanders two months later, but that didn't stop the Spaniards from colonizing the 7,100-island country for more than 300 years. Then in 1898, when Spain lost out to the US in the Spanish-American War, the Philippines fell under America's authority, where it remained until the Japanese occupation in 1941. A major battleground in World War II, the nation was recaptured by the Allies in 1945 and granted independence the following year. Today, "Look Asian, think Spanish, act American" is a common refrain.

While Filipino fruit pickers began streaming into the US as early as the end of the 18th century, it wasn't until the 1950s that professional workers - dentists, engineers, nurses, and scholars - followed suit. Equipped with Christianity they'd inherited from the Spanish, as well as English they'd learned as a second language, they slowly began arriving on other shores, too. They became dancers and musicians in nearby Malaysia. They went to Nigeria and New Guinea as professors and bank tellers. In the 1970s, Middle Eastern nations in search of workers to sustain the exploding oil industry hired construction workers, excavators, and hotel and medical help. In the '80s and '90s, in nations like Italy, Filipinas began taking care of the home front, enabling local women to go to work. Meanwhile, cheap airfares and new telecommunications drove further migration.

Today, the sprawling Philippine population is held together with the newest forms of groupware. Foreign workers rely on a variety of Web services for not only staying in touch with their hometowns (one site, for instance, is dedicated to Filipinos from Cagayan Valley who work in Hawaii) but also creating communities in their new locales (say, Filipinos in Austria, and, yes, there's a site for Filipinos in Diego Garcia). Moreover, the country's residents send and receive more cell phone text messages than citizens of any other nation.

Take Victor Morillo Jr., a 21-year-old volunteer organizer for a group in Manila called Assembly of the Sons and Daughters of Filipino Workers. With his green T-shirt, red backpack, and baggy jeans, he looks the part of a college-age activist anywhere in the world. But Morillo's story is quintessentially Philippine. His mother is employed as a fabric cutter on the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain. "When I run out of food," he explains, pulling a Nokia phone from his pocket, "I send my mother a text message telling her I need money for bread." His mom deposits dinars in a Bahrain bank, and a few days later Morillo ambles over to an ATM and withdraws pesos.

Filipinos like Morillo send more than 100 million such missives daily. Each 160-character message costs 1 peso (2 US cents) within the Philippines and 10 pesos internationally, making this possibly the cheapest place on earth to get hooked on texting. And it's only the calling party who pays. A typical cell phone costs the equivalent of $50; most people buy prepaid cards that, for $6, cover the cost of 300 domestic messages. I MISS YOU; SEND MONEY; DO YOUR HOMEWORK - it's how OFWs and their families remain families. Rosaria Reyes, the Filipina domestic helper killed by a suicide bombing in Israel last year, transmitted a message to her son the night before her death: MATULOG KA NA. Go to sleep already.

Then there are videophones. In the mountain-ringed town of San Pablo about two hours south of Manila, in the coastal city of Batangas, in Pangasinan to the north, in Rome and in Hong Kong, a nongovernmental organization called Atikha and a domestic workers group called Balikabayani have jointly opened centers for emailing, instant messaging, and communicating by videophone. "On a typical Sunday, hundreds of people come through here," says Imelda Laguindam, a Balikabayani organizer. She shows off a low-ceilinged, two-room office down a back alley in central Hong Kong. One room houses three Samsung computers on a single table. The other contains a JVC videophone. Laguindam explains that domestic helpers spend HK$1 (13 US cents) per minute for the computers and HK$7 per minute for the videophone, communicating with family members who simultaneously congregate in one of the three counterpart offices in the Philippines. On Sundays, when banks in Hong Kong and Rome are closed but domestic helpers typically have their only day off, workers come to the Balikabayani offices - which maintain reserve bank accounts for the purpose - to wire money home.


Vidasto Lantaca has been working in Dubai for two weeks when he is called into the head office of National Ready Mix. Already things have not gone as planned. Instead of a private room, he's sharing one with two other men, and he's been on call 24 hours a day. Now his employers are presenting him with a new contract, one that reduces his monthly pay from 5,000 dirhams to 2,500 dirhams - the result, they say, of deducting the cost of his food, travel, and housing.

Lantaca, who had been assured by his recruiter that those expenses would be provided as part of the job, is exasperated. "It wasn't just me," he explains later. "All the Philippine workers were called in and told they had to sign new contracts."

"We were all called in and told we had to sign new contracts," says a worker who refused. The deal is made clear: Sign, or be sent back to the Philippines.

He refuses to accept the agreement. Four days later, the deal is made clear: If he doesn't sign, he'll be sent back to the Philippines.

Lantaca phones his wife. Percy urges him to sign. "We owe too much money now," she says, referring to the $1,400 placement fee they'd borrowed to get Vidasto the job. He has no choice, she says softly, he must stay in Dubai for the two years they planned.


The irony of Family Day in the Philippine malls is not just that shopping has been elevated to a government-sponsored welcome celebration, but that psychotherapy serves as a party favor. The great, heartbreaking cost of the Philippines' economy is the splintering of millions of families, and no amount of futuristic global economics can disguise this. In the best of circumstances, those families that welcome remittances - to pay for food, college, a television set, or tin rather than thatch for a roof - are suffering in the absence of one or both parents. Mothers who work overseas - 63 percent of OFWs are women - usually leave their own families in the hands of relatives or older siblings. (Stay-at-home fathers are still uncommon in the Philippines.) Spouses are often separated for most of their married lives. Children live with the emptiness of losing one or both parents to distant parts of the planet. Familial affection and guidance are reduced to a stream of 60-character memos. "The social costs of overseas work," says Rosalinda Baldoz of the government's labor registry, "are marital breakup and dropout children who get into drugs or crime."

It gets worse, though. Aside from separating families, the overseas employment system is also rife with corruption. According to Baldoz, last year the POEA received 2,000 recruitment violation cases for such infractions as overcharging, sneaking workers out with faked visas, and sending them to jobs that never materialized. Even licensed recruiters perpetrate a scam known as contract substitution - whereby a government-sanctioned agreement is later replaced by an unapproved one detailing a lower-paying job. Often a new contract, written in a foreign language, is forced on the employee once she's in hock for her fees and far away from home.

Employment brokers argue that the government's working-conditions requirements make competing for job placements impossible. Overseas employers, they say, can hire workers from places like Vietnam or Malaysia for less money and less hassle. But other government critics say the regulations are already too weak. "Licenses are issued to agencies without much background checking," says Jean Enriquez, deputy director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women's Asia Pacific office, "and when they are revoked, the POEA reissues them to the same people under a different name."

Straddling the divide between "competitive pricing" and humane treatment, the government insists that it is cracking down on wrongdoers. "I just had in here a group of people to whom I read the riot act," says labor secretary Patricia Santo Tomas, who is imposing new rules that limit placement fees to one month's salary and triple the amount in escrow required to become a registered recruiter. "I want to be sure that, if anything goes wrong, there's money I can garnish so I can repatriate the person and pay back his salary."

Nevertheless, at the employment agency's headquarters, a semicircular, six-story building, a sign reads BEWARE OF FIXERS. This is the most energized spot in Metro Manila - not a disco, not a cockfight, but offices where aspiring OFWs fill out forms. Here, tales of ill-fated experiences abound. "She looked like a little girl," recalls Leah Carissa A. Yogyog, a media specialist with the workers welfare office. She's referring to a 22-year-old from Cagayan de Oro who was found by immigration bureaucrats at Ninoy Aquino Airport bruised, bleeding, and burned. She'd been a domestic helper in Singapore for six months, for which she was paid a total of $20, allowed to eat once a day, and beaten by her employer - who eventually got her a ticket home. "I once saw a woman whose ear was burned," Yogyog continues, "and one who'd been doused with hot water."

Of all the exploitation bred by the global labor trade, the most heinous is the abuse of women trapped in prostitution. Typically, victims come from the Philippine provinces. They are promised jobs by relatives or friends who represent a recruiter. They're told, for instance, they will get positions as cashiers or nightclub entertainers in Japan or Korea. Instead they might wind up in Malaysia or Nigeria, working the streets for a fraction of the wage they were promised.


Lantaca works for four more weeks in Dubai when he is once again called into the head office. This time he's told he will be sent back to the Philippines - that the company doesn't have enough work for him and that he isn't a good enough worker anyway. Two other Filipinos are told the same thing.

For the entire six weeks, Lantaca is paid $700. Of that, $420 goes to the recruiting agency to cover his fees and $280 is taken by his employer in exchange for food, transportation, and housing. Before he leaves Dubai, a friend gives him $135 to buy gifts for his family; he thinks about buying chocolates but figures his wife will be happier with the cash. In Manila, she pays for his taxi from the airport.

But Lantaca's story doesn't stop there. Right away, he's planning to set off again, to temp for a salary he can mostly send home. First, however, he returns to his government-licensed recruiter, seeking redress for his failed Dubai venture. After a few delays, he gets it. The recruiter will repay Lantaca $800 of his remaining $900 in placement fees, retaining $100 for paperwork.

So now he occupies himself around his two-story cement home, fixing some cabinets, spending time with the kids, plotting his future: Where to? Kuwait? Sudan? Saudi Arabia?

[kiretoce]

/\ This is a great read! Thanks for sharing it with us, although seeking employment abroad comes with a price, usually to the families left behind, it does have its own advantages. :)

[ramvingar]

- and to the one (i'm sorry I've forgotten your name but i'm sure we've talked before) who mentioned the sad story of that filipina who was badmouthing the philippines to that tourist? Thanks for sharing that. We need to be aware that these things really happen. And we need to stop them. Ironic because we're supposed to have hiya! Well that filipina was walang hiya. Dumb bitch. I'm glad your father stepped in on the conversation and saved the Philippines from her false words. When I was reading the first part of the story, I actually started hoping someone interrupted that woman. Say thank you to your father for me. :)


Hi ThisFire! That was me (ramvingar). You're very welcome. Thanks for your post too! :)

[bustero]

Migration contributes to inequality in RP--study

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO
OFW Journalism Consortium



FIGURES from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that remittances from January to July this year have increased by US$847.55 million over the same period last year.

For the said period, BSP figures revealed that US$4.263 billion in foreign remittances came to the formal banking system as compared to US$3.416 billion last year. On this basis, the BSP is forecasting that an all-time high of eight billion dollars in remittances will be achieved by the year's end, as reported last October 26 in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

However, while remittances have largely helped keep the Philippine economy afloat, a recent paper by a migration research expert from De La Salle University raises some alarming findings related to migration, poverty and inequality.
Migration's benefits don't go down to the poor?

In a faculty experts' media forum organized by DLSU's Marketing Communication Office (MCO) last November 7 in Makati City, Behavioral Science professor Stella Go said the economic benefits of international labor migration "have not trickled down to the poor and less developed regions in the country."

Go's preliminary analysis was contained in a paper titled "Migration, Poverty, and Inequality: The Case of the Philippines," which she presented at a conference organized by the Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network (APMRN) last September 24 to 26 on the Pacific island of Fiji.

She based her findings from the Family Income and Expenditures Surveys (FIES), the Surveys on Overseas Filipinos (SOF), conducted annually by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the official government statistics on remittances and migrant outflows from the Bangko Sentral and the migration-related agencies, and poverty statistics from the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB).

Go, who is also president of the Philippine Migration Research Network (PMRN), said that the poorer segment of Philippine society "have been largely excluded from the opportunities provided by migration."

She based this on her finding that OFWs come from regions with the lowest poverty incidence, and these regions have the most number of migrant outflows such as the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog.

In sharp contrast, Go added, the regions in Mindanao, which have high levels of poverty incidence, have the lowest proportion of OFWs. These include the conflict-ridden Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (the poorest region where the smallest proportion of migrant workers come from), Central Mindanao (region 12), Southern Mindanao (region 11), Northern Mindanao (region 10), and Western Mindanao (region 9).
Poverty incidence versus number of OFWs per region

The National Capital Region, according to the 1997 FIES, has 6.4 percent of its residents at or below the poverty threshold, and contributes 19.1 percent of the country's total OFWs.

The provinces of Luzon, whose six regions-excluding the NCR--have a 30.1 percent poverty incidence rate, contribute 53.2 percent of the country's total overseas workers. Migrant workers from Mindanao, the country's poorest geographical area with a 44.6 percent poverty incidence rate, however, only account for 12.3 percent of the country's total OFWs. Visayas, with a 38.2 percent poverty incidence rate, accounts for 15.4 percent of the total number of OFWs.

Southern Tagalog, with a 25.7 percent poverty incidence rate, ranks second nationwide in terms of OFWs' regional origins with 18.9 percent. OFWs from Ilocos, which has a 37.8 percent poverty incidence despite having a long history of labor migration to the US, comprise 12.6 percent of the national total.

OFWs from Central Luzon, with a 15.4 percent poverty incidence, account for 12 percent of the national total. ARMM, though it has the highest poverty incidence rate of 57.3 percent in the 1997 FIES, only accounts for 1.9 percent the country's total OFWs.

From the 1997 FIES, the Philippines has a 31.8 percent national poverty incidence, although 2001 figures from the NSCB show that the figure rose to 40 percent. Go did not include the 2001 poverty incidence figures in her paper.

Go notes in her paper that studies on migration and poverty and inequality are insufficient, with their common assumption "that poverty must have pushed the migrants out of their place or origin to search for better economic opportunities elsewhere."
Impacts on OFW, family, community vary accordingly

On how migration affects the OFW, his or her family, and community or region of origin, Go said the economic returns to labor migration vary across skills and country destinations "because foreign wages and placement costs also vary accordingly."

"On the whole, wages increase with skill level, with professionals receiving higher wages than domestic helpers; however, wages vary significantly within each skill category according to the country of destination."

"For instance, domestic helpers in Europe receive higher wages than those in the Middle East, while Hong Kong pays higher than Singapore and Malaysia. Computer programmers are paid five times more in the US than in Saudi Arabia while accountants in Singapore are paid three times more than those in American Samoa," Go wrote.

In her paper, Go, citing 1998 figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), showed that accountants in Singapore earn $1,650 as compared to $551 for OFW accountants in American Samoa. Nurses in the United Kingdom, now a prominent work destination, earn $1,984 as compared to the $406 for nurses working in Saudi Arabia.

For domestic workers, those in France earn $900, $600 in the UK, $476 in Hong Kong, $202 in Malaysia, and $200 in Saudi Arabia, a country where a recent labor arrangement between the country's Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Kingdom's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was made--affecting unskilled workers, with domestic workers included.

BSP deputy governor Amando Tetangco, quoting an Inquirer report, said the prospects of the rise of remittances are bright "with the expanded hiring of the United Kingdom in the medical field." Recent reports showed that local doctors or dentists undergo nursing training to qualify them for work in the UK as nurses.

On an annual basis, accountants who work abroad can earn P281,843 a year, compared to local accountants who earn P145,584. For domestic workers, OFWs earn P98,719 annually as compared to the P24,000 of the local domestic workers for an annual wage differential of P74,719.
Urban families benefit more from migration than rural families

A significant proportion of Filipino families has relied on remittances or "income from abroad" as the main source of income, Go noted. Citing the 1997 FIES, Go said that a total of 881,263 Filipino families, or 6.2 percent of the total number of families, derived their main source of income from remittances.

But the bigger part of that number who benefits from remittances comes from urban families. In the 1988, 1991, 1994 and 1997 FIES, urban families who cite income from abroad as their main source of income outnumber the rural families.

These include NCR and Central Luzon, Go said, with the exception of Ilocos, which has a long history of international labor migration to the US. Despite the region's high poverty incidence, which is pegged at 37.8 per cent, Go said FIES figures show that Ilocos "has reported the highest proportion of families relying on remittances as its main source of income." The region accounts for 12.6 percent of the country's total number of OFWs.

"The percentages of families at the lower end of the income groups receiving income from abroad tend to be higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas," Go said.

She added that families from the higher income groups "also receive larger proportions of income from abroad than the lower income groups." In marked contrast, Go added, the lower income groups derive the largest part of their income from domestic resources."
'The most disquieting aspect of international labor migration'

For this set of data, Go concluded that the "poorer segment of Philippine society has been largely excluded from the opportunities provided by migration."

"International migration," Go added, "appears to have contributed instead to the long existing problem of inequality in Philippine society. If this is so, it is perhaps the most disquieting aspect of international labor migration from the Philippines today."

Although Go said much research should to be done on migration and poverty and inequality to understand their links to each other. Migration "may fuel a simmering social volcano instead of douse it" in a country that is "fraught with social problems and economic difficulties."

For this purpose, the PMRN president said that serious attention must to be given to "channeling remittances into more productive investments to fuel economic development."

"The challenge is to manage the economic gains from international migration so that these can be more equitably shared by a much large number and cross-section of Philippine society."

Since 1999, the Philippines has received over US$6 billion in remittances--with all those passing through formal channels such as banks. Last year, the figure was US$6.235 billion--with US$5.124 billion from land-based OFWs and US$1.093 from the sea-based (the latter figure being the highest for the sector thus far).

BSP's remittance records showed that OFW remittances reached a high of US$7.367 billion in 1998. This figure is despite the perils brought by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Showing the macro-benefits of migration, from the period 1990 to 1999, Go said that remittances contributed an average of 20.3 percent to the country's export earnings and 5.2 percent of gross national product (GNP).

It should be noted that remittances are made directly to OFW families and beneficiaries, and as such, the national government does not receive any portion of OFW remittances.

OFW Journalism Consortium


Table 1: Remittance figures (from Go, 2002; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)
January to July
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2001
Total (in US$ million) 5,741,835 7,367,989 6,794,550 6,050,450 6,031,271 4,263,594 3,416,044
Land-based (in US$ million) 5,484,223 7,093,440 5,948,341 5,123,773 4,937,922 3,560,995 2,804,910
Sea-based (in US$ million) 257,612 274,549 846,209 926,677 1,093,349 702,599 611,134
Remittances as % of Export Earnings 1 22.8 percent 16.7 percent 19.4 percent Not available Not available
Remittances as % of Gross National Product (GNP) 2 6.6 percent 7.1 percent 8.7 percent Not available Not available

Remittances/OFW (US$)Total $7,679.4 $8,859.6 $8,117.5 $7,189.0 $7,194.7
Land-based $9,806.8 $11,112.3 $9,289.5 $7,964.8 $7,770.9
Sea-based $1,366.9 $1,420.3 $4,302.3 $4,672.5 $5,334.5
1 - From 1990 to 1999, the percentage of remittances to export earnings is 20.3 percent
2 - From 1990 to 1999, the percentage of remittances to GNP is 5.2 percent


Table 2: 1997 Distribution of OFWs and Poverty Incidence of Families by Region (Go, 2002)
Island Group / Region % Distribution of OFWs Rank Poverty Incidence of Families (%) Rank
Philippines 100.00 31.8
National Capital Region 19.1 1 6.4 15
Luzon 53.2 30.1
* Cordillera Autonomous Region 2.0 12 42.5 5
* Region 1: Ilocos 12.6 3 37.8 10
* Region 2: Cagayan Valley 5.0 6 32.1 12
* Region 3: Central Luzon 12.0 4 15.4 14
* Region 4: Southern Tagalog 18.9 2 25.7 13
* Region 5: Bicol 2.7 9 50.1 2
Visayas 15.4 38.2
* Region 6: Western Visayas 9.4 5 39.9 8
* Region 7: Central Visayas 4.2 7 34.4 11
* Region 8: Eastern Visayas 1.8 14 40.8 6
Mindanao 12.3 44.6
* Region 9: Western Mindanao 3.0 8 40.1 7
* Region 10: Northern Mindanao 1.3 15 47.0 4
* Region 11: Southern Mindanao 2.6 10 38.2 9
* Region 12: Central Mindanao 2.4 11 50.0 3
* Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao 1.9 13 57.3 1

[Mango]

I am sure most of us have heard of this witty girl, Patricia Evangelista and her winning speech about Filipino Diaspora last year.

Video of her winning speech.
http://www.globalpinoy.com/gpfeature/GPfeature-Jul04.php

BLOND AND BLUE EYES

When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.

I thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!

More than four centuries under western domination does that to you. I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us justify in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener pastures." It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was justify behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighborhood back home.

Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.

Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire traveled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.

And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.

Mabuhay and Thank you.

[kiretoce]

Nursing Shortage Gets Fill With Overseas Talent

BALTIMORE -- Local hospitals are searching in foreign countries for nurses to fill slots they need.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter Deborah Weiner said Filipino nurses are filling Maryland's major hospitals to plug the hole left by the nagging nursing shortage. It is a critical labor development that at least 3 major Baltimore hospitals did not want to talk about.

Ivy Pacis is one of 64 Filipino nurses working at Hopkins' Bayview medical center. A public health nurse in Manila, she brought her family here last year. After taking 4 qualifying exams, Hopkins paid for her visa, put the family up in an apartment complex and generally helped them get settled.

In exchange, Ivy agreed to work for Hopkins for two years. The cost to bring ivy to Baltimore: ten times her salary back in Manila.

Ivy Pacis, nurse: "I was paid $1,000 a year. A thousand a year (in Manila), compared to (Baltimore), its nothing."

Many Filipino nurses send home a large portion of their paycheck to benefit their families and the struggling Philippine economy.

Weiner: "Why the Philippines in the first place? Well, nurses there are literally educated for export. Using American textbooks and bringing them here has helped make a difference in Maryland hospitals. The vacancy rate, which once peaked at more than 15 percent, has just hit a 5-year low to 9 percent."

The Maryland's Nurses Association, led by Kathryn Hall, welcomes the help.

Pacis: "The nurturing nature of Filipinos is basically a big factor why we are valued here."

The hospitals argue that more nurses means better care. But Dr. Art Kaplan, who runs the medical ethics department at the University of Pennsylvania, has concerns about foreign nurses in general.

Dr. Art Kaplan: "One of the biggest reasons for malpractice suits is people feel they weren't communicated with properly. When you have language barriers its just adds on to further problems."

WBAL-TV 11 News raised this issue with a group of Filipino nurses who are helping recruit even more health care workers to Maryland hospitals.

Vicki Navarro, Filipino Nurses Association: "We still have an accent, but we understand and we have also learned to clarify and verify, 'Is that what you're saying?' And those are the cues we give to the new nurses."

Weiner said one of the qualifying exams is written and spoken English.

What do American nursing students think of this trend? WBAL-TV talked to a group at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Weiner: "Did you initially wonder about their credentials?

Ingrid Halvorson, nursing student: "Yes, I did and I was shocked to hear some of them are actually physicians in their own country."

Why not train more nurses locally? Because many schools like Maryland don't have enough teachers.

Havorson: "There's a shortage of faculty now, so you can't get as many kids into schools. So American nurses are not going to meet the demand, so why not?"

Critics argue it's an expensive way to fix the problem and may not be a long-term solution.

Kaplan: "They are spending a lot of money and it absolutely comes from your pocket, my pocket, everybody else's pocket."

Katherine Hall: "It is money they would have spent in another way, but in this way, they are paying a highly qualified nurse that is going to stay for a while."

At Hopkins Bayview, none of the Filipino nurses hired over the past five years has returned to their home country. And more are on the way to hospitals all over the state.

[kiretoce]

'Respect maids or do without!'
By Eunice del Rosario

New moves are underway to protect Filipina housemaids, following talks between embassy officials and recruiters. Treat them properly, or don't hire them, is the message going out to Bahraini recruiters from the Philippines Embassy. Officials from its labour office met with Bahrain Recruiters Society (BRS) officials for five hours on Saturday.

Philippine authorities are also studying the situation here and may even consider banning Filipinas from working here as housemaids, if abuse persists. The talks in Bahrain centred around finding ways to ensure that employers stick to the standard contract for domestic staff.

"It is the same contract, but we are highlighting some of the issues and finding ways to tighten it," said labour attaché Alejandro Santos. "If the agencies and employers don't like to follow the rules then they shouldn't hire our workers. It's as simple as that. "It is about time we took this step. Our workers must be protected."

Banning the deployment of housemaids to Bahrain would be the worst-case scenario, but nevertheless it is possible, said officials. The Philippines banned housemaids from working in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s, which resulted in employers also putting a stop to the hiring of skilled Filipino workers. "The same thing might happen here, companies might stop hiring Filipino skilled workers," said Mr Santos. "But this study is still being carried out and we will see what happens."

The meeting was attended by a handful of BRS members, headed by chairman Ali Al Sho'ala. They agreed with certain criteria in the contracts, such as that maids should be regularly paid. However, the society complained that the minimum salary set by the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) was too high. It was set at $300 (BD113) following a study conducted by the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment and the POEA.

"The society said that this was too much, considering that the minimum wage set by the POEA for the other GCC countries was $200 (about BD76)," said Mr Santos. "We know that there are housemaids in Bahrain that earn as little as BD50, which honestly they can earn in the Philippines working for families there."

The POEA is insisting on the $300 minimum, after telling the embassy that it should accept a reduction to $200 (BD75.6) "to be able to compete with other nationalities willing to accept much lower wages". "Our position in this matter remains the same," it said in a statement sent to the embassy.

The embassy urged the BRS to write the POEA directly if it wants to negotiate a lower minimum wage. The embassy also stressed to the BRS the fact that the Bahrain labour law of 1976 does not cover domestic helpers. "This means that they have no benefits, such as medical insurance," said Mr Santos.

"However, the BRS said that if an employer fails to pay the monthly wage of the worker, then he or she could stop working. "I haven't heard of that before but I think it is good news." It was also agreed in the meeting that housemaids must not be shared.

"We know of families who share one housemaid, transferring her from one house to the next," said Mr Santos. "This must stop. Housemaids must also be provided with at least two hours rest during the day and eight hours of sleep, this is in the contract.

"This means that there is a 14-hour work day for the housemaid. This is more than what a skilled worker does in one day!"

Other issues discussed included the following: the provision of dental and medical care to all housemaids, putting a stop to salary deduction and maltreatment and giving the workers the freedom to communicate with their agencies, embassy and relatives in the Philippines.

"It is also noted in the contract that when the employer violates any of the terms and conditions, such as failing to pay or deprive the worker of food and when the employer or any of his family members maltreats, beats, assaults, uses violence against the worker or sexually molests the worker, the employer or any member of his or her family will be charged in court," said Mr Santos.

Several more meetings are to be held in the future between the embassy and the BRS.

[Thunderflip]

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in Europe:

Italy 114,215
UK 102,000
Greece 65,000
Spain 40,000
France 37,131
Germany 27,929
Netherlands 14,500
Belgium 12,933
Switzerland 12,284
Ireland 8,000
Norway 6,519
Sweden 6,133
Denmark 4,500
Austria 3,900
Vatican 3,700
Portugal 3,200
Monaco 2,500
Luxembourg 1,400

[Thunderflip]

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in Asia Pacific:

Malaysia 390,679
Japan 256,000
Australia 220,595
Singapore 170,000
Hong Kong 154,762
Taiwan 110,000
South Korea 47,456
New Zealand 15,000
Indonesia 11,900
Thailand 9,931
Papua New Guinea 8,000
Palau 5,600
Macau 4,500
China 2,400
Cambodia 1,500

[kiretoce]

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in Europe:

Italy 114,215
UK 102,000
Greece 65,000
Spain 40,000
France 37,131
Germany 27,929
Netherlands 14,500
Belgium 12,933
Switzerland 12,284
Ireland 8,000
Norway 6,519
Sweden 6,133
Denmark 4,500
Austria 3,900
Vatican 3,700
Portugal 3,200
Monaco 2,500
Luxembourg 1,400

That's a huge presence for such a small state. :colgate:

[Lili]

@Thunderflip,

What is the source of these figures?

[bustero]

Get the figures and double it. hehe.

surely understated. They're probably people who registered as an official ofw with the embassy. Some stats will be more reflective than others, specially countries with very strict guidelines on registration , for most other places, haha.

Re the bahraini contract thing, the problem there or anywhere is that there will always be a desparate girl from bicol, samar, surigao etc who is willing to do anything at all cost to earn for her family. This sense of responsiblity which is the source of our greatest strenght as a people IMO is also their source of their individual folly as they take anything even if could kill them!

[bustero]

Actually don't you find it funny and intriguing that people find it better to go to italy and greece than spain, where we have greater ties and we can easily migrate to ...legally (don't know if many people know this but one of our last privilidges as a former colony is that we are first priority in migrating, yes, you can easily move to majorca no problem... I want to move it move, I want to shake it shake it...)

Anyway just found it intriguing. I guess Italy is much richer country so the pay is more in euros, though it's not as cheap as when i went there, maybe they want to be close to papa ratzi . Greece is also funnyit's definitely not richer than spain , so why would there be so many people going there, they don't even speak english or spanish (kahit hirap naiintindiahan just substitute filipino words like inay .( hehe) or more accurately papa - although dito medyou sugar daddy yata meaning niyan). they don't even use latin script! Unless these are the seamen, but that doesn't really make sense as they're registration procedure is different and they're not in greece but at sea!

[mysaong03]

Greece??!! & Scandinavian countries??!! parang madami yata maciado... :)

[Lili]

Actually don't you find it funny and intriguing that people find it better to go to italy and greece than spain, where we have greater ties and we can easily migrate to ...legally

Siguro dahil mas maraming trabaho doon (usually as "Filipineskas"). Sigh. :(

[Thunderflip]

@Thunderflip,

What is the source of these figures?

I got it from the GMA OFW Factbook of 2003

[ThisFire]

Siguro dahil mas maraming trabaho doon (usually as "Filipineskas"). Sigh. :(


Yes, that's why. More jobs available (it's not just Filipinos who go to work abroad) that need people to fill up, and most likely links are already established like friends are there and helped with arrangements, etc. By the way, someone mentioned about Italy. The money is greater now that they changed to euros, but the problem with some countries who changed to euros is that their original currency was not as high as the euro so that means things have turned expensive for its citizens as well as affecting tourism by less people visiting because of the expensive euro. Italy, Spain and Greece are some who are facing this.

[Thunderflip]

If you add the non registered citizens, illegal residents and Filipinos who have aquired the citizenships of their adopted countries, these facts woulud actually be much higher. So, in Italy there are actually 200,000 Filipinos and 60,000 in Germany and much higher in other countries as well.

And I think Italy and Greece already had higher Filipino populations even before the euro came. In both countries, I've met people who been living there for mopre than 20 - 30 years of their lives.

[Thunderflip]

Other Filipino Population Figures in Europe...

Turkey 1,900
Finland 700
Kazakhstan 520
Andorra 500
Iceland 500
Poland 90
Hungary 60
Czech Republic 40

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in the Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia 940,900
UAE 195,000
Kuwait 60,030
Israel 52,500
Qatar 37,000
Bahrain 30,000
Lebanon 26,200
Jordan 19,000
Oman 19,000
Libya 7,020
Nigeria 5,000
Egypt 4,300
Syria 2,600
South Africa 1,800
Yemen 500

[kiretoce]

Other Filipino Population Figures in Europe...

Turkey 1,900
Finland 700
Kazakhstan 520
Andorra 500
Iceland 500
Poland 90
Hungary 60
Czech Republic 40

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in the Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia 940,900
UAE 195,000
Kuwait 60,030
Israel 52,500
Qatar 37,000
Bahrain 30,000
Lebanon 26,200
Jordan 19,000
Oman 19,000
Libya 7,020
Nigeria 5,000
Egypt 4,300
Syria 2,600
South Africa 1,800
Yemen 500

Who would've thought that there'd be Pinoys even in far flung Iceland! Saudi Arabia's Pinoy population is nearing the one million mark, that's amazing to me! :colgate:

Thunderflip, do you have the figures for the Caribbean, Central and South America too? :)

[Thunderflip]

Thunderflip, do you have the figures for the Caribbean, Central and South America too? :)

Of course!

But first, here are some other countries that I missed...

Cyprus 5,000
Chad 1,700
Iran 800
Algeria 659
Angola 550
Lesotho 420
Botswana 325
Mozambique 270
Kenya 255
Zambia 210
Ghana 180
Namibia 180
Russia 140
Uganda 90
Malta 75
Zimbabwe 70
Tunisia 65
Gabon 50

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in the Americas

USA 2,500,400
Canada 380,200
Guam 45,600
Northern Marianas 16,400
Micronesia 1,500
Marshall Islands 350
Mexico 300
Honduras 225
Brazil 220
Guatemala 200
Costa Rica 130
Puetro Rico 120
Haiti 120
Venezuela 100
Argentina 80
Chile 80
Colombia 80
Peru 80
Ecuador 65
Uruguay 65
El Salvador 60
Aruba 60
Jamaica 60
Panama 60
Dominican Republic 40
Cuba 40
Bolivia 40
Belize 40

[kiretoce]

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in the Americas

USA 2,500,400
Canada 380,200
Guam 45,600
Northern Marianas 16,400
Micronesia 1,500
Marshall Islands 350
Mexico 300
Honduras 225
Brazil 220
Guatemala 200
Costa Rica 130
Puetro Rico 120
Haiti 120
Venezuela 100
Argentina 80
Chile 80
Colombia 80
Peru 80
Ecuador 65
Uruguay 65
El Salvador 60
Aruba 60
Jamaica 60
Panama 60
Dominican Republic 40
Cuba 40
Bolivia 40
Belize 40

Haiti's numbers will rise with the deployment of 200 Philippine troops to that island nation. :)

[Lili]

Who would've thought that there'd be Pinoys even in far flung Iceland! Saudi Arabia's Pinoy population is nearing the one million mark, that amazing to me! :colgate:

Thunderflip, do you have the figures for the Caribbean, Central and South America too? :)

I'm more surprised with Kazakhstan and Andorra. What about Uzbekhistan, Siberia and other farflung areas? Filipinos are the modern nomads.

[Mango]

Saturday, July 30, 2005


FROM THE SIDELINES
By Alfredo G. Rosario
Coping with the rising demand
for Filipino workers



The country’s overseas employment program was launched in 1974 as a stopgap measure to ease a worsening unemployment rate. We didn’t realize that this will culminate in a labor explosion involving the deployment of some eight million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), or one-tenth of our population, in over 150 countries worldwide.

The program, initiated by the visionary labor secretary, Blas F. Ople, overturned the government’s “no brain drain” policy. It is paying off today in terms of the OFWs’ dollar remittances of $8 billion annually, which have underpinned the nation’s economy over the years, especially during times of financial crisis.

The deployment of our workers was initially sluggish. We were competing for labor contracts in the Middle East, principally with South Korea and Taiwan. But with the rise of their economies, South Korea and Taiwan left the field to our workers and those of some other developing countries, such as Indonesia, India and Bangladesh.

South Korea and Taiwan, now suffering from labor shortages, are employing Filipino workers to man their booming factories. They have become top destination points for OFWs in Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Labor-short countries, mostly in the Middle East, have been experiencing acute manpower problems in their industries, infrastructure development and health-care programs. This has given rise to massive recruitment campaigns for Filipino skilled and professional workers.

Saudi Arabia, for instance, has an immediate standing need this year for 5,000 nurses to address alone the Kingdom’s demand for health services and new hospitals. This is apart from the regular annual hiring of nurses by Saudi’s Hospital Operations Program.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, with which Fahad Al-Msalbeeh, employment attaché of the Saudi Royal Embassy, has made the hiring arrangements, is busy sourcing for nurses to be able to cope with the demand.

It has embarked on “strategic means” in looking for potential applicants. One of its strategies is to go on a “caravan registration” or on a swing of target locations, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao, using POEA composite teams.

The high demand for Filipino nurses by developed economies such as the United States, Canada, Australia and European nations has led to the chronic depletion of supply. Some hospitals have been witnessing crippled operations with their nursing personnel leaving for “greener pastures” abroad.

To attract applicants, the Saudi Ministry of Health has increased the salary offer for experienced nurses. It has offered the floor rate of SR2,250, or nearly $700, for those without experience. Fresh nursing graduates are also welcome to the hiring program.

Adding to the demand pressure is the US need also for nurses. United States President George W. Bush recently signed a law, making available some 50,000 employment-based visas for foreign nurses. These visas, unused from 2001 to 2004, were recalled by the US government to address the worsening labor shortage in its health-care program.

Japan will soon be competing for Filipino nurses to work in its hospitals. It is currently negotiating a direct-hiring program for health-care workers with the POEA. Late this year or early next year, the recruitment of nurses for Japan is expected to start.

The demand for Filipino-skilled workers is also rising in Singapore. In the next five years, the tiny city-state, which has become an economic powerhouse, will be in need of an estimated 53,000 workers, besides the 80,000 Filipino domestic helpers already there. About 60 percent will be recruited from the Philippines.

Last week, the heads of 35 leading employment agencies in Singapore came to Manila to discuss hiring procedures with a view to stopping illegal deployment. Many of the Filipino workers in Singapore were not processed by the POEA. They went to that country as tourists.

The delegation, led by Ang*land Seah, met with leaders of the local recruitment industry to discuss ways of streamlining the hiring system for Filipino workers. It proposed a new standard contract for Filipino maids. According to Seah, the economic environment of Singapore has become conducive to the entry of more foreign workers to work in two large casinos and industrial companies.

Seah and members of his delegation sought from the POEA the scuttling of the $5,000-performance bond imposed on their placement agencies as a requirement for prequa*li*fi*cation. The POEA, however, maintained that the bond is required to leverage cooperation from Singaporean agencies in the faithful implementation of work contracts.

Other countries that have served notice about their need for Filipino workers are Australia and Qatar. The labor shortage in Australia is felt acutely in its Northern Territory, particularly Darwin.

On the other hand, Qatar has embarked on one of the most ambitious development programs in the world today that can generate thousands of jobs for foreign workers. The program encompasses its oil and gas sector, infrastructure, non-oil and gas-related industry, education, health, tourism and even its cultural life.

[normandb]

OMG even in the remotest island in Indian Ocean there is still pinoys in Diego Garcia up to the poorest nation in Africa. Antarctica na lang yata and hindi pa napupuntahan ng pinoy.

[mysaong03]

Of course!

But first, here are some other countries that I missed...

Cyprus 5,000
Chad 1,700
Iran 800
Algeria 659
Angola 550
Lesotho 420
Botswana 325
Mozambique 270
Kenya 255
Zambia 210
Ghana 180
Namibia 180
Russia 140
Uganda 90
Malta 75
Zimbabwe 70
Tunisia 65
Gabon 50

Number of Registered Philippine Citizens in the Americas

USA 2,500,400
Canada 380,200
Guam 45,600
Northern Marianas 16,400
Micronesia 1,500
Marshall Islands 350
Mexico 300
Honduras 225
Brazil 220
Guatemala 200
Costa Rica 130
Puetro Rico 120
Haiti 120
Venezuela 100
Argentina 80
Chile 80
Colombia 80
Peru 80
Ecuador 65
Uruguay 65
El Salvador 60
Aruba 60
Jamaica 60
Panama 60
Dominican Republic 40
Cuba 40
Bolivia 40
Belize 40

if there are so few pinoys in south america, why do we have to maintain an embassy both in chile & argentina? & there only 300 in mexico???

[jbkayaker12]

It was mentioned in Nurses Weekly that nurses from the Philippines are more trained clinically than administrative (desk nurse) compared to their counterparts in the US and elsewhere. This mean a graduate of a nursing school in the Philipines can deliver a baby and clean up patients after surgery among other things. Also it mentioned on the article that children of these nurses are getting into nursing as well to continue the tradition.

According to World Health Organization, there are over 780,000 nurses of Philippine descent deployed overseas in as many as 116 countries and the trend continues so these numbers are already outdated.

[bustero]

if there are so few pinoys in south america, why do we have to maintain an embassy both in chile & argentina? & there only 300 in mexico???
Embassy's do more than monitor ofw's.

[jbkayaker12]

News just in today, 50 teachers from the Philippines arrived here in Las Vegas to fill in the shortage of about 500 teachers in the Las Vegas School Districts 2005-06 academic year. Las Vegas School District is one of the biggest and busiest in the United States.

[ThisFire]

It was mentioned in Nurses Weekly that nurses from the Philippines are more trained clinically than administrative (desk nurse) compared to their counterparts in the US and elsewhere. This mean a graduate of a nursing school in the Philipines can deliver a baby and clean up patients after surgery among other things. Also it mentioned on the article that children of these nurses are getting into nursing as well to continue the tradition.

According to World Health Organization, there are over 780,000 nurses of Philippine descent deployed overseas in as many as 116 countries and the trend continues so these numbers are already outdated.

Yes it's true, nurses from the Philippines are more advanced and skilled than nurses from the west. Philippines gets hands on experience and real training, while in america and Canada, it's more of theory.

[marites]

Oh well to each his own. What important eh kalimutan nayang yabangan inggitan at magkaisa pinoy para umunlad at wala nang kailangang umalis pa ng pinas para lang sa kinabukasan ng kanilang anak. Let's just try to make Phils . a better place for the children. You have to admit there is a semblance of truth to some of the neg. things some pinoys say trash, pollution, traffic, crime it's just after you criticize hope you make it constructive criticism and contribute how you can make it a better place next time. Unfortunately sad and no thanks to our politicians who don't seem to care about their surroundings as long as they stay in their gated mansion enclaves . I think they're reying too much on OFW"S remittances. Imagine Without these OFW"s inflows of funds the economy would not grow at all , it would be stagnant. So what does that mean about the govt? and I'm not just talking about the current govt. past and present they all sucked. Why is it that only Pinoy politicians have the most mansions ,starting fr the top Erap, compared with their counterparts from around the world with richer countries.

[mysaong03]

Embassy's do more than monitor ofw's.


i know, but why didnt they put up in Brazil & Mexico instead, as these 2 are the most significant SA countries than say Santiago or Buenos Aires???

[Mango]

New IMF method boosts OFW remittances in 2004 by $3B to $11.6B
By Ted P. Torres
The Philippine Star 08/07/2005

Dollar remitttances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached a higher figure of $11.6 billion, instead of the earlier recorded $8.6 billion, in 2004, based on a new method of computation introduced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The lower figure last year was due to the non-inclusion by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) of remittances that were coursed through the informal sector such as the padala and the door-to-door system, a monetary official explained.

Vicente Valdepenas, a member of the policy-making Monetary Board of the BSP, said that estimates of remittances not moving through the banking system is equivalent to 20 percent of total reported remittances, or in the vicinity of $3 billion last year.

"Following the fifth edition of the IMF Balance of Payments (BOP) manual, the BSP’s new computation shows total remittances reached $3.1 billion higher than that which was earlier reported in line with the international standard of recording OFW remittances set in the IMF manual," a report by the OFW Journalism Consortium said.

The OFW Journalism Consortium is a non-government organization working closely with OFWs domestically and internationally.

"That accounts for the bullish claims earlier made that remittances are forecast to reach over $14 billion in 2005," the group said.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) had forecast that foreign currency remittances from OFWs would hit $12 billion this year.

As of end-May this year, remittances expanded to $4 billion, almost 20 percent higher than the $3.3 billion level recorded in the same period in 2004.

There are an estimated eight million legitimate OFWs working or residing abroad as of end-2004, based on government reports. Reports from the World Bank indicate that the Philippines is the third largest source of OFW earnings, after China and Mexico.

Due to pressure from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the IMF, the new computation broke away from the tradition of recording only those remittances that passes through banks.

Valdepenas said government has formed a task force to finalize the new system, reconcile the previous data, and make new reports.

The BSP has classified OFWs into sea-based, land-based performing artists (working on six-month contracts), and land-based workers considered non-resident "since they generally have a two-year employment contract."

Remittances from sea-based workers and the land-based workers performing artists fall under compensation income in the current account, while remittances of other land-based workers, as well as the gifts and donations from migrant Filipinos, fall under the current transfers item.

The BSP previously reported remittances as migrants’ gift and donations entirely separate from the remittances to migrants’ families. The latest data on the latter (called workers remittances) was in 2003 amounting to $218 million, the report said.

[Mango]

BSP acts to improve OFW remittance services
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 08/07/2005

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will implement a number of initiatives to address issues confronting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), particularly bank remittance services.

Monetary Board (MB) member Vicente Valdepeñas said in an OFW Journalism Consortium forum that the BSP’s initiatives would aim to improve the magnitude of remittances being channeled via banks through the reduction of the cost of remittance services, improvement of quality and variety of remittance services available to clients, and increased access to banks by the remitters.

The MB is the policy-setting body of the BSP.

Valdepeñas said the BSP is continuously in discussion with banks, through the Association of Bank Remitting Officers Inc. (ABROI), to identify and evaluate measures to reduce costs and increase the volume of OFW remittances.

"One way of enhancing banks’ ability to bring down the cost of these remittances is by expanding the operations of their overseas offices and thus optimize operational costs," he said.

The monetary official said in line with this, "we are preparing proposals for foreign regulatory authorities to allow Philippine banks abroad to remotely open bank accounts for OFWs."

He said the BSP is also discussing ways for greater domestic interconnectivity in the financial system.

According to Valdepeñas, mechanisms to enhance the interconnection of players such as credit cooperatives, rural banks and the postal bank, with the rest of the financial system can extend the accessibility of financial services, including remittances, to a wider area with an expanded geophysical reach.

The BSP is also encouraging creativity among banks in providing avenues for investments by OFWs. "Banks can tap OFWs as market for such products as the unit investment trust funds (UITFs)," he noted.

The monetary authority pointed out that there are a number of banks that have actually put up their OFW-oriented UITF investments.

"We want the banks to help our OFWs set aside some of their income for investments in financial products or investments directly in small or micro enterprises," Valdepenas said.

Banks, for their part, have also initiated marketing schemes to improve their respective OFW remittance services, which include incentives such as low maintaining balance, low service charge or free insurance.

Some banks have even participated in providing electronic money transfer services through mobile phones.

The BSP, through the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), has worked with other government bodies to complete the major requirements of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which led to the removal of the Philippines early this year from the list of non-cooperative countries in the fight against money laundering.

"The delisting is a key factor in enhancing the speed of remittance and in reducing the cost of transactions of Philippine banks and remittance agents will no longer be subjected to more rigorous and costly scrutiny by foreign financial institutions," Valdepenas said.

[marites]

If the politicians stop fighting and harness all these OFW's inflow of funds It can really do wonders. Instead of always investing all the money pouring in into their mistresses' mansions where it is a dead end and investing it on improving infrastructure ,not the substandard kind so they can pocket the difference. And on education for the citizens where it will have A multiplier effect. Then OFW's children will not have to go abroad and suffer the same fate .

[kiretoce]

Asian Nurses Anchor an Industry
News Feature, Gloria Tierney, Asia, Aug 21, 2005

The face of nursing is changing significantly in San Diego and elsewhere in Southern California.

According to a survey by NurseWeek earlier this year, 15 percent of registered nurses in San Diego are Asian or Pacific Islander (API) while APIs amount to 12 percent of the total population.

At Kaiser, the ratio is double that. Of 1,565 nurses working for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, a third, or 528, are Asian, according to Kaiser spokesperson Sylvia Wallace.

And at UCSD Medical Center, where Crystal Hsaio works, the majority of nurses on her floor are Asian or Pacific Islander.

"When people see an Asian face they feel more comfortable," said nurse Hsiao, a native of Taiwan, adding that having someone available to translate for a patient can be critical. So is awareness of cultural differences. For example, some nationalities believe that washing a mother and baby after birth can be harmful to both by changing the temperature of the body and thereby altering the chi or flow of energy which, in turn, prevents elimination of toxins. Nurses need to know how to deal with a variety of cultural views such as that.

"Even if we are not the same in nationality, we are more open-minded about cultural differences," Hsaio said.

While the nationwide average of Asian Pacific Islander nurses, according to the NurseWeek survey, is still only 4 percent but increasing, Southern California has become a magnet for nurses from Pacific Rim countries.

While fewer and fewer Americans are enrolled in nursing, more and more nurses are emigrating or being recruited from countries such as India, Taiwan, China, and even Korea. The largest source, however, remains the Philippines.

Training as a nurse in the Philippines and coming to work in America is a tradition that began in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Ben Macapugay, spokesperson for Paradise Valley Hospital in Southeast San Diego.

Quality of labor and quality of training is another factor. The Philippines is known to produce more nursing graduates and have more nursing schools than any other country in the world - 186 with the combined ability to graduate 20,000 nurses a year, according to Dr. Jaim Z. Galvez-Tan of the University of the Philippines in Manila.

Supply also dictates salary. In the Philippines, a nurse can expect to earn between $150 and $250 a month. In the United States, where demand is greater, salaries range from $3,000 to 4,000 and often come with signing bonuses, according to Galvez-Tan.

Coming from a poor country makes coming to the United States an easy choice to make, especially when many people in the Philippines already have family here.

"People prefer places like San Diego, where they already have relatives," said John Pasamonte, a recruiter for International Nurses Solutions, one of many companies recruiting foreign nurses for U.S hospitals.

Patt Mareschal, lead nurse at Fallbrook Hospital's Medical Surgical Unit, who has spent 30 years in the profession, sees an even greater shift.

For one, nurses have to work more effectively with fewer resources, caring for sicker patients for shorter periods of time. Their responsibilities extend well past a patient's general health and often include sociological and psychological issues, such as domestic violence or mental illness, according to Mareschal.

In addition, today's nurses are older; the average age is 46. And they are increasingly male - 6 percent nationwide.

Despite the economic advantages, becoming a nurse in the United States isn't all that easy. No matter how well trained, foreign nurses must pass the NCLEX (National Council for Licensure Examination) and must demonstrate a proficiency in English. Still, the number of nurses passing the NCLEX exam rose to 16,490 in 2003, nearly double what it was in 2001, according to NurseWeek. Many believe a large part of that is the level of education supplied by such institutions as UCSD and United Education Institute of San Diego and El Cajon, which offers, in addition to nursing, training for medical assistants, pharmacy technicians and dental assistants.

For a hospital, the attraction of Asian and Pacific Islander nurses is two-fold: one cultural, one economic. "There is no question that cultural diversity is important, said Wallace. "At Kaiser we work hard to provide faces and cultures that reflect the community at large."

Culture aside, there is a critical need for skilled nurses, period.

"The nursing crisis is grave and only growing worse. Nationwide, there are130,000 nursing vacancies, a deficit that is expected to double in the next five years. By 2012 it will be 1.1 million," said Pasamonte.

Here in this country, nursing school enrollments have dropped 16 percent in the last five years because of other opportunities opening up, according to Mareschal. "There are new avenues for women now. We no longer have to go the teaching, nursing route," she said.

Meanwhile, those trained as nurses don't always stay in the profession. Many leave in their 20s and 30s to raise families or to pursue other careers. Others go on to related careers such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants.

For their part, the nursing schools are working hard to respond to the crisis, but it has not been easy. "We can't get educated students fast enough," said Dottie Crummy, head of the nursing program at Point Loma Nazarene University. "All the nursing programs in the city are filled to more than capacity. This year we took in an extra five students. Last year we took in 10, and we still had to turn away qualified students."

While the vast majority of students in nursing programs are native born, a high percentage are Asian a sharp change from past years. "The majority of our students were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants," said Crummy. "Now, Filipino/Pacific Islanders are our largest ethnic group, followed by Asians, then Hispanic." Many of the Filipinos, she added, are the children and nieces of the nurses who came here to practice their profession 20 or 30 years ago.

Michelle Capati, a nursing student at Grossmont College is one of them. When asked why she wants to be a nurse, her answer is simple: "My Mom." Capati's mother has been a nurse for more than 20 years, logging 12-hour shifts seven days a week. But she wouldn't have it any other way, her daughter said.

Hard work or the capacity for hard work may be another reason Asians and Pacific Islanders are swelling the nursing ranks.

"The Philippines is a third world country. People there are used to stress and hardship, Pasamonte said, adding that "Asians are also known for their compassion."

Mareschal agrees: "They work hard and are generous, caring people."

[kiretoce]

FROM THE SIDELINES: Japan to South Korea
By Alfredo G. Rosario Thursday, August 25, 2005

SOUTH KOREA is turning out to be the new haven for Filipino entertainers whose easy entry to Japan has been restricted by a change in its immigration rules.

Hundreds, if not thousands of Filipino workers, mostly female entertainers, were reported to have left for South Korea without proper documentation.

Filipino entertainers, estimated at 3,000 to 4,000, are working in the periphery of the more than 50 US military bases in various places in South Korea, said the new migrant newspaper, the Pinoy Overseas Express, in its most recent issue.

How these workers were able to leave for Korea without proper work contracts was attributed to the flourishing “escorting” racket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Their exits were facilitated by unscrupulous immigration personnel for a fee of P15,000 each.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is aware of this form of human trafficking and has sought the help of the South Korean Embassy in Manila in a move to stanch the continuing outflow of workers to its country.

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz has requested the South Korean Embassy not to issue employment-based visas to Korean-bound Filipino entertainers without presenting the POEA’s exit clearance papers.

Baldoz, in a letter to the immigration attaché in the South Korean embassy, offered to provide its database of workers for Korea as a validation mechanism for their exit clearances to be presented to the embassy.

“Your electronic access in real time to the names and exit clearance number of all Filipino workers processed by the POEA for Korea will enable our office to control the existing illegal recruitment of overseas performing artists to Korea,” said Baldoz in her letter.

Under an existing government-to-government arrangement, or the “employment permit system,” all workers for South Korea have to be hired directly through the POEA.

Before this agreement, the Korean government repatriated thousands of illegal Filipino workers in that country under an amnesty program, with the assurance that they would be given priority to return to their jobs.

Last year the POEA was given a quota of 6,000 workers to fill, but it was able to deploy more than 2,000 workers because of initial operational difficulties. For the first three months this year, it was able to deploy 2,600 workers.

The employment permit system has virtually closed the Korean labor market to private fee-charging recruitment agencies, and has been described as “very slow” by leaders of the local recruitment industry.

They claimed that Korea has an urgent need for more workers in its factories but pointed out that the present direct hiring system is too slow and inefficient to meet Korea’s manpower requirements. They call the EPS a “cartelized system.”

The shift of employment venue of Filipino entertainers from Japan to Korea is attributed to two major factors—the virtual closure of the Japanese labor market to this type of workers and the growing demand for them in Korea.

Thousands of Filipino entertainers, or overseas performing artists, had entered Japan under a previous system of securing their entry visas. Under this system, government certification of their supposed proficiency for the kind of work they were applying for was a sufficient requirement for obtaining such visas.

But several months ago, the Japanese government passed a ministerial ordinance amending its immigration law pertaining to the entry of foreign entertainers to Japan. The change abolished the government certification system.

The new law now requires entertainers to have at least two years of job experience outside Japan or a two-year formal course in a particular entertainer’s job.

Thousands of Filipino entertainers have been blocked from going to Japan under the new immigration law. Filipino recruiters, who had been making money hand over fist by sending entertainers to Japan, lost a lucrative market.

Thousands of families have been deprived of a potential income in the tens of millions of dollars from the salaries of entertainers who otherwise would have made it to Japan to work in its entertainment industry. The government, too, lost a rich source of revenue from this once flourishing recruitment business.

Representations have been made by the Philippine government and leaders of the recruitment industry with the Japanese government for the repeal of the ministerial ordinance or at least for a two-year moratorium in its implementation, but to no avail.

It is feared that when Japan implements its threatened massive drive to clear the country of its illegal foreign workers, thousands of overstaying Filipino entertainers may be caught and deported to the Philippines. This is a problem that will hit us between the eyes.

[Mango]

Filipino workers have edge in seeking work abroad — PEZA

The Philippine Star 09/11/2005

Iligan City — The Filipino worker is in a better position to get employed abroad because he or she has several qualities which foreign employers admire and like, according to the Director General of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

Lilia De Lima, director general of the PEZA, who was here recently to meet local officials, said the Pinoy worker possesses an edge over other foreign nationals who are seeking employment abroad for many reasons apart from his being a hard worker.

First, she said that Filipinos are very loyal to their bosses or employers, a trait which is ingrained in most Filipinos.

Second, Filipino workers are highly literate, can speak the English language fluently and therefore are very fast learners.

These traits are among the qualities that foreign employers like and admire and are looking for in prospective workers.

"Since Filipino workers possess these qualities and have better attitudes toward working in a foreign land, they have an edge over other foreign nationals," De Lima said.

At least an estimated 3,000 Filipinos leave the country everyday to seek employment abroad," according to recent reports.

The PEZA chief was invited by local officials headed by Iligan city mayor Lawrence Cruz, the Sangguniang Panlungsod City Council and the business community here to look into the viability of establishing an economic zone in this southern industrial city. — Lino de la Cruz

[jbkayaker12]

^^^^^^^^Our culture which is a blending of east and west made that possible.

[kiretoce]

THE GLOBAL PINOY: New Orleans, A haven for Filipinos
By Greg B. Macabenta Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Those who regard the travails of New Orleans with a degree of detachment should know that Filipinos in America have an emotional bond with that city that goes back farther in time than the American colonization of the Philippines.

This is a fact that my editorial team and I are stressing in the October issue of Filipinas, the only nationally circulated glossy Filipino magazine in the US, which I recently purchased from Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

Since 1991, due to an initiative of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), Filipino American History Month has been celebrated in October. It was on this month in 1587 that the first landfall of Filipinos in what is now the United States was recorded. The galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza weighed anchor at Morro Bay in Northern California with several Luzonians among the crew.

For this reason, we had planned the focus on New Orleans in the October issue of Filipinas. This was well before anyone knew that Hurricane Katrina would wreak havoc on the Deep South.

One enduring bond that Filipinos in America have with New Orleans goes back to the early 1900s.

In those days, when restaurants in California carried signs that read, “No dogs and Filipinos allowed,” and Pinoys who walked down the streets of Los Angeles were liable to be beaten up by policemen simply because of the color of their skin, New Orleans was a haven, an enlightened place where people of varying colors lived and loved. In this Frenchiest of American cities, people of mixed race, including quadroons and mulattos, peacefully coexisted with whites.

Because of this, hundreds of paisanos, as the young Filipino immigrants in America called each other, relocated to New Orleans from the West Coast, in a migration that paralleled that of the Manila Men of Saint Malo.

And there we have another bond.

In 1883 the journalist Lafcadio Hearn came upon a settlement of Malays near Lake Pontchartrain—the same lake that breached the levees and inundated New Orleans. Hearn wrote about Saint Malo in Harper’s Weekly, reckoning that it had been built half a century earlier. The first Filipino settlement on the US mainland.

In 1933 historian Carlos Quirino visited New Orleans and came upon Hearn’s article. He wrote about it for the Graphic in Manila.

In 1984 I chanced upon the article while going through the archives of the US embassy on Roxas Boulevard. Fascinated, I contacted the historian and asked him to write an updated piece for a magazine that I was then planning to put out.

That project never took off and the article of Quirino languished in my files. But in September this year, I suggested to the Filipinas editorial team that the article would make a fitting tribute to New Orleans and to Filipino American History Month. We decided that it should finally see print in the October issue—21 years after it had been written.

Another bond that Filipinos have with The Big Easy is the fact that it was the place that Felipe Madriaga, a sailor from the Visayas, chose to call home. Madriaga, who had married an Irish girl whom he had met on the boat of which he was a crewman, raised his family in New Orleans—nine generations ago. Longer than any surviving Filipino clan in America.

I interviewed the family in the late 1980s for a special report for Manila Manila, a magazine-type show on KTSF Channel 26 in San Francisco. Marina Espina, librarian of the University of New Orleans and past president of the FANHS, arranged the meeting with fourth-generation Lilian Martinez Burtanog and her brood of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Among them was Lilian’s grandchild, Rhonda Richoux Fox.

The old lady, then in her 80s, would pass away not long after the interview, leaving me with, quite possibly, the only existing footage of her and her clan on videotape.

In a remarkable coincidence, Rhonda had submitted an article about her fabled family and we had decided to feature it in the October issue. The submission was made almost two decades after I had interviewed the family and over a month before Hurricane Katrina.

These coincidences make the October issue of Filipinas special. But more than that, they underscore the special place that New Orleans has in the lives of Filipinos in America, the earliest global Pinoys.

This was a fact that we were going to celebrate in the magazine, not knowing that Katrina would cast a pall on our plans. In this regard, I could not help make this comment in my editorial in Filipinas:

“Ironically, it seems so much in the character of the city where The Saints Go Marching In, that what should be a happy occasion is accompanied by a dirge.”

[kiretoce]

313 Filipinos find proof of Japanese ancestry
The Asahi Shimbun 09/19/2005

MANILA -- More than three hundred Filipinos here have finally been given proof of the Japanese ancestry that they long have claimed.

A new report handed to the Japanese embassy by a local association of Filipinos of Japanese descent used family registration documents to identify 313 Filipinos as having Japanese fathers.

No such proof was available for around 800 others.

Among the local communities of Japanese descendants living in the Philippines, it is a common dream to one day be able to live and work in Japan.

Yet many have never had any documents to prove their heritage.

The new report makes it much easier for the confirmed 313 and their descendants to land visas to settle and work in Japan, according to the Foreign Ministry.

As for the 800 who were not so lucky, the association has asked the Japanese embassy to keep the investigation alive. Embassy officials said they are considering the request.

Japanese emigration to the Philippines began over a century ago.

After the Imperial Japanese Army was defeated in World War II, many Japanese were stranded here, and family members were separated from each other by death or repatriation. An estimated 10,000 second- and third-generation Japanese live in the Philippines.

In 1995, under pressure from these emigrants and their descendants, the Japanese government and various nonprofit organizations began basic efforts to document and identify their ancestry.

This year, for the first time, the Japanese government kicked off a full-fledged, specific investigation. They entrusted the task to the local association of Filipinos of Japanese descent.

The association looked into the heritage of about 1,100 second-generation Japanese immigrants.

They used family registration, marriage and birth certificates, among other information, to confirm whether claimants' fathers were from Japan.

[Lili]

^^ Dadagdag pa dyan yung future "suplings" ni Someguy and Japanese/Korean ladylove/crush. :colgate:

Ganun na rin kay Mango (if he is not careful with his "emotional" girl who keeps all the mementos, receipt and tickets with personal notes of their dates.) :)

[Mango]

^^Ehem, ehem. There are more undocumented Japinos. There is an agency along Taft which provides assistance like tracing the japanese father's whereabouts to seek recognition and financial help.

With the declining birth rate in Japan, maybe its a good idea to recognize people with Japanese blood for citizenship not only in the Phil but in other countries as well. The Nikkeijins (half japanese) of Davao and Brazil are enjoying this privelege and some job ads would specify this qualification.

[ramvingar]

Hi everyone! I posted much much earlier in this thread before that I was going back home to Manila and start a business. I think that was around the time that all the political turmoil started (or slightly before that). Anyway, just an update. I've decided to stay put here in LA for now. I was offered a good job with much better pay and honestly, I chickened out with all the things happening over there. Got scared about the possibility na baka walang mangyari sa akin kapag bumalik ako. It was a really hard decision to make. I miss my family so much and of course miss the Phils. Lab ko siya e. But for now I think this decision is what is best for my future.

[marites4]

darn another potential investor down the drain.

[dancethingy]

Ramvingar, you can still invest without being here.

OR

Go to UNICEF philippines website and donate. I was a volunteer of UNICEF and can attest that it is a good organization. Very good.

[Lili]

Hi everyone! I posted much much earlier in this thread before that I was going back home to Manila and start a business. I think that was around the time that all the political turmoil started (or slightly before that). Anyway, just an update. I've decided to stay put here in LA for now. I was offered a good job with much better pay and honestly, I chickened out with all the things happening over there. Got scared about the possibility na baka walang mangyari sa akin kapag bumalik ako. It was a really hard decision to make. I miss my family so much and of course miss the Phils. Lab ko siya e. But for now I think this decision is what is best for my future.

@Ramvingar: I think that is a good decision for now. Allow things to stabilize first in Pinas and then when they are making headway with the economic programs and there is more political stability, then you can reassess and go back. As they say, you can invest your earnings here to your family business there. So all is well.

[ramvingar]

Ramvingar, you can still invest without being here.

OR

Go to UNICEF philippines website and donate. I was a volunteer of UNICEF and can attest that it is a good organization. Very good.

thanks for the advise dancethingy. actually, i already sent some money to invest in a business that my youngest bro wants to put up.

UNICEF is also a good idea. It never would have even crossed my mind. thanks for the info again. i will definitely make a donation.

[ramvingar]

@Ramvingar: I think that is a good decision for now. Allow things to stabilize first in Pinas and then when they are making headway with the economic programs and there is more political stability, then you can reassess and go back. As they say, you can invest your earnings here to your family business there. So all is well.

yup! that is exactly what i plan to do. you know the funny thing? i've spoke to a lot of Pinoys here lately who are in the same predicament and pare pareho tayo ng mga iniisip. cool!

[kiretoce]

Okay, this article isn't really about Pinoys, but of the plight of the Vietnamese boat people living in the Philippines, awaiting their arrival in the United States.

================================================================


229 Vietnamese refugees leave for the United States
By Anjo Perez and Louie Perez

NINOY AQUINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — The dream of 229 Vietnamese refugees to settle in the United States came true yesterday when they finally boarded an aircraft that will take them to Los Angeles, California, United States.

Of the thousands of Vietnamese who paddled their way to the Philippines to flee communist rule in their homeland Vietnam, 229 refugees boarded a chartered Boeing 757 jet that left this airport at 11 a.m. yesterday.

The group is the first batch of the remaining 1,855 "stateless citizens" that have lived in camps established by the United Nations in Bataan and Palawan 16 years ago.

After a long wait, the US government, through the intercession of the Philippine government and the International Organization for Migration, agreed to give the state-less citizens refugee status in America.

Most of the refugees who left yesterday have relatives in the US, and under an agreement reached with the Philippine government in April, 2004, the US immigration will approve their status as "lawful permanent residents." In five years, they will be eligible for American citizenship.

However, those who married Filipinos during their stay here are no longer eligible to go to the US.

Meanwhile, those who are still eligible will be leaving for the US within six months.

The Philippine government waived the R550 airport terminal fee for all the 229 refugees and the immigration fees for overstaying in the country.

The group was sent off by IOM representative Patrick Corcoran.

The IOM, based in Switzerland, assisted in the medical screening, travel arrangements, and other administrative requirements of the refugees who were approved by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office.

[kiretoce]

Here's another article about the "stateless" Vietnamese citizens in the Philippines.

================================================================


US-bound boat people will miss 'Eat Bulaga'
By Volt Contreras Inquirer News Service Sept 26, 2005

LY HONG HAI says he will surely miss the native dish sinigang, variety shows like "Eat Bulaga!" and everything that made his life bearable despite being a "stateless" person in the only Southeast Asian country that didn't turn away boat people like him.

Together with his wife Nga and two small children, Ly belongs to the first batch of 229 Vietnamese who are flying to Los Angeles today thanks to a humanitarian accord between the United States and the Philippines that grants US resettlement to the last remaining asylum seekers from Vietnamese communist rule.

Their chartered flight leaves the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 11 a.m. They were initially scheduled to have left at 2:45 a.m. but the flight was postponed due to Hurricane Rita.

The April 2004 agreement is expected to benefit an estimated 1,600 Vietnamese in the next six months and is deemed the closing chapter in the saga of the boat people who had sought refuge in the Philippines by the tens of thousands since 1975.

They once lived in camps run by the United Nations in the town of Morong in Bataan province and in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan province. In 1989, the international community meeting in Geneva decided that those fleeing Vietnam were "economic migrants" and not refugees, or people fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution.

When the shelters closed down in 1996, the Vietnamese dispersed throughout the country, vulnerable as they lacked legal papers that would allow them to work or study.

A majority of the boat people eked out a living in the underground economy as street or market vendors, blending with the populace without losing their identity. (Those who stayed and formed a village in Palawan, in fact, still hold gatherings for the Tet or Lunar New Year festivities, singing the national anthem of the now non-existent South Vietnam).

Their children faced difficulties enrolling in schools; those who got admitted were either eventually kicked out or could not apply for jobs after graduation. They survived the system generally through accommodation by local authorities. But all that seems behind them now, especially for the Lys.

The Inquirer saw them and their other US-bound compatriots on Saturday in a cramped office in Baclaran which had a free legal assistance desk for the Vietnamese.


Noodle house left behind

On the eve of the new life awaiting his family, 39-year-old Ly made sure his parting message to his host country bore no trace of their past hardships. "Maraming salamat po," he said in halting Filipino.

Through an interpreter, Ly said he got nothing but "kindness from the government and the Filipino people" from his years confined in a camp to his struggling days as a peddler of footwear, clothes, perfume and underwear in the streets of Puerto Princesa.

Ly had operated a Vietnamese chao long noodle house in the provincial capital since the late '90s. He owned the business but, due to his stateless status, had the license issued in the name of a Filipino friend.

He conceded that "in any society" aliens like him were vulnerable to abuse and unpleasant encounters with the locals. "Minsan may mga loko talaga (Sometimes there are really rascals)," he smiled.

But when urged to recall specific incidents, he said there was no need to talk about them as these were "too petty compared to the warmth and hospitality I received from the Filipinos."

Fresh out of high school, Ly got on a motorized fishing boat with 154 others mostly from the Vietnam city of Phu Yen in August 1989. They spent five days at sea and made their supply of rice and drinking water last by rationing them in "bottle caps." Their boat finally found friendly waters off the shores of Batangas province.

Asked why he had dared to leave his homeland and his entire family behind, Ly said he wanted to "escape from the communist government" under which there were "no human rights."

His Chinese-blooded family particularly suffered discrimination, he said. Their family-owned soap factory was confiscated by the state and the children were barred from attending university.


Forced labor

"I miss my family so much, but I have to do it [flee] for my own life," he added. "They sent my mother into forced labor," recalled Dang Thi Lot, 38, another asylum seeker set to leave for LA, sharing the reasons she braved the waves of the South China Sea in May 1989.

She said the communist government was also harsh on her family because her father used to serve with the defeated South Vietnamese army.

Dang sailed off also from Phu Yen on a boat shared by 31 people. They were "rescued" 12 days later by Filipino fishermen off Subic Bay. Her family also was housed in the Palawan camp and moved to Pasay City after the facility closed down.


Filipino friends

She had since been a market vendor in Alabang, Muntinlupa, selling footwear and clothes.

Like Ly, she said "thank you" to the government and the Filipinos, especially those who "helped me with my Tagalog and helped me find my way around the city as well as find contacts for my business."

The LA trip made the day particularly busy for Australian-Vietnamese lawyer Trinh Hoi, whose Baclaran office had been the go-to place for the boat people following up on their resettlement cases.

"The fact that they chose to be stateless persons here living in legal limbo speaks volumes about the situation in Vietnam," said Trinh, who heads the Manila office of the Vietnamese Community in Australia.

With a staff of Vietnamese volunteers from here and Australia, Trinh has been in and out of the Philippines in the last eight years, providing free legal aid to the asylum seekers.


Going against the tide

"The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia that did not force the asylum seekers back to where they were being persecuted. You went against the international tide at the time," Trinh said.

In February 1996, the administration of President Fidel Ramos launched a "forced flight" that sent 84 rejected asylum seekers back to Vietnam. But the move was discontinued after that first trip because of pressure from non-government organizations and the Catholic Church, the lawyer recalled.

But not everyone in the VCA office was in a light, farewell mood. Trinh said he was still working on over 70 cases of Vietnamese who were "denied" US resettlement just because they had married Filipinos.

Such is the case of Ngo Din Hun Ngan, 30, a longtime peddler of fabrics, shoes, hair clips and other dry goods in Olongapo City, where he wed Pilar Colorado, 33. They now have two children.

"Of course I want to go to America," said the brooding Ngo, who landed in the Philippines at age 15 on a vessel carrying 44 passengers from Nha Trang. "Now, I don't know where else to go."

"Can't we ask the US to review our case? Our marriage should not be a reason to be excluded. It's not our fault," his wife Pilar pleaded.

Under the April 2004 agreement, Trinh said, the Philippines is supposed to "make best efforts" to offer permanent residency to remaining Vietnamese, like Ngo, whom the United States would not take in.

"But that still doesn't mean anything to them until now," he said, urging the government, particularly the Department of Justice and Congress, to address the predicament of "human lives stuck in the twilight zone of bureaucracy and laws."

[tnt]

:cry: ^^ pang maalaala mo kaya vibes

[bustero]

Well this will become an interesting footnote in our history. Good Luck to them all.

[kiretoce]

Help wanted: Filipinos answering looming staff shortage
By Yoshihiro Ogino, The Asahi Shimbun 10/10/2005

It seemed a dream come true, a way for Filipinos to gain employment in Japan without having to wait tables or work factory lines.

But when Tokyo promised in the free trade agreement (FTA) it signed with Manila last year to allow Philippine nationals to work in Japan's growing and understaffed nursing care sector, it also stipulated they undertake several years of study.

For many Filipinos already living here, that was a tall order, physically and financially.

Enter Avance Corp., a job placement company based in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture.

In January, Avance set up a roughly three-month course designed to train Filipinos as "home helpers," a basic nursing care qualification regulated by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Takaharu Hayashi, president of Avance, says after recognizing the large number of women from the Philippines in Japan with permanent visas or spouse visas, their limited job opportunities and their strong desire to gain work, the course seemed like a win-win idea-even without factoring in the expected staffing shortage.

While not as specialized as the tertiary-based certified care worker required by the FTA deal, the qualification comes in three levels, the second of which is generally required for employment at welfare facilities.

A Filipina waitress living in Nagoya with her young daughter is one of 19 women, all in their 30s and 40s, enrolled in Avance's second three-month course.

Twice a week, the woman in her 30s travels to the city center to attend lectures on general nursing care practices and Japan's welfare system. In total, she must attend 130 hours of lectures and practical training to gain the Level Two qualification.

The 98,000-yen course fee, she says, is money well spent.

Having first come to Japan 15 years ago on an entertainment visa, she subsequently married a customer of the pub she worked in. The marriage, however, ended in divorce and now she is keen to find a job that will both free up her evenings to spend with her daughter and take her well into the future.

"Even if I grow old, I can continue to work as a helper," she says. "Because there are many elderly people in Japan, I believe this is a good opportunity for me."

Her classmate, a 34-year-old from Kuwana in Mie Prefecture, has taken leave from her job in a food factory to undergo the training.

"Although many companies are going under, I think that welfare facilities will be all right," she says.

Because most of them have been in Japan a long time, Hayashi says there are few language problems.

Efforts are made, however, to teach the women specialized kanji related to nursing. These include the Chinese characters for "position change" and "taking a bath," which are needed to fill in daily patient reports.

As far as employment prospects once the women have gained their certificate, interest is growing, with seven of the 20 Filipino women on the first course now working in a special care facility for the elderly in Nagoya's Nakamura Ward. Four of them have been offered permanent contracts.

While Hayashi says some facilities are reluctant to employ foreigners, he believes that will change.

"With many elderly people not familiar with foreigners, there are many facilities that are hesitant (about employing non-Japanese helpers). However, at those facilities which have, our students have developed a reputation for being sympathetic and kind," he said.

Meanwhile, the number of Filipino women wanting to take the course is growing. The third course has just begun in Nagoya and another has started in Ichinomiya.

[kiretoce]

He sees Filipinos in a much better light (than we do)
By Margie Quimpo-Espino Inquirer News Service Oct. 02, 2005

MOST view the exodus of Filipinos to foreign lands negatively, as it shows they have given up hope in their own country. One executive however, (and a foreigner at that) looks at it from a more inspiring perspective.

New Standard Chartered Bank chief executive Eugene Ellis says the 80,000 or so Filipinos who leave the Philippines every year to work abroad prove that Filipinos are good workers and are in demand all over the world.

"You don't see that many British leaving their country to work abroad, do you?" he quips.

Although people really leave because of the lack of opportunities here, taking Ellis' perspective does sound and feel better. And he puts action behind his words.

Having seen the quality of Filipino workers for himself even before he took up his post in Manila, Ellis wants to make the Philippines a center of training for Standard Chartered managers.

"Why not bring the world to the Philippines and make the Philippines a center of excellence within the bank?" Ellis points out. "You have excellent training facilities here like AIM (Asian Institute of Management); you have a great training staff here, some of whom went out to conduct training abroad; you have cheap but world class hotels and the service is fantastic; your organizing capability amazes me."

Why he cares for the Philippines stems from a mix of experiences.

As someone who paved the way for 'nonwhites' in the corporate ladder of the bank over three decades ago, Ellis knows how it is to be underestimated, as he feels Filipinos are.

To Ellis, the overseas Filipino workers represent "feeding the world with a trickle of gold but the mother lode is sitting here in the Philippines. We have to mine this for the benefit of the Philippines."


Beginnings

Some 33 years ago, he left his native India and sought a better life in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

He walked into the office of Standard Chartered and handed his application to a British accountant who did not even look at him.

He just simply told him that the bank had no openings for clerks.

Ellis' reply was: "I am applying as an officer."

Only then did the accountant look up and asked, "What makes you think you can be an officer?"

Ellis simply handed in his resume and left. By the time he got home, the phone was ringing and the accountant asked him to come back for an interview.

He got the job. And the British accountant became his mentor and friend for 15 years.


Banking start

Prior to going to UAE, Ellis worked for The State Bank of India where his father also worked.

He was assigned in the mail department where he delivered documents and letters, reading everything that passed through his hands and acquiring banking knowledge along the way.

While with the State Bank, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Commerce and Economics via a distance learning program from the University of Delhi.

Ellis had finished high school at 15 and was not qualified to go to University where the minimum acceptance age was 16.

At that time, he was in love with cars and worked as a mechanic.

He soon realized that working in cars was different from riding them.

He quit and joined The State Bank. Ellis knew, however, that his growth in the bank would be stymied because his father was still there.

Many of the officials still looked at him as the little boy who would often visit his father.

When he was due to become an officer, he had to take a post in a village for him to be promoted.

At that time, Ellis was already married, to Maria, a designer and Catholic like him who also pursued her college degree while working. They decided it was time to "go west" as many were doing.

He boarded a plane, leaving Maria who was heavy with their first child.

Once he got accepted in Standard Chartered in 1975, Ellis was sent to London for training. There, he was taught among other things to acquire an "international accent," a way of speaking English without a distinct accent indicating nationality.

While there, he took advantage of the quality tailors in the British capital and had several suits made.

He was excited at the prospect of wearing them when he went back to the Middle East as the first non-British officer of the bank.

But the suits stayed in their hangers for months. On his first day back from training, he was told to come in working clothes.


Work in a ceiling

Confused but obedient, he donned his "working clothes" and was told to sort the bank's records of 20 years.

The documents were mixed with pigeon poop.

"After a few despondent days, I started reading," Ellis says. He finished filing and sorting everything in three months and gained more knowledge about the bank than any other employee.

It was smooth sailing then for Ellis who said he never left because the bank kept promoting him.

After 11 years in Dubai he and Maria decided to move, as the children needed a better environment for their education.

At that time, schooling in the area was limited. Although the bank gave them choices—Britain, United States, Canada—they decided on Australia because Maria had relatives there.

By this time, Ellis had earned a reputation as the bank's fair-haired boy, then being the only non-British member of top management.

When he left Dubai, he was treasurer.

A few days after he started working in Australia he called Maria, who was left in Dubai to pack and transport everything, to tell her to stop what she was doing as he was going back.

It turned out that Ellis was assigned to a post seven notches lower than his last with a salary that was "pathetic."

But having been there before, Ellis took the job.

"I fought hard to prove myself 200 percent. I would ask questions about the way things were being done. I would give suggestions," he says.

Three months later, the bank's head of Treasury apologized profusely and wrote a letter to Australia's managing director telling him they had made a mistake.

Ellis was immediately promoted three to four levels higher.

He stayed in Australia for six years. He bought a home and acquired citizenship along the way. He was moved to Singapore for four years and then sent back to Australia. This time as CEO.

In 2004, he heard about the Philippine post and volunteered for the job.

"They were shocked," he says of management's reaction.

It is not his first time in the country. He was here the day after Aquino was assassinated when everything was quiet. He had such a good time that he extended his stay in the country to a week.

Ellis admits he loves Filipinos. When he was in Singapore, his wife dabbled in the fashion business and they had two Filipina maids whom she taught to sew and cut.

The skills displayed by the two amazed Eugene and Maria.

The Philippine post may be Ellis' last. But it is here where he want to be remembered as having done the most.

"Everybody has an ego. I want to be remembered as having contributed to a people and a country. We can use the culture of the Philippines for the betterment of the bank.

"You are sitting on the mother lode," he says.

[kiretoce]

Gov't scouts for new job markets abroad
Ronnel W. Domingo Inquirer News Service Oct. 20, 2005

The Government is looking at new and emerging job markets overseas in an effort to compensate for the potential loss of 55,000 jobs in Japan due to stricter rules affecting Filipino performance artists, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said.

The POEA said it was pursuing new and additional opportunities to create 65,000 jobs and to attain its target of helping secure a million jobs overseas a year for Filipino workers.

It said the efforts were focused on Israel for caregivers, and tourism and construction workers; Macau for casino and hotel workers; Singapore and China for teachers; and Australia, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, and South Africa for healthcare workers.

Opportunities also abound in Turks and Caicos Islands for construction workers; Cayman Islands for restaurant workers; Bahamas for medical and skilled workers; United Kingdom for social workers and physical and occupational therapists; Iran for skilled workers; and Kazakhstan for technical and professional workers in the oil, energy and construction sectors, the POEA said

POEA Deputy Administrator Carmelita Dimzon told reporters that the new hires in 2004 consisted of workers in services, professional and technical jobs, production, clerical work, sales, agriculture, and those hired for administrative and managerial positions.

Dimzon said 284,912 new hires were deployed last year, on top of the 648,676 workers returning to jobs abroad.

She said Filipinos continued to be competitive in technical competence, English proficiency, Western-oriented education and training, their caring attitude, and adaptability to a multicultural environment.

However, she noted some of the weaknesses of overseas Filipino workers: declining proficiency in English, declining quality of education and training, and are quick to go to third parties such as the courts to settle disputes with employers.

The Department of Labor and Employment meanwhile said at least 350 foreign employers from transnational companies in Taiwan, Australia, the Middle East, Japan, the Caribbean, Europe and North America would visit next month to meet with licensed recruitment agencies.

A hiring conference called "First International Labor Opportunities Forum" will be held Nov. 8-11 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

[xandro]

i stumbled across some articles on the daily herald (chicago) on the philippines. most of it is about immigration and the tangentialities regarding the said phenomenon. there is also a focus on urban planning and help that people from chicago give to the philippines. i think it's a good read. rather long but a good read.

http://www.dailyherald.com/special/philippines/index.asp

[Lili]

^^ Xandro, great find! Thanks for sharing.

[kiretoce]

^^ Yeah! That was a great read! :okay:

[bustero]

more like a book. paints a pretty bad picture of the philippines.

[paulkrps]

i have this friend, si ate .... she worked as a dh sa singapore noon. decided to apply as a caregiver sa canada. the thing is, she was adviced by the agency who handled her application to include her family meaning she is single. so tweng tweng, fast forward, naging canadian citizen na sya, she tried to sponsor her family. bad news, she got denied dahil falsification of public documents, etc. she appealed, same thing. she was downhearted dahil walang pag-asang madala nya ang pamilya nya dito sa canada. her son had to apply as a caregiver para lang makapunta dito sa canada.

moral lesson of the story, declare everbody in your family kahit wala kayong planong dalhin kagad ang inyong pamilya when applying as an immigrant or anything, and best of all, answer truthfully dahil some embassies do random checks.

[Lili]

more like a book. paints a pretty bad picture of the philippines.

You know what, I didn't really get to sift through the pages.

[dancethingy]

What a great read. I don't usually read the daily herald because of their conservative slant, but they have good journalistic integrity. They did endorse Kerry this past election.

[dancethingy]

All i have to say is WOW!

Thank you so much for posting that Daily Herald special edition

Reading it was so entrancing. I especially found the section on World War II Veterans very touching and enlightening. The article shines a sad light on the suffering our Lolos went through during that murderous war. Such stories aren't being shared today in Philippine mainstream society. It's as if the people just forgot what happened. That's quite unfortunate because people here will never know how our ancestors suffered for the survival of our country. Their blood gave us a future and that should never be forgotten.

People here are so congenially verbalizing the "wala ng pagasa ang bansa na to" attitude. Maybe, once they discover the hardships our ancestors experienced, they will realize the extent of disrespect they are inflicting our World War 2 veterans.

So many stories, so many sacrifices, and they are disappearing so rapidly. I'm heartbroken. If there was only a way for us to collect the memories of those who are alive right now, we can still tell people the stories. Is there any national pride (true national pride, not the empty shallow pride of politicians) left in this country to bring these stories to the doorstep of every Filipino. I'll take a World War 2 Filipino movie over some Hero Angeles/Sandara Park flick ANYTIME.

My grandfather survived the Bataan march. He's 89 now. I've asked him about it, but now i have to do more interviewing.

[dancethingy]

This section is also especially worthy. It connotes the links between Chicago and the Philippines. Manila can be Chicago, all we have to do is THINK BIG, be ambitious. What do we have to lose????

Burnham's vision links Chicago with the Philippines
Stories by Mike Comerford
Photographs by Mark Welsh
Daily Herald Staff
Fourth of five parts

Swan boats sitting on the Burnham Park lagoon in Baguio City might remind Chicagoans of the Lincoln Park lagoon. Chicago architect Daniel Burnham laid out plans for Chicago, Baguio and Manila.
Fiestas and lavish dinners were prepared for the Chicago architects everywhere they went that January of 1905.

The elite of the Philippines toasted and queried world-renowned architect Daniel Burnham and fellow designer Pierce Anderson about their plans for Manila and a proposed summer capital in the "Baguio meadow," in the cool mountains of northern Luzon.

A century later, the meadow at Baguio has become a bustling city. Manila's famous promenade along its bay, along with parks, government buildings and waterways, still resonates Burnham's original plans — and the architect's bust stands prominently at the city center, dubbed Burnham Park.

"It's really a fascinating and little-known aspect of his career," said Sally Chapell, an architectural historian in Chicago and professor emeritus at DePaul University. "He was thinking about Chicago years before (he published his Chicago Plan in 1909). He may have had Lake Shore Drive in mind when he was looking at Manila Bay."

After his success with the "White City" of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, Burnham showed that planning could create cities that were visually stunning as well as functional. Thus was born the movement known as "City Beautiful."

As an early representative of the movement, Manila shares some layout elements found in Chicago. Burnham left Manila's Spanish fortress and inner city substantially intact but also planned grand boulevards, parks, waterways and public buildings outside the fortress.

Likewise, Lake Shore Drive and Grant Park were created for Lake Michigan views. Museums, such as the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, were built near the shoreline.

Baguio and Manila were devastated in World War II, obliterating much of Burnham's work. Nevertheless, the basic layouts remain from the plans he shared at those dinners in 1905.

"Manila," Burnham wrote at the time, "may rightly hope to become the adequate expression of the destiny of the Filipino people as well as an enduring witness to the efficient services of America in the Philippine Islands."

- WOW, history is so moving and so visceral, yet so many find it insanely boring. Manila and the Philippines is so rich of it too.

[dancethingy]

@ bustero, i don't think it necessarily paints a bad picture about our country. It shows the challenges, the complexities, and the resilience of our country. It shows how far we've come and how far we have to go. Its a fairly balanced special report. It is neither apocalyptic or overly optimistic.

It paints a picture of the real "truth." Our politicians don't know this truth, as long as they can drive around the country with tinted windows and erect ugle grey walls around their compounds they will remain ignorant to the truth of the Filipino.

Also here is a link to NYT article about the effect of the brain drain on developing nations. Although it mentions the Philippines in hindsight, it also shows that our experience is not isolated in the global community

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/international/25brain.html?ei=5094&en=378db2de6cd3dc9e&hp=&ex=1130212800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1130205912-3wUPqUmUTsAtIK0zVGtQxg (http://http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/international/25brain.html?ei=5094&en=378db2de6cd3dc9e&hp=&ex=1130212800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1130205912-3wUPqUmUTsAtIK0zVGtQxg)

Here's a very good paragraph from the article

Professor Kapur likened a skilled immigrant's getting a visa to work in a rich country to winning a lottery, because the income gains from moving are so great. Whatever the approach, he said, the benefits to the few who are lucky enough to leave need to be weighed against the costs to their countrymen left behind.

[xandro]

more like a book. paints a pretty bad picture of the philippines.

but it does look at some of the things that i sometimes refuse to look at, and at the least, it has challenged me to commit to this country more. after reading those articles, i felt a bit down but then again, it makes me see that there are many things that can be done. healing only comes when we have recognized where we are and what are current troubles are.

that aside, i have learned a lot reading those articles. and as dancethingy has said, our history is rich and it makes me understand of why i am a filipino. i remembered being in a philippine history class (1900 to present) in college and feeling down after those classes because of what has been unearthed but then it has given me hope that we can still change it (that it is not the end of the story). in this, my being filipino has taken root (nagkaroon ng pagkaugat) and despite all the turmoil, i still remain hopeful.

[bustero]

I don't mean that the picture is wrong , I acknowledge these problems exist and we should do something about them (and we are but it doesn't seem to show any of that)

what I do mean is that it's a special on the Philippines and focuses mostly on it's social problems. It's editorial so their call. But if you read this thing and are not filipino and have no knowledge of the Philippines as 99% of the nonfilipino world does you will get an impression that it's not very different from the very poor countries in africa, south asia, etc. And this is not the case at all.

It's the very reason many people come here and and are surprised when they get to Manila and have a samba chocolate torte in Bizu' (quite good actually) or party in cebu for the sinulog they say" I thought the Philippines was such a poor country". One only needs to read the comments of many forumers in the rate our city section or ctc in this site to see how divergent many peoples views are from what they imagine when the word Philippines comes up to the actual pictures of skyscrapers they see. (usual shock or surprise that's it's not all coconuts and palm trees with sexy natives who like housework and dying children) While I'm not saying we're well off , this is not a failed state, where people are dying of starvation and disease. BUT this series of articles while not wrong will give that impression (that we're no better than the sudan or laos). And it surely wont help interest tourists to come here.

[dancethingy]

That's a true observation Bustero and I agree with you. There is very slanted view of the Philippines throughout the world. That is a result of many things and it's sad to say that some Filipinos do add to the problem by discouraging others about our country.

Also, if you think about it Bustero, isn't it intersting that the vast gap between what people think of the philippines is also reflected by the vast gap in socioeconomic levels. It all depends really on what tourists see while they are here. Some people will see Greenbelt or Ayala Alabang and say wow this is forward looking advanced society. Some people will see the informal settlers of manila and feel say the opposite. Some people, those who are more keen explorers, will see both sides of the fence and see a society diminished by the vast gap between the haves and the have nots.

[xandro]

i do agree with that. for people who don't know, it really is difficult convincing them to visit the country. when i talked with a relative in sfo, she was hesitant to go home this december due to the rallies that she saw on tv. but i told her that things are okay here and the rallies are only pocket rallies. i bet that she would be surprised when she arrives here in a couple of months.

anyway, i find it to be a good thing that somebody wrote about it.

[dancethingy]

Gosh, i think that some balikbayans are just so MAARTE, you know, talagang sobrang MAARTE.
I have a cousin in Michigan who refuses to come because she's very mestiza and "American looking," so she might get kidnapped. I think she has a greater chance of being mugged in Detroit than here. Geez!

[kiretoce]

THE GLOBAL PINOY: Learn from the Chinese
By Greg B. Macabenta Wednesday, November 16, 2005

A TSINOY friend of mine, who owns the largest Filipino-owned retail chain in the United States, likes to recall that his late father came to the Philippines from China as a young boy; he was penniless but had hoped to make something out of his life.

He worked as a servant in Chinatown, and then as a helper in a store. When he felt that he had learned enough about the business, he decided to set out on his own. Over the years, he had squirreled away money from his meager wages to the extent of depriving himself. But the young man had a goal in life and he was willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve it. He did.

By the time he had gotten married and had sired sons and daughters, he had become a wealthy man. In spite of their riches, the children, from early childhood, helped in the business. After school, where other kids would play, they would help man their many stores, attend to customers, order merchandise, manage the workers and, most of all, help make their wealth grow.

Some years ago, the US immigration service intercepted a boat that had several dozen young Chinese in the hold. They were headed for the East Coast. According to them, they had been promised jobs in New York.

Whether in New York or San Francisco, Malaysia or Manila, the story of Chinese migrants appears to follow a pattern. They arrive in a strange country penniless, work for meager wages in restaurants, Laund*romats, factories and retail stores, build a nest egg while depriving themselves, learn a trade or a business, and then set out on their own.

When I was a young boy in Tacloban, I would see people laughing at the Chinese peddlers selling taho or collecting discarded bottles.

“Tahoooo!” “Bote, garapa!” People would laugh in derision at the peddlers’ cries.

Decades later, the same peddlers owned the biggest businesses in town, employing their hecklers.

The story of my friend’s father has been replicated over the years by thousands of poor Filipinos who have left for foreign lands. The difference is that, most Filipinos set out to find employment. My father’s friend, like many young Chinese migrants, was bent on building a business for himself.

There is no reason why OFWs should not learn a lesson from the Chinese. But it takes the right attitude, a vision of what they want to become and a willingness to make sacrifices.

Some months ago, I wrote about Consuelo Farochelin, the Filipino millionaires in London who began as a domestic. She obviously did not think that her family’s earnings in her native Pampanga were enough to keep body and soul together, so she took a job abroad.

But she did what many Chinese migrants did. She made a business out of the most ordinary activity: packing boxes of canned goods and gifts to send to her family. Filipino friends, at first, asked to hitchhike on her boxes. But she soon decided to make a business out of the activity. And, in no time, she became the “Balikbayan Queen” of London.

Today, Farochelin owns prime property in Central London, including a commercial building, and operates a cargo forwarding, a money remittance and a travel business, as well as a grocery store and a newspaper.

On a recent tour of Europe, my children came upon a Filipino in Florence who owned a leather-goods store. Also in Florence was another Pinoy who owned a karaoke bar.

In Bonn, I met a Filipina who owned and operated a hotel with her German husband. Some 25 years ago, she had walked out on a job as a domestic helper in a Middle Eastern consulate, after being treated harshly. Desperate, she agreed to a partnership of convenience with a German who had a small bed and breakfast. Together, they grew the enterprise. In the process, they decided to wed.

Perhaps it is desperation that brings out the entrepreneurial instincts of a person. But that’s saying that the instinct is inherent. If there is ever any doubt that Filipinos have that entrepreneurial quality in them, just look at all the sidewalk vendors and street peddlers that populate Metro Manila. When you come right down to it, they are no different from the Chinese mag-bobote or mag-tataho of my childhood.

The difference is that the Chinese peddlers, like Consuelo Farochelin, decided that what they were was only temporary; that they were meant for greater things.

Indeed, it takes strength of character, dissatisfaction with one’s miserable status in life and willingness to sweat and strive to pull oneself out of the mire.

The tale of the global Filipino would be so much more inspiring if they were to learn from the Chinese.

[bustero]

^^nice story

[kiretoce]

Youngblood : Greener pastures
By Jayson M. Barola

ASSALAM ALAIKOM!

I work in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Arabian Gulf. It is connected to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the four-lane, 25-kilometer long King Faisal Causeway. I should point out that this small country, which is probably the size of Batangas, is an “open country” where foreigners can practice “Westerly” culture in this largely conservative region of the Middle East. No wonder, Saudi nationals as well as other Arabs often jump into their cars and cross the bridge to spend their weekends in here and have a good time.

Not surprisingly, since the pasture is greener, one finds many Filipinos “grazing” here. One doesn’t have to look far to find Inday Mayordoma (a domestic helper), Maria Kusinera (a cook), Kapitan Sixto and Juan Sea Man (a ship captain, mate, rigger, diver, fisherman, name it, and they are there doing work offshore). There are many Pedro Karpintero (carpenter), Pablo Mekaniko (mechanic) and Doc Aga na nag-nurse na pala. The dreaded but effective Ms Tapia teaches here without her cane or stick, of course (she’s still good but not so intimidating anymore without her stick and raised eyebrows). There are professionals certified by the Professional Regulation Commission and there are those with “Recto doctorates,” whose degrees are "dinuktor" [fake]. Engineer Efren is supervising one aspect of the project to extend the land area by claiming the sea or helping build modern-day Towers of Babel, skyscrapers and refineries. I can give you more names, titles and professions (rackets and commissions), but that would be a hundred times longer than “Schindler’s List.” But the bottom line is, we all came here with our diplomas, our carabao English, our empty wallets, our hopes and our desire to find our place in the sun (which translates into fortune and money, really).

The thing is, it is not only we carabaos who are grazing in Bahrain. The country is now flooded with Asian migrant workers in what looks like a giant Asian invasion. It’s getting tough and very competitive out there in the “fields.” Cheaper laborers and professionals have been flocking in from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries of South Asia. Competition is the name of the game between us and our neighbors, like the Indonesians, the Malaysians and the Thais.

I am proud to say that we Filipinos can hold our ground in terms of skills, talents, abilities, our quality of work and our working habits and attitude. Most employers, both Arab and foreigner, will attest to that. They will say: “Filipini good. Filipini lady beautiful. Others no good.”

But people from other countries are catching up. Their camel, mule, donkey, elephant, horse or Brahman cow English is now as good as our carabao English. Maybe their education and skills are developing even as ours deteriorate. Maybe they learned from us Filipinos, or they learned from their own kind or from others. Or it could be the result of globalization.

Or perhaps their labor attachés, embassies and foreign affairs ministries support them very well by looking for potential markets as well as promoting their interests in the international labor market. Their government offices and ministries are outperforming our Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), etc. (We have so many offices and we use so many acronyms that some of our "kababayan" [countrymen] think that POLO or OWWA is the name of a department as in, “Department of OWWA.”)

Mind you, other Asian workers’ salaries, talent fees, contract fees, kickback and "sahod" [wages], whatever you may call it, are lower and that gives them an edge over us. My Bahraini friend Mohammed told me that skills, attitudes and workmanship are one thing, while salaries and fees are another thing all together. So the heat is on! Juan, Sixto, Inday, Maria, Pedro, Pablo, Engineer Efren, Doc Aga cum nurse, Constancia (Ms Tapia), myself and thousands of Filipinos here are being pitted against thousands named Tom, Dick, Harry, Ahmed, Abdullah, Raja, Mohandas, Akira, Kim, Jung, Khan, Gopal, Sonia, Shah, Suchet, Khumar, Ispirikitik, Tuktuk (I’m not sure if I got some of their names correctly; some foreign names are very hard to pronounce and hard to spell with all those consonants and silent letters.)

I remember one particular conversation with a fellow Filipino worker:

“Pare, what what your reason for coming here to Bahrain?”

“Same as yours: to find greener pastures?”

“If that’s so, why did you resign? Your salary was not that bad.”

“Nah, they will probably hire two Patanis [Pakistanis] or two Panas [Indians] to replace me, so they might just as well terminate my contract. But anyway, I will be going back home. Homesick na eh. And then I will apply again, you know, maybe in Dubai. Open country daw dun. Kahit saan na lang where the pasture is greener.”

“Good luck na lang, pare! Pakibigay mo na lang kay misis itong package. Sige p're. Better grass next time!”

[kiretoce]

72,000 Filipinos lose jobs due to Japan's revised policy
By Guil Franco 9 December 2005

MANILA — About 72,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) lost their jobs as entertainers following Japan's enforcement early this year of a revised policy on the deployment of overseas performing artistes (OPAs) to the East Asian country.

A Philippine labour official, who requested not to be named, yesterday said that the deployment of OPAs dropped by as much as 90 per cent since Tokyo's imposition of the new immigration rules last March 15.

"We used to process about 80,000 working permits for Filipino artistes or entertainers annually and they dropped to 8,000 following the Japanese government's implementation of the new hiring regulations," the source said.


Significant reduction

The Department of Labour and Employment (DoLE) official noted that the significant reduction in the deployment of OFW-entertainers to Japan prompted the department to close its Philippine Overseas Labour Office (Polo) in Osaka last month.

"We have no work to do so DoLE had to close down the Osaka office and so the processing of all working permits is now being handled by the Polo office in Tokyo," the source stressed.

DoLE chief Patricia Sto. Tomas confirmed the deployment of Filipino entertainers has been seriously affected by the revised immigration rules on hiring foreign performing artists, adopted by Tokyo to curb prostitution in Japan.


Very minimal

Labour Secretary Sto. Tomas, however, stressed the drop in deployment is very minimal.

She quoted data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) which recorded only about 30 per cent drop in OPA deployment to Japan.

"We have recorded a 30 per cent decline and that's about 50,000 workers," she told reporters during an interview.

But Sto. Tomas pointed out that despite the decrease in the deployment of entertainers to Japan and the ban on Iraq, there still exists a continuing increase in OFW deployment.

She said POEA records indicate the Philippines is not far from its one million target deployment for overseas Filipino workers. She added that as of November this year, around 875,362 OFWs had been deployed to various countries.


Exit points

Sto. Tomas added the data do not include deployment of OFWs from Cebu, Davao, Clark (Pampanga) and Laoag (Ilocos Norte) — places which are also being used as exit points for OFWs.

Japan imposed the revised immigration (and OPA-hiring) rules after the United States tagged it as the country with a very high number of human-trafficking and prostitution cases.

[kiretoce]

RP medical "brain drain" worries British envoy
December 27, 2005

Even a foreign diplomat has aired apprehensions over the ongoing "drain" on the Philippine medical profession.

British Ambassador to Manila Peter Beckingham said "too many (Filipino) doctors retraining as nurses" are being lured by better pay in his home country, a trend that both Manila and London should "watch very carefully."

"One area we obviously need to keep a watch on, more for your government than for ours, is that there is a drain on your own health service. We are very aware of that," the diplomat told reporters in an interview last week.

It was a rare and probably the first time that a foreign official drew notice to the alarming migration of Filipino doctors and nurses, their scarcity worst felt in hospitals in the provinces and rural areas.

The diplomat reported that 2005 saw a 15-percent increase in the number of Filipinos applying for working visas in the UK.

Well over 120,000 Filipinos are now working in Britain, most of them in the health service while significant numbers are also in the fashion industry, financial sector, and the music business, he noted.

While saying that Filipino professionals in various fields are very welcome to work in the United Kingdom, he said the exodus of doctors preferring to be nurses could be "an issue in the long term, to be candid with you."

However, Beckingham expressed confidence that the country will not have a shortage of nurses.

The envoy said he actually sees an "oversupply" of nurses for local hiring, an impression he got from recent trips outside Metro Manila, including one he made to San Fernando City in Pampanga province where one university "produces nurses by the thousands."

"I think we and your government will need to watch very carefully that there are too many doctors from the Philippines retraining as nurses to come into Britain," he said.

[kiretoce]

Teachers, IT and health workers top list of most in-demand jobs abroad -- POEA
Friday, January 06 2006

Teachers, nurses and caregivers top the list of most in-demand jobs abroad, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said on Friday.

Countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Australia and the United States listed its high demand for nurses, caregivers and other health professionals.

The US Department of Health and Human Services reported an estimate shortage of 110,000 fulltime equivalent registered nurses. Canada, on the other hand, is expected to require some 59,000 to 113,000 nurses up to 2011. The US also needs about 2.8 million teachers up to 2008.

Meanwhile, China expressed high demand for teachers. They said that even graduates of courses outside Education would be allowed entry to work given they pass a certification exam.

New Zealand also posted high demand for linemen to set up electricity posts in the country famous for rural living.

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said New markets such as New Caledonia will hire 3,000 skilled workers and professionals for large-scale mining project which is expected to be finished in 2007.

The hotel and construction industries in Turks and Caicos are projected to have 1,500 job vacancies this year.

Trinidad and Tobago have started recruiting healthcare workers last year. Bahamas and Cayman islands have high demand for welders, electricians, carpenters, painters and hotel and restaurant workers.

Baldoz also bared that aviation industry abroad expressed preference to Filipino pilots due to their proficiency in English.

She cited India needs 4,000 commercial pilots in the next five years.

Baldoz forecasted that 2006 could surpass the 1.1 million benchmark in 2005, with the high demand for foreign workers, particularly OFWs, abroad and promising new job markets in New Caledonia, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, among others.

The POEA hit the 1.1 million employments abroad in 2005, however, only 963,115 were actually deployed as 37,085 working visas were cancelled because workers were chartered to their destinations on time.

Baldoz explained that the matter is partly due to the lack of outbound international flights available to ferry OFWs to their country destinations.

She conveyed the concerns of placement groups heads, Eduardo Mahiya, president of the Overseas Placement Association of the Philippines (OPAP) and Philippine Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (PHILMAT) president Jackson Gan that the visible lack of international flights of airlines often led to cancellation of workers' visa.

Baldoz however said they are meeting with the leaders of the recruitment industry and the Civil Aeronautics Board to resolve the issue.

Saudi Arabia remained as the top destination of OFWs with 178,878 workers deployed last year, followed by Hong Kong with 29,386 and Japan with 52,718. Other top host nations are United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Kuwait, Singapore, Qatar, Korea and Lebanon.

[kiretoce]

OFW phenomenon to continue in 2006
By Tessa Salazar January 13, 2006

Will Overseas Filipino workers' investments in their home country continue to rise or slacken this year? Optimistic developers and real estate firms believe more money from OFWs will be pouring in.

Eric Soriano, ERA Philippines country president and CEO, said home mortgage investments develop "discipline" in the form of forced savings on OFW dependents.

"Our studies have shown that there is a 92 percent repayment of monthly amortizations among OFW homebuyers, a positive indicator for the industry," Soriano said.

"I believe the iceberg for OFW markets is very deep," he added.

According to him, statistics have shown that education and real estate are still top priorities for any OFW provider. Reinforcing OFW remittances are new money coming from balikbayans from North America and Europe.

Marivic A¤onuevo, vice president and head of Ayala Land Inc.'s leisure and lifestyle communities, said the number of Filipinos leaving the Philippines to work abroad continues to grow at around 12.5 percent.

"Although this is really a sad phenomenon, this indicates however that the amount of dollars earned and remitted back home continues to grow. Rather than slacking off, therefore, we in ALI feel that we have only mined what we believe is the tip of the large OFW market."

Danilo E. Ignacio, general manager of Robinsons Land Corp.-high rise building division, said RLC is confident that the OFW investments in real estate will remain.

Jose EB Antonio, chair of Century Properties Group and Meridien Development Group, said that 30 percent of the income of OFWs in general is spent on housing, whether to buy a new home, fix present homes or pay for rent.

"The quest for the Filipino dream of owning their home is foremost in the minds of OFWs. It is also worthwhile to note that the average income of an OFW has increased, as more white collar workers and technical people are working abroad," Antonio said.

Soriano observed that historically, spikes in OFW remittances occur every middle and end of the year.

"However, with the continuous deployment of new OFWs in existing and new geographical markets and the increase in remittance month on month, we can expect a steady stream of real estate business from the sector all throughout the year," he said.

A¤onuevo estimated that ALI overseas sales accounted for nearly 20 to 25 percent of the total sales volume generated by the ALI parent company, including subsidiaries such as Community Innovations Inc and LPHI. She added that recognizing this large potential, ALI has established Ayala Land International Sales Inc.

Ignacio said that RLC markets selected projects internationally. "Revenues generated from our international marketing efforts account for a substantial portion of our sales. We thus intend to pursue building this segment," he said.

ERA Real Estate, a multinational real estate service provider that manages Eastwood, expects to grow its OFW portfolio from 15 percent in 2005 to 25 percent this year.

"The industry posted an average OFW contribution of 20 to 25 percent. My advice to developers is for them to focus on increasing their OFW portfolio by an additional 15 percent this year," Soriano said.

[Skyblade]

She cited India needs 4,000 commercial pilots in the next five years.


With the growth of the Indian commercial aviation industry, I wouldn't doubt it!

[Animo]

DID you know that Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the Philippine National Hero, was the first Filipino to enter the United States under a false name? When he arrived in San Francisco on May 1, 1888, he carried a passport showing his name to be "Jose Protacio Rizal." The problem is this wasn't his real name.

He was born the son of Francisco Rizal Mercado and Teodora Realonda Alonzo. His birth certificate showed his name as "Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda." In his early years, when he attended grade school, he went by his real name, Jose Alonzo Mercado. (Imagine a Mercado province or a Knights of Mercado).

Unfortunately, when young Jose applied to attend college in Manila under his real name, his application was rejected because he was related to Paciano Mercado, his brother, who was a known activist and an associate of Fr. Jose Burgos, the martyred priest.

Following Paciano's advice, Jose changed his name to the first three names on his birth certificate, dropping his parents' surnames.

(After his execution in 1896, Jose's parents and siblings all legally changed their surnames to Rizal to honor his memory.)

At the time of his birth, Rizal's father was a rice planter, renting a large parcel of land from the Dominican friars in their hometown of Calamba, in the province of Laguna. The Dominicans charged exorbitant rents from their Calamba tenants and did not give receipts for the sums they collected so they would pay fewer taxes. (The religious orders, which owned vast amounts of lands, were not exempt from paying taxes).

When Rizal's father and the other Calamba tenants reported this tax evasion scheme to the civil authorities, the Dominicans retaliated by seeking their eviction and their replacement with non-Calamba tenants.

Rizal's father filed a lawsuit against the Dominicans to stop their eviction but his suit failed. One of the reasons Rizal was sent to Spain by his family was to file suit in the Supreme Court in Spain to overturn the Philippine court's decision on his family's eviction.

After Rizal completed his medical studies in Europe and obtained his diplomate in ophthalmology, he went to Hong Kong in 1891 to set up what in a short time, became a thriving and lucrative practice.

As soon as he was settled, Rizal sent for his family to join him in Hong Kong. On Dec. 6, 1891, Rizal's father and brother Paciano and brother-in-law Silvestre Ubaldo arrived. Three weeks later, Rizal's beloved mother and his sisters -- Lucia, Josefa and Trinidad -- also joined him in Hong Kong.

In Jose Baron Fernandez's book, "Jose Rizal, Filipino Doctor and Patriot," as translated from Spanish by Dr. Lilia Hidalgo Laurel, this period for Rizal is described as "very happy."

"The overall situations was felicitous and the prospects bright. They were all together; they enjoyed liberty; Jose earned good money, and Paciano found a little house for them with a panoramic view of the bay… The Rizal family lived in "Rednaxala Terrace" from which, according to Jose, his father contemplated the sea and watched the boats."

While on a short Christmas vacation to Singapore in December of 1891, Rizal met William and Ada Pryer on the S.S. Melbourne ship. After learning that Pryer had just been appointed manager of British North Borneo, Rizal proposed to set up a Filipino settlement in North Borneo, composed of the Calamba tenants who had been evicted from their lands by the Dominicans.

Before Rizal had set up his practice in Hong Kong, the Supreme Court of Madrid in 1891 rendered its final decision denying Rizal's petition to stop the eviction of the Rizal family and other Calamba tenants by the Dominicans. Shortly after the final decision, according to Rizal's sister, Narcisa, "their townmates had been driven out and deprived of their lands, homes and harvest of rice, sugar, etc. -- 300 families as of that date. Some lived under the shade of trees, and those who lived in towns took to the streets for it was prohibited to give lodging to the evicted."

The hardship of his family and townmates weighed heavily on Rizal's mind which is what prompted him to make the proposal to Pryer. In March of 1892, Rizal visited Sandakan, North Borneo and negotiated an agreement with Pryer whereby Rizal would be given 5,000 acres without payment for three years, with the British company undertaking the construction of buildings and the planting of orchards. After three years, Rizal was to pay three pesos per acre, which would not be a problem as Rizal's medical practice was successful.

But how could he bring the 300 Calamba families to Borneo? In April of 1892, Rizal decided to employ the direct approach and to personally ask the Spanish Governor General in Manila, Eulogio Despujol, for permission to allow the Calamba families to leave for Borneo.

On June 26, 1892, Rizal arrived in Manila with his sister, Lucia. They registered at the Hotel del Oriente, the most modern hotel at the time. Later in the afternoon, Rizal went to Malacañang to meet Despujol. Ten days of discussions followed during which Rizal presented his proposals and answered Despujol's questions.

In their last discussion on July 6, 1892, Despujol informed Rizal that he was under arrest for sedition and he was then incarcerated in Fort Santiago. On July 14, Despujol deported Rizal to Dapitan in far-off Zamboanga in the southern island of Mindanao.

Rizal was to spend four years of exile in Dapitan. While in Dapitan, Rizal continued to buy the equivalent of lotto tickets, tickets to the national lottery in Spain. He had been hooked to buying Lotto tickets while a student in Spain and the habit continued even while in exile in Dapitan. Surprisingly, it was while in Dapitan that Rizal won lotto money, which he used to buy land in Dapitan.

Rizal could have stayed in Hong Kong and enjoyed a thriving medical practice but his love and affection for the people of his hometown was such that he was willing to sacrifice his life and liberty for them by returning to Manila in 1892 at great personal risk.

Before he left Hong Kong in 1892, he wrote a letter addressed to his parents and siblings. He placed the letter in a sealed envelope which he directed to be opened only upon his death.

"The love which I have always borne for you is what impels me to take this step, which whether or not it is wise, only the future can tell. The success of an act is judged according to its consequences. Whether this step ends up favorably or unfavorably, it shall be said that it was dictated by my sense of duty, and if I perish in fulfilling it, it does not matter…If my fate is adverse, then let it be known by all that I shall die happy in the thought that with my death, I have gained for them the end of all sorrows. Go back to our country and may you be happy in her bosom. Up to the last minute of his life, I shall think of you and shall wish you all happiness."

This was the thought in Rizal's mind in the early morning of Dec. 30, 1896 when he was executed by a Spanish firing squad in Bagumbayan Field in Luneta. His execution sparked the formation of the Philippine nation.

http://www.inq7.net/globalnation/col_gln/2005/jan10.htm

[WANCH]

I was reading the first parts of this thread. Anyway, gusto kong discuss yung sa akin naman.

I was born in HK and grew up all of my life there. But my dad is from The Philippines and I have Filipino in me. But since I grew up there I have adopted the culture and lifestyle of the city. On the other side I get to appreciate yung kultura ng Pinoy dahil marami akong katropa ang mga dating schoolmates na pinoy.

Honestly I consider myself to be more HKer than Pinoy or Malay but at least I'm happy and grateful to have Filipino in me. I'm also happy to be Malay as well because of my mom.

BTW, true that there are alot of Filipinos working in Hong Kong mostly as amahs but the city has a sizable no. of Filipino white collars :)

[Askal82]

So actually you know 4 languages? You're not just an HKer, you are a citizen of Asia already. hehehe.

[WANCH]

So actually you know 4 languages? You're not just an HKer, you are a citizen of Asia already. hehehe.

Unfortunately, I don't know two! English and some Tagalog. But right now, I'm taking a course on Cantonese :)

[Askal82]

Wow. Cantonese is the Chinese dialect spoken in HK right? Is Mandarin also required too?

[Lili]

Unfortunately, I don't know two! English and some Tagalog. But right now, I'm taking a course on Cantonese :)

Wanch, not just some Tagalog. You are very fluent in Tagalog.

[Askal82]

Lili!! my 'hoodmate. hehehe. :wave:

[WANCH]

Wow. Cantonese is the Chinese dialect spoken in HK right? Is Mandarin also required too?

Cantonese is the main dialect in HK but the SAR government is emphasizing Mandarin in schools.

BTW, this is a plaque in HK commemorating Jose Rizal. It's in Central near Lan Kwai Fong

http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Monument/graphics/trails/C_folder/C25.jpg

[Askal82]

^^ Oh wow. Yeah, because Dr. Rizal stayed in HK back in the late 1800's when the Spanish authorities in the Philippines are hunting for him. Dr. Rizal's monument can also be found in the Fujian Province in China and in Madrid, Spain. :)

Oh you know what else that Manila can be found in different places around the world? There is Manila, Utah and Manila, Arkansas both are in the US. Manila is also the name of a town in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

[marites4]

How did you learn tagalog wanch?

[WANCH]

How did you learn tagalog wanch?

1) My dad partly taught me.

2) I have alot of Filipino friends both in school and in my neighborhood. Most HK Filipinos are very fluent in tagalog.

3) From the Filipinos in Worldwide House :D

[bustero]

wow such interesting stories from Wanch and about Rizal. I never knew how intertwined with Hong Kong both of our countrymen are ! :)

[WANCH]

The thing is, Hong Kong is one of the closest ally The Philippine can have in Asia! And Filipinos are well respected here just like in other places. But Filipinos and other minority groups in HK are also facing social problems like discrimination.

Here's one from The Lily Wong cartoon archives by Larry Feign

No Dogs, Rats, Roaches or Filipinas

NOTE: The cartoons on this page caused a diplomatic row between The Philippines and Malaysia. A Philippine diplomat in Kuala Lumpur noticed the second cartoon in Malaysia's New Straits Times (where "Lily Wong" appeared daily for many years) and faxed it to officials in Manila. The sign in the second panel was cited ("No dogs, rats, roaches or Filipinas in the lift"), and the cartoon branded as racist and hostile toward Filipinas.
****Newspapers and television stations in the Philippines picked up on the story and widely reprinted the second panel, accompanied by hysterical editorials describing it as proof of "Malaysian racist hostility toward the people of the Philippines."
****It blew up into a nationwide controversy. Finally, the Philippine government sent an official protest to the Malaysian government, demanding that the New Straits Times be censured and its cartoonist punished. The Malaysians and the newspaper declined to respond.
****A leading Filipina columnist based in Hong Kong sent a scathing article to several Philippine newspapers, pointing out that the cartoon had nothing to do with Malaysia, the cartoonist lived in Hong Kong, and anyway, had they bothered to read the entire cartoon series that week, they would have noted that the message was strongly pro-Filipino and anti-racist. Clearly embarrassed, no newspaper printed the article. However, the controversy swiftly died.
****Strange, but absolutely true.

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/980928.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/980929.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/980930.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981001.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981002.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981003.gif

[WANCH]

A recent campaign in HK

http://www.eoc.org.hk/CC/temp/event/racialdisc2.jpg

[marites4]

i think they had the same sign in Singapore. Also in Israel they had a dictionary that had the filipina word and it was described as maid.

[Askal82]

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981002.gif

Now, this is not right!!

[Lili]

Is Larry Feign a satirist and those cartoons exaggerations or are those signs and attitudes towards Filipinos for real?

The word 'Filipineska' was included in a Greek dictionary to mean as 'maids'. It caused quite an uproar among Filipinos.

[Lili]

Lili!! my 'hoodmate. hehehe. :wave:

I didn't see this earlier. Hi Ludwig!

[WANCH]

Is Larry Feign a satirist and those cartoons exaggerations or are those signs and attitudes towards Filipinos for real?

The word 'Filipineska' was included in a Greek dictionary to mean as 'maids'. It caused quite an uproar among Filipinos.

Larry Feign's cartoons especially the Lily Wong strips are very political. And those about Filipinos are for real.

This strip is based on an incident that happened in HK back in the mid-90s when The Tregunter (a luxury development in Mid-Levels) fobade Filipina (or any nationality) amahs to use the main lift and instead use the service lift. The incident caused tensions between the well respected Philippine Association of HK and the management of Tregunter. The incident ended with they took off the sign.

[sugarboy]

@Wanch, how did your project with BBDO go? is it completed?

[WANCH]

@Wanch, how did your project with BBDO go? is it completed?

The BBDO project turned out good especially the illustrations. I'll be going back to Manila next month to do a project with DM9 :)

[sugarboy]

The BBDO project turned out good especially the illustrations. I'll be going back to Manila next month to do a project with DM9 :)

let me know when you're around. maybe we can have coffee and talk shop.

[WANCH]

let me know when you're around. maybe we can have coffee and talk shop.

No problem,

BTW, why is it that alot of Filipinos prefer to work in the Middle East especially Dubai? I think they're much better off in HK which is very close to The Philippines :)

[bustero]

^^ dude I don't think Hong Kong can accomodate over a million more ofw's! :)

[OtAkAw]

The thing is, Hong Kong is one of the closest ally The Philippine can have in Asia! And Filipinos are well respected here just like in other places. But Filipinos and other minority groups in HK are also facing social problems like discrimination.

Here's one from The Lily Wong cartoon archives by Larry Feign

No Dogs, Rats, Roaches or Filipinas

NOTE: The cartoons on this page caused a diplomatic row between The Philippines and Malaysia. A Philippine diplomat in Kuala Lumpur noticed the second cartoon in Malaysia's New Straits Times (where "Lily Wong" appeared daily for many years) and faxed it to officials in Manila. The sign in the second panel was cited ("No dogs, rats, roaches or Filipinas in the lift"), and the cartoon branded as racist and hostile toward Filipinas.
****Newspapers and television stations in the Philippines picked up on the story and widely reprinted the second panel, accompanied by hysterical editorials describing it as proof of "Malaysian racist hostility toward the people of the Philippines."
****It blew up into a nationwide controversy. Finally, the Philippine government sent an official protest to the Malaysian government, demanding that the New Straits Times be censured and its cartoonist punished. The Malaysians and the newspaper declined to respond.
****A leading Filipina columnist based in Hong Kong sent a scathing article to several Philippine newspapers, pointing out that the cartoon had nothing to do with Malaysia, the cartoonist lived in Hong Kong, and anyway, had they bothered to read the entire cartoon series that week, they would have noted that the message was strongly pro-Filipino and anti-racist. Clearly embarrassed, no newspaper printed the article. However, the controversy swiftly died.
****Strange, but absolutely true.

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/980928.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/980929.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/980930.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981001.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981002.gif

http://humorist.net/lilywong/archive/strips/981003.gif
P***** ina tong mga to! MAMATAY NA ANG MGA GUMAWA DYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

[marites4]

Otakaw i understand where you're coming from. WE have to maintain being levelheaded,cool and unemotional. But if a filipino would say this doesn't sting their national pride then they're not a real filipino.

[ramvingar]

I dunno. But if you read the cartoon carefully, it's actually saying that it is wrong to have those signs. The protagonist is obviously outraged by the whole matter. It is probably a social commentary on what is happening in Malaysia/HK and the cartoonist wanted to opine that it was wrong. It actually really is an anti-racism cartoon.

[tigidig14]

ei theyre not racist against filipino here
actually, they look at us here in a higher hierachy

[WANCH]

The cartoon strip was actually against racism but Larry Feign (the cartoonist and creator of Lily Wong is known for controversial comics especially during 1997).

But this incident actually happened and it angered the Philippine community in HK!

[Askal82]

Actually, all of the strips there have anti-racist messages. The 2nd strip from the last still bothers me though.

[marites4]

not really about the comic strip but the actual real life incident being portrayed in the strip.

[ramvingar]

Actually, all of the strips there have anti-racist messages. The 2nd strip from the last still bothers me though.

Yeah, I know what you mean. But you can also look at it in another light. It is actually an affront against Hongkong. Saying how HK is becoming very materialistic and has the capacity to change people there, not necessarily for the better. It could be the author's way of conveying a message that living in HK can take away a person's values and the author is cautioning against that.

I dunno :dunno: but I guess the only person who knows the real meaning is the cartoonist. Hehe! But yeah, I see how it can bother people.

[renell]

I actually find that cartoon quite funny especially the movie rights part. I think it tackles the issue of racism in a light-hearted way, while being still quite true to the facts.

[OtAkAw]

Ha! I dont care if the comic strips have anti-racism flavours! No one gives that idiotic Larry Feign the right to do comic strips like that! Damn, who died and made him the president of the universe!? And who the hell are the Malaysians to do that to us Pinoys anyway, not censoring their moronic papers, they aren't in any inch higher than us, in doing so, are they implying that theyre superior? they shouldnt feel superior over us.! because frankly they are not...

[kiretoce]

Ban on skilled workers’ export sought

Fearing a repeat of the “brain drain” in the ’70s, a lawmaker has sought a ban or moratorium on the deployment of highly skilled workers abroad.

The proposed ban covers pilots, sailors and those in the information technology industry, according to Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Roseller Barinaga of Zamboanga del Norte.

Barinaga expressed alarm over the exodus of Filipino professionals to the detriment of the country’s own economy.

He said the unabated flight of skilled workers is practically an act of “piracy” by other countries which find it more expensive to train their own people.

Barinaga, chairman of the House committee on labor, cited the “unchecked migration of mission-critical” workers in the airline industry. This workers include pilots, aircraft mechanics, computer engineers and professionals in shipping, chemical, metallurgical and telecommunications industries.

“Workers with mission-critical skills are necessary to maintain and protect strategic local industries. If left unchecked, their migration, through valid deployment or poaching by other countries, will have serious national security implications and economic repercussions as they affect air transportation, tourism, commerce, construction and other economic sectors.”

Barinaga, a lawyer, invoked Sections 5 and 31 of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995 which, he said, empower the state to suspend or ban the deployment of migrant workers “in pursuit of national interest or when the public welfare so requires.”

He also urged Congress to direct the labor and employment, trade and industry and foreign affairs departments and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to consult these industries in drawing up appropriate measures to “regulate, control and arrest the brewing mission-critical state of personnel in the domestic aviation and other strategic industries.”

“If possible they should act to suspend or impose a moratorium on the overseas deployment of such skills and talents,” according to Barinaga.

The lawmaker said it takes years, albeit less costly, to train pilots, mechanics and engineers in the Philippines.

Foreign countries with acute shortages of such highly skilled workers find it “convenient and more economical to engage in piracy rather than train their own.”

Despite the continuing exodus of such workers to foreign countries where the salaries and benefits are much higher than what they receive in the Philippines, Barinaga said, government officials are not doing anything to stop the migration.

[Animo]

‘Millions of Filipino contract workers all over the world today are part of a long tradition of Filipino adventurousness and migration.’

http://www.malaya.com.ph/imges/nakpil.jpg
Carmen Nakpil- Writer and historian. Member of the illustrious Guerrero clan of Ermita, and reputed for her independent and unconventional views, her writing is marked by an urbane style, sharp wit and cool irony.

HISTORY is a bug more hazardous than malaria or diabetes, which you catch when nobody’s looking and remains with you all your life. Different people catch it in different ways.

Dr. Domingo Abella, a medical doctor who became an eminent historian and archivist, said it happened during a long trip to Spain. Blas Ople told me that, for him, it started as he gazed at his grandfather in his coffin, clad in his old Katipunero uniform. In my case, the version of Philippine history taught by a Spanish teacher at St. Theresa’s was in such serious conflict with what my Guerrero grandfather told me, that I turned into a trouble-making amateur historian overnight.

The subject of this column, Floro L. Mercene, succumbed to the contagion of history slowly, as a journalist in Manila, a Tourism Bureau officer, a self-exile after EDSA 86, when he published a newspaper for Filipinos in California. Driving around aimlessly north of Acapulco, he came across a billboard, "Parque Reyna Maganda." He stopped to ask questions and was hooked for life.

He went on to uncover a senior surnamed Maganda, a firm named Guagua in southern Mexico, pockets of users and growers of manga, ylang-ylang and tuba, villages peopled by descendants of Filipino crews in Spanish galleons and American trading vessels in Mexico and the US.

The biggest Filipino colony found in America in modern times was in New Orleans. One hundred sailors from Negros and Cebu jumped ship from a French schooner in 1763, and settled on the banks of the Mississippi, 100 miles from the city. They survived by catching and drying shrimps for sale and export. Today, this Filipino colony has 6,000 members, descendants of the crew of a Spanish galleon, who deserted when it stopped over in the Caribbean coast of Mexico, boarded a French schooner and deserted again.

These waves of Filipino migrants started in 16th century, and were called "indios" or "chinos", but most frequently, "Manilamen." Their story is very much like that of today’s OFW’s. They too were fleeing oppression in their land, were forced to sail on Spanish galleons from Manila, as part of the Spanish system of forced labor, called "polo," but, driven by the brutal hardships during the crossing (starvation, pirate attacks, hurricanes and disease) abandoned ship as soon as they hit land and made their own way in the world. The only crucial difference is that they were unable to send money or letters home.

After the Spanish opened Manila to world trade in 1790, many American whaling and fur-trading ships began to call at Manila. They too recruited indios Filipinos to serve as deckhands, cooks, cabin boys and servants. Between 1750 and 1850, many Filipino crew members ended up in Alaska, the eastern seaboard of the US., also London, Barcelona, New York, Singapore and San Francisco. Filipinos also fought in the American Civil War, bearing their distinctive Spanish-Filipino names and enlisted in the US Navy, merchant marine and cavalry, They were believed to have come from the whaling ships based in Boston and other New England states.

There was even a "Filipino Invasion of California" before it became a state of the American Union. But read all about it in Mercene’s book, "Manila Men in the World," published by the UP Press. Like all good history books, it is full of revelations and historical facts hitherto untold. It shows that the millions of Filipino contract workers all over the world today are part of a long tradition of Filipino adventurousness and migration.

History is indeed full of surprises, wisdom and power. When Rep. Ronnie Zamora was asked on TV what he had to offer vacillating congressmen, that could outweigh the cash, pork and appointments promised them, by Mrs. Arroyo if they foiled her impeachment, he answered tersely, "History." Their names writ in gold in the history of the Philippines.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/sep01/ednakpil.htm

[Lastresorter]

Ha! I dont care if the comic strips have anti-racism flavours! No one gives that idiotic Larry Feign the right to do comic strips like that! Damn, who died and made him the president of the universe!? And who the hell are the Malaysians to do that to us Pinoys anyway, not censoring their moronic papers, they aren't in any inch higher than us, in doing so, are they implying that theyre superior? they shouldnt feel superior over us.! because frankly they are not...

Hmm... why should Malaysians be dragged in this... again? You made too many assumptions, friend :)

[Askal82]

^^ Start from the beggining of the thread about the comic strip posted by Wanch.

[bustero]

A follow up article to the crazy ideas in an article Kimber posted. This is really crazy thinking in my opinion.



Boo Chanco
Philippine Star 03/03
Health workers
Dr. Ernie E emailed me a copy of a Reuters article published in the US about how the unabated migration of health workers to better paying jobs abroad would result in a the collapse of our health care system in a couple of years. According to the Reuters story, "over 100,000 nurses – including former doctors – have left the Philippines in the last decade and are now working overseas, studies show."

As a portent of the nightmare we face, the article points out "of the roughly 1,600 private hospitals in the country, only 700 are now operational due to the shortage of nurses and doctors." Some 80 percent of doctors have reportedly taken up nursing, to facilitate their migration abroad. It is tougher to get a job as a doctor in many developed countries but the large shortage in nurses, as much as 150,000 vacancies last year in the United States, makes the nursing option very attractive.

Reuters quotes former Health Secretary Jaime Galvez Tan who said the nurses who remain in the Philippines are overwhelmed by the number of patients they must take care of. At some hospitals on the southern island of Mindanao, there is one nurse for 55 patients, said Tan, now a professor at the University of the Philippines. The ideal ratio is one nurse to four patients, he said.

Personal economics makes the decision to migrate a "no brainer" for most health workers. The basic monthly salary for nurses working in public hospitals in the Philippines is around P9,900 ($190) and P7,000 for those in private institutions. In the United States or Britain, they would earn between P100,000 to P120,000. The entry level salary for doctors at public hospitals in the Philippines is about P12,500, while doctors at private clinics earn about P17,000 a month.

What is the response of Ate Glue’s administration? According to the Reuters article, Health Secretary Francisco Duque says the government plans to draw up a law to stop doctors leaving. "We’re focusing on keeping doctors here and legislation is the only way to do that. We want to plug the hole," he said.

That response is typical of a Cabinet member who thinks like a third world despot. That’s not surprising in his case. The Health Secretary is essentially a political appointee, who got his position as a reward for helping Ate Glue in the last election. He was previously head of the health insurance system and was responsible for the health cards which promised poor voters some level of health care in poorly funded government hospitals.

Of course government does not have the right to impose a travel ban on our doctors or any professional for that matter… that has to be unconstitutional. At the most, they can probably require those who benefited from government scholarships, like those who studied at the University of the Philippines, to serve for a number of years before leaving. Other doctors invested their own resources on their education and should have the liberty of seeking a proper return on investment abroad, if that is not possible here.

Basic economic laws come into play. If government wants to keep its doctors working at government hospitals, the pay structure would have to reflect that urgent need. Budgetary priorities must be changed to keep the doctors at home, even if it means laying off other workers in the bureaucracy whose services are not as vital.

The right to proper health care is basic. It is government’s responsibility to assure that every citizen has access to adequate health care or suffer the consequences of low economic productivity and a highly volatile socio-political environment.

[OtAkAw]

Hmm... why should Malaysians be dragged in this... again? You made too many assumptions, friend :)

You idiot, the comic strips were published in Malaysia (New Straits Times), you should read comprehensively next time, you're the one who's making all the wrong assumptions. You are a Malaysian and you should be shameful for your fellowmen's acts of not censoring or banning the paper that published it. Why didnt they censor the paper, perhaps it would "feel great" if you mocked a country who is economically less superior isn't it? That's it, isn't it???? And it was nice of you to drop by, Perhaps you "sniffed" that there was something going on.

[Animo]

SINCE 2002, based on yearly flows, the Philippines have surpassed Mexico as the largest source of migrant labor in the world.

Filipino Ties, a publication of the Commission on Filipinos overseas cited four major waves of Filipino migration since 1565. The first wave was in 1565-1906; the second wave was in 1906-1934; the third wave was in 1945-1965; and the fourth wave was in 1965 onwards.

These four major waves of migration explain why the magnitude of our overseas Filipino population has been a major factor in making the Philippines as among the top receiving countries of migrant remittances.

June 1565 marked the arrival of the first Filipino seafarers in Acapulco, Mexico at the start of the 250-year Manila Galleon Trade. From Mexico, they moved to Louisiana in the present USA and established settlements along its bayous and marshes.

In 1781, one of the 46 founders of the City of Los Angeles in California was a certain Antonio Miranda, described as a native of Manila. In 1850, Filipinos became crewmembers of whaling ships wintering in Alaska's arctic coast and lived among Inupiat Eskimos.

In 1870, Sociedad de Beneficencia de los Hispano Filipinas de Nueva Orleans, the first Filipino social club in the United States, was founded. In 1883, a sawmill worker in Port Blakely who was listed only as 'Manila' was the first known Filipino in the territory of Washington. During this period, Filipinos were also in Europe particularly in Spain as students, professionals, or exiles.

December 1906 marked the arrival of the first sakadas in the plantations of Hawaii. Most of the sakadas were Ilokanos and Visayans, males, 16-22 years old, and with less than eighth grade education. In 1924, Filipino labourers moved to other parts of the U.S. to work in downtown hotels and restaurants, sawmills and railroad construction in California's agricultural plantations, and in Alaska's salmon canning industry.

May 1934 marked the signing of Tydings McDuffie Law which elevated the Philippines from a territory to a commonwealth, declared all Philippine-born Filipinos in the U.S. as aliens, and restricted Philippine immigration quota to 50 per year.

In 1945, a new breed of Filipino immigrants came to the U.S. They were military servicemen, students, and professionals in post-graduate studies, and other professionals engaged in white collar-jobs. In 1965, there was an amendment of the Immigration Nationality Act which increased the quota of immigrant entries from the Philippines. Filipinos were hired as construction workers in Guam, Okinawa, and Vietnam.

In 1970s, overseas Filipinos increased significantly with the labour demands of oil-exporting Middle Eastern countries and labor-absorbing economies in Asia. Filipino women took care of children and performed domestic work in booming economies in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia).

In 1980s, an increasing number of Filipino women went abroad as spouses or partners of foreign nationals. The 1990s saw an influx of medical practitioners (doctors, nurses, and physical therapists) to European and American countries.

In 1998, the Philippines was ranked sixth by the United Nations in terms of countries with highest level of migration.

Last Wednesday, August 24, Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) in Dumaguete City hosted a 'Symposium in Migration and Intermarriage Issues' with resource persons from the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines.

The figures in this column were taken from "Filipinos: Forgotten Asian Americans", by Fred Cordova, 2000 Report of the UN Population Division.

Link: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dum/2005/08/30/oped/joy.g..perez.sensitivity.html

[kiretoce]

ITALY GRANTS 170,000 PERMITS TO FOREIGN WORKERS
By Pia Lee-Brago

MANILA, March 16, 2006 (STAR) - Italy has opened up job opportunities for some 3,000 migrant Filipinos after it granted 170,000 permits for foreign workers under a government decree passed last month.

The Philippine Embassy in Rome reported the Italian government has reserved 3,000 working-immigrant slots for Filipinos under Decree on Immigration Quota for Non-European Union (EU) citizens.

The embassy told the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that Italy had passed a decree authorizing non-EU residents, including Filipinos, to work in the country this year.

Philippine Ambassador to Italy Philippe Lhuillier said that out of the total number of working immigrants allowed into Italy, 3,000 slots have been reserved for Filipino workers.

Out of this number, 1,000 slots have been allocated for applicants such as managers, skilled and even unskilled workers.

Lhuillier explained the quota was made available only to countries with specific bilateral agreements with Italy.

The Philippines and Italy signed the Readmission Agreement in February 2004 with the commitment of the Italian government to extend a special quota for Filipino workers yearly.

Lhuillier added application forms for direct hiring were made available at selected Italian post offices since Feb. 18.

He explained that employers will have to fill out application forms to hire prospective Filipino workers in Italy.

For the meantime, the DFA Office of Migrant Workers’ Affairs Office (DFA-OUMWA) led by Executive Director Pedro Chan is assisting Filipino workers applying for work permits in Italy.

Chan said it is a routine for the Embassy to assist the Filipino migrant workers and make representations with Italian immigration authorities.

Many of those applying at post offices throughout the country were people already living and working in Italy illegally.

Chan said the Italian government has granted amnesty to illegal workers and most of the beneficiaries were Filipinos.

"(This is because) Filipino labor is highly regarded in Italy," Chan said.

Hundreds of thousands of foreigners, along with their employers, stood in long lines since Tuesday in Rome at post offices in hopes of snagging one of 170,000 authorized permits for foreign workers.

Italy’s Civil Protection agency said it had sent volunteers to post offices to help those who were waiting in line — some had spent the night there — distributing hot drinks and blankets.

"My husband slept all night on the street, I arrived at eight this (Tuesday) morning," said Marife Mendoza, a 34-year-old Filipino housecleaner who was seeking a permit for her sister-in-law, who is in the Philippines.

Employers also queued, either to apply for permits for their current employees or to seek permits for foreigners they wanted to employ.

More than 6,000 windows at post offices throughout the country started taking applications in the early afternoon, and each one was stamped with the exact time before being mailed to the Interior Ministry, and from there to local labor offices. Answers to the applications were expected within 20 days.

[Animo]

RESEDA, CA, IT is said here you would know one is a Filipino if you walk into an Asian convenience store, and you see her or him looking closely at frozen vegetables in search of malunggay. Or gazing longingly at a shelf full of bottled processed products that include bagoong, home-made sardines in oil, or at a pile of plastic-packed dried fish and assortment of eatables from peanut candies to hard-as-rock galleta cookies.

Recently, housewife Elizabeth Montejo who works as care giver, said that she had gone into a superstore and was suddenly “assailed” by a very distinctive aroma of ripe mangoes as she had never experienced it here before. It then occurred to her the smell could only come from Philippine mangoes. She followed the smell, and lo and behold, there were the mangoes in all their pristine “yellowness” only our mangoes could give.

“It suddenly occurred to me that the first imported Philippine mangoes allowed into the United States from Guimaras Is. in Western Visayas must have arrived, and the urge to buy and taste one overwhelmed me. But when I checked the price tag on one, I was taken aback. The tag says $2.99 each. Even with my deepest yearning, I could never bring myself to pay that much for a mango. Only very rich Hollywood stars might buy that.”

Her husband, Vicente, said the Manila mangoes that come in from Mexico are sold at very much lower prices, at $5.75 to less than $8 a box with 16 ripe ones. It is this one Filipinos who yearn for the taste of mangoes are buying, even if the mangoes taste like “imitation” ones, sweet but lacking the delicious juiciness and sweet sour flavor that only Philippines mangoes, especially the Cebu variety could give.

In a sense, I believe, after talking to other Pinoys since I got here last Saturday, that they would really have welcomed the entry of “genuine” Philippine mangoes into the US, and patronize it, but the price is quite prohibitive to those with only average incomes. It seems that the initial Philippine mangoes brought to Southern California were made on a trial run. But they were priced here at $49 a box probably of a dozen and a half per box. Computed in peso terms, the price is really prohibitive.

At the way it is priced, it would cost even more if the mangoes are shipped farther to the East Coast, and compete with other mangoes and fruits from other countries in South America and Canada. It is easy to buy a pound of seedless grapes at $1.10, compared to say, $3.10 even of quality Philippine mangoes. I think that whoever has successfully shipped the first batch of Philippine mangoes is trying to cash in on its limited supply.

But what the exporter may not have realized is that people here are also aware of the value of their cash, especially now that the US economy is not quite as rosy as it used to be in the late ‘90s. The average American consumer appears now to be more careful about the way they spend their hard-earned dollars. More so the Filipinos, some of whom are holding two jobs at a time, on top of a part time one on weekends. I’ve met a few of them who said they’re doing it because of “payables” back home.

Although it has been observed by some that Filipinos, like the other migrants, can also be wasteful with the rather cheap food here, still many of them give so much value to their hard-earned dollar. I observed that many hosts of weekend parties tend to over-prepare. Probably because it is difficult to estimate how many guests would turn up, especially since most of them live some distance from each other.
Because they have their own cars, and good roads, it is no problem for them to travel 100 miles to attend a party.

And so, it always happens that those who come, also have to take home part of the surplus food prepared. When they arrive home, they find that they have more than enough food. And so, it becomes a choice of which to consume first and which to leave for the next day. In the end, some of the food will just have to be thrown into the trash can, unless one has a pet dog or cat.

The bottom line, however, is that no matter how deeply our compatriots here miss certain things back home, it is just simply difficult to make them buy unreasonably priced commodities, even if these are luscious high quality Philippine mangoes.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2002/07/09/oped/godofredo.m..roperos.html

[jef7]

Those cartoons are quite interesting.

I guess I can see how one can misconstrue the real message of the cartoons, which is unfortunate, because I think these illustrations are satirical commentaries. He's presenting difficult and discomforting issues to the surface, regarding unequal treatment/attitude towards Filipina workers in general. This issue is sensitive, but it's real, and it's 'there' especially within the context of the time when these cartoons were published. By infusing humor with it, people are encouraged to think, to become aware.

Of course Hong Kong has seen a tremendous change over the years, and Hong Kong has become a very cosmopolitan and tolerant city.

In any case here's a short link about Larry Feign, which provides some hints on his intentions behind his cartoons:

http://lambiek.net/artists/f/feign_larry.htm

Contrary to his mother's plans, Larry Feign dreamed of a cartooning career. In 1985, his career took a giant step forward when he settled in Hong Kong. His first work was titled 'Learn Cantonese the Hard Way'. In November 1986, Feign created 'The World of Lily Wong', which ran six times a week in the South China Morning Post. The strip graduately took on political nuances, becoming one of the government's few critics in the press. At the peak of its popularity, 'The World of Lily Wong' was dropped by the Post in 1995. The cartoon was brought back to life when the Hong Kong iMail began publication in 2000, but was brought to a halt again soon after that. After 21 years as a professional cartoonist, Larry Feign retired.

[kiretoce]

GIVE US YOUR SKILLED

Australia's government is also committed to a major expansion in immigration, and this in a country where a quarter of all people were born overseas.

In the 2004/05 fiscal year, net migration added 110,000 to the population, a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

Betraying a statistician's love for numbers, the government notes this equates to a net gain of one international migrant every 4 minutes and 47 seconds leading to a total population increase of one person every 2 minutes and 12 seconds.

Policy makers are targeting permanent immigration of 140,000 in the current fiscal year, the highest in over 40 years, and industry groups are lobbying hard for a rise to 180,000.

A government Web site shows some 120,000 job vacancies in an economy that is experiencing its 15th uninterrupted year of growth.

But Australia faces growing international competition for skilled labor, with officials from Britain, Canada, India, China, New Zealand and Iceland among those searching the world for workers. Some have started to offer perks like housing and education subsidies to attract foreign talent.

The Australian government has responded by easing migration rules. In March, it added 16 occupations to the list of those it considers "skilled", making a total of 81 that receive preferential consideration for migration to Australia.

The new additions included boat builder, floor finisher, lift mechanic and stonemason.

Immigration laws have also been relaxed to allow foreign students at Australian universities to settle if they can organize a job after graduating. And to further widen the country's appeal, skilled migrants will soon be able to sponsor same sex partners to come to Australia.

Australian companies have also run road shows across the globe looking for talent. This year the Australian Industry Group will hold expos in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Detroit, Houston, Sao Paulo, Lima, Dubai, Dublin, London and Manchester.

The labor shortfall is greatest in the mining, construction and engineering industries. A diesel-engine fitter, for instance, can easily bring in $150,000-plus -- three times the average wage -- if prepared to fly in and out of jobs at remote mines.

"Obviously, it adds to the supply of labor and that's what many industries are crying out for," said TD's Koukoulas.

"But ultimately, such population growth will also stretch resources. It's, maybe, not the one-way bet policy makers would like it to be," he added.

[driftwood]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in the Not So Good News thread, but in the end, I thought it was more appropriate to put it here.

http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=594

"WE should awaken memory"

Singer and songwriter Jim Paredes joined June Keithley in Radyo Bandido, which broadcast news of the Edsa revolt to Filipinos. Soon after, he composed “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo,” which became the Edsa anthem. After the 1989 coup attempt that nearly toppled the Aquino government, Paredes went to the U.S. embassy to surrender his green card, a symbolic act that affirmed his faith in country and democracy. This year, on the 20th anniversary of People Power, Paredes is migrating to Australia with his family to “take a vacation from being a Filipino.” His disaffection reflects that of many among those who took part in Edsa.

[Dinho]

My siblings and I are planning to put-up multiple businesses in the Philippines. Each of us has a different specialization, in engineering and it communication, food, rtw, and soon arts and crafts. My brother has opened a start-up business and he’s up for expansion later this year. Working abroad helps me earn the capital to get things going because I am the so called “investor” and we don’t want to borrow money.

I don’t like the Pinoys living abroad who bad-mouth the Philippines. I tend to argue with them and ignore them in the end. At the same time I feel sorry for them because obviously life in Pinas was hard during their time and most of them had to come as tnt. I don’t associate with those people particularly the ones who act “pasosyal” and speak with a trying hard conyo accent, eeww. I notice that they are the ones clamoring for a blue passport. I don’t think I will give up my green passport ever. It’s my identity. I don’t care if I have to apply for visas to go for vacation. I’ve never been denied and the visa officer likes me during interviews:P

So, you end up working on a tourist visa in the States? That's just like going staying on as a TNT!

[Dinho]

In the United States it's so hilarious how some Filipinos who were born and reared in the Philippines pretend they are Hawaiians, I know of someone who pretended to be Hawaiian in the salon I frequent for haircuts but I quickly shut her down and started conversing with her in Tagalog. I have no patience for such antics and I don't care for people who are maarte and "trying hard".

Regarding overseas Filipinos, remittances last year amounted close to 17 billion US dollars which was coursed thru banks, remittance centers, relatives and other means. Remittances coursed thru banks almost reached 9 billion US dollars. This definitely buoyed the Philippine economy.

That attitude is just plain rude. I encounter many Filipinos like that here in the Middle East... I always start a conversation in English... but with my native Ilonggo accent and when a Filipino responds in Tagalog, I respond in English and asks him/her if he/she could understand Ilonggo/Hiligaynon. If he does, I start speaking my dialect with him. The thing is, a lot of Filipinos think that other Filipinos are being arrogant by speaking in English to a fellow Filipino. To me it is not about pretending to be something else, though I get mistaken to be Chinese or a Westerner at times, rather, it's just that I cannot speak Tagalog. Sorry but English is still an Official language of the Philippine Islands and I'm sticking with English.

[amras]

well for me I hate Filipinos who claim they dont speak Filipino.

[Dinho]

well for me I hate Filipinos who claim they dont speak Filipino.

I may not speak Filipino/Tagalog... But I can speak Hiligaynon - which is one of the many languages and dialects of the Philippine Islands! Why should I speak Filipino - which really is just Tagalog - a dialect forcibly imposed on the rest of the non Tagalog regions to the detriment of the English proficiency of the Filipino people? I do not agree with the statement that we are the 3rd largest English speaking country in the world when a lot of Filipinos here in the ME and in the non Western countries cannot carry an conversation beyond 2 sentences. Sometimes some of them even dare to imitate an American accent just to hide their deficiency.

[ramvingar]

^^ So what happens when you meet a Filipino who can only speak Tagalog/Filipino? You just ignore him? :dunno:

[xDieselJockx]

I think the problem there Dinho is that, it's not that you don't speak nor understand tagalog, I think it is more of a fear that you would be ridiculed by the tagalogs with how you pronounce or say certain words. I fully understand your sentiments there, I'm sure it's getting too old for you but then again, even if you speak english, they will still detect your accent. Still, somehow there is no excuse for your action. You can't always make them stoop down on your level, that would be very insensitive of you. It should be a give and take treatment towards one another.

I do think that the very reason why some other filipinos would refuse to talk to you in english is that they knew very well that you are also a filipino. And just like you, they are just too sensitive on certain issues, one of it may possibly be about being branded as "pretenteous" which is a stigma connected to alot of other filipinos who forgets the real color of their "skin" whenever they are in another country and that you are feeling superior over them. Some of the concens you may have might just be in your "state of mind" because you want to convince yourself that you are a good and a native english speaker just to boost your ego in a wrong, shallow and nonsensical way.

[Dinho]

I think the problem there Dinho is that, it's not that you don't speak nor understand tagalog, I think it is more of a fear that you would be ridiculed by the tagalogs with how you pronounce or say certain words. I fully understand your sentiments there, I'm sure it's getting too old for you but then again, even if you speak english, they will still detect your accent. Still, somehow there is no excuse for your action. You can't always make them stoop down on your level, that would be very insensitive of you. It should be a give and take treatment towards one another.

I do think that the very reason why some other filipinos would refuse to talk to you in english is that they knew very well that you are also a filipino. And just like you, they are just too sensitive on certain issues, one of it may possibly be about being branded as "pretenteous" which is a stigma connected to alot of other filipinos who forgets the real color of their "skin" whenever they are in another country and that you are feeling superior over them. Some of the concens you may have might just be in your "state of mind" because you want to convince yourself that you are a good and a native english speaker just to boost your ego in a wrong, shallow and nonsensical way.

You got it wrong there. I never pretend to be something else other than a Filipino. I speak English with a very Hiligaynon accent. And them stoop down to my level... you have twisted that around man! They can hardly speak English and they stoop down to my level? What do I do when they insist on Tagalog, I try to adjust to them by responding in Ilonggo so that they won't feel insecure. If it doesn't work, well, I just bid them goodbye.

[Dinho]

^^ So what happens when you meet a Filipino who can only speak Tagalog/Filipino? You just ignore him? :dunno:

Question is, how can they survive in a foreign country if they don't even know how to speak English? I am sure they can understand and speak English. They are just insecure because they are afraid that the other Filipino will laugh at them... which is something I never do.

[ramvingar]

^^ Oh Of course, I was not only referring to incidents when you are abroad but also when you are in the Philippines like Manila or Davao? Ok, I will be more specific. What fi you meet someone from Ilocos who only knows how to speak Ilocano and Filipino? How's that? I'm just curious coz I have never encountered a Filipino who cannot speak or understand even just conversational Tagalog.

[xDieselJockx]

okay, just a question to break away from that other head on collision we are heading into..LOL How does an hilagaynon sounds like? Is it anything close to Ilo-ilo dialect and Cebuino??

I would tell you a story or i guess more of an incident where a filipino started talking to my gf in english, I had my eyes closed at the time because i'd rather rest than pay attention to a commotion from another passenger whom was just bitching about something not too important i imagine and in filipino. Anyways, I believe it was a male flight attendant in PAL, when my gf responded in english, for some odd reason I'm not sure about, he started talking back to her in tagalog instead while my gf carried on in english. Well, I really didn't get why or what but I asked my gf about it whenever he left and she just told me that the guy seems like he got uncomfy when she responded in straight english, she told me that it might have been because the guy must have felt intimidated. So, I guess that might be the case with you when you do the same thing. I would be guessing it's their fear of being looked down upon incase they slipped and said something wrong in english. It doesn't necessarily mean they are inefficient or not fluent in english, it's just a sudden feeling of insecurity. Is that a fair assumption?

[xDieselJockx]

^^ Oh Of course, I was not only referring to incidents when you are abroad but also when you are in the Philippines like Manila or Davao? Ok, I will be more specific. What fi you meet someone from Ilocos who only knows how to speak Ilocano and Filipino? How's that? I'm just curious coz I have never encountered a Filipino who cannot speak or understand even just conversational Tagalog.


That is a very good question ramvinegar....

[Dinho]

^^ Oh Of course, I was not only referring to incidents when you are abroad but also when you are in the Philippines like Manila or Davao? Ok, I will be more specific. What fi you meet someone from Ilocos who only knows how to speak Ilocano and Filipino? How's that? I'm just curious coz I have never encountered a Filipino who cannot speak or understand even just conversational Tagalog.

IF IT HAPPENED IN BACOLOD, I'D LOOK FOR SOMEBODY WHO COULD TRANSLATE, IF IT HAPPENED ELSEWHERE, EITHER OF US SHOULD LOOK FOR SOMEBODY WHO COULD TRANSLATE. SIMPLE SOLUTION ISN'T IT?

[xDieselJockx]

IF IT HAPPENED IN BACOLOD, I'D LOOK FOR SOMEBODY WHO COULD TRANSLATE, IF IT HAPPENED ELSEWHERE, EITHER OF US SHOULD LOOK FOR SOMEBODY WHO COULD TRANSLATE. SIMPLE SOLUTION ISN'T IT?
What is there is just the two of you in one island isolated from the civilization?
What if there is a medical emergency and you have no recourse but to speak to a non-hylagaynon speaking filipino who didn't have the luxury of acquiring a higher education just like you do , whom cannot speak and understand english?

[Dinho]

What is there is just the two of you in one island isolated from the civilization?
What if there is a medical emergency and you have no recourse but to speak to a non-hylagaynon speaking filipino who didn't have the luxury of acquiring a higher education just like you do , whom cannot speak and understand english?

STARTING TO GET EXASPERATED? WELL, USE HAND SIGNALS. WORKS WITH THE LOCALS THOUGH IT'LL TAKE A WHILE. SORRY BUT I JUST CANNOT SPEAK TAGALOG... YOUR EXAMPLE WAS ILOCANO RIGHT? MY BARBER HERE IN DOHA IS FROM SOUTHERN LUZON, I THINK HE IS CHAVACANO. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HIM WHEN HE SPEAKS IN HIS DIALECT, BUT I WONDER WHY HE CAN UNDERSTAND ILONGGO/HILIGAYNON? CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT?

[xDieselJockx]

Question is, how can they survive in a foreign country if they don't even know how to speak English? I am sure they can understand and speak English. They are just insecure because they are afraid that the other Filipino will laugh at them... which is something I never do.

Well, the problem is, here in SCC forums alone and even in the other threads, you critisized your fellow filipinos and even have a condescending attitude towards their failure to keep up with your high standard in the english language. What more if you laugh at them behind their backs? I don't think you are being true to yourself there buddy...

[bel1river]

IF IT HAPPENED IN BACOLOD, I'D LOOK FOR SOMEBODY WHO COULD TRANSLATE, IF IT HAPPENED ELSEWHERE, EITHER OF US SHOULD LOOK FOR SOMEBODY WHO COULD TRANSLATE. SIMPLE SOLUTION ISN'T IT?

I have several friends from Bacolod and a few of them are scions of Bacolod's "oligarchy". They often summer in Manila or Davao where they also have relatives and none of them have a problem speaking in Tagalog (Taglish, really). They converse in Ilonggo among themselves but when I (a Dabawenyo) am in their presence, they automatically switch to Taglish - which becomes the common tongue among friends.

[ramvingar]

STARTING TO GET EXASPERATED? WELL, USE HAND SIGNALS. WORKS WITH THE LOCALS THOUGH IT'LL TAKE A WHILE. SORRY BUT I JUST CANNOT SPEAK TAGALOG... YOUR EXAMPLE WAS ILOCANO RIGHT? MY BARBER HERE IN DOHA IS FROM SOUTHERN LUZON, I THINK HE IS CHAVACANO. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HIM WHEN HE SPEAKS IN HIS DIALECT, BUT I WONDER WHY HE CAN UNDERSTAND ILONGGO/HILIGAYNON? CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT?

Well, Dieseljock isn't the one using all caps so who's exasperated now? Dinho, why can't you just carry on a discussion without becoming so defensive or condescending?

As for your example of the Chavacano Barber who is able to understand Hilgaynon, would it be possible that some people are actually open and willing to learn/speak other dialects in the Philippines?

[xDieselJockx]

STARTING TO GET EXASPERATED? WELL, USE HAND SIGNALS. WORKS WITH THE LOCALS THOUGH IT'LL TAKE A WHILE. SORRY BUT I JUST CANNOT SPEAK TAGALOG... YOUR EXAMPLE WAS ILOCANO RIGHT? MY BARBER HERE IN DOHA IS FROM SOUTHERN LUZON, I THINK HE IS CHAVACANO. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HIM WHEN HE SPEAKS IN HIS DIALECT, BUT I WONDER WHY HE CAN UNDERSTAND ILONGGO/HILIGAYNON? CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT?

Well, an Ilocano or chavacano won't understand your Ilonggo because unlike the tagalog language, it is not being taught in school for one thing. My assumption with your Chavacano barber would be, he had somehow influences and has been around some Ilonggos but has forgotten how to speak it after being detached to that Illongo dominated environment, somehow he retained an ear for that dialect .

You cannot speak tagalog because you refused to speak it in an effort to be defiant, it's somewhat synonymous to a selected hearing or listening which is more or less brought about by your own defense mechanism in your effort to gain social distinction and control basically to boost your own ego. For some unknown reason you embraced english to pretend something that you are not and for what ever gain, only you yourself could only tell, unless ofcourse if I actually would be given a chance to dissect your inner psyche face to face.

[xDieselJockx]

How's my explanation to Dinho Ramvinegar?

[ryanr]

whoa....lets cool the hostility around here. Dinho, i've already warned you about confrontation with other members. And please dont write in caps. Its annoying and hostile (cos it means you are shouting).

You my friend, are quite ignorant.

[ramvingar]

Well, an Ilocano or chavacano won't understand your Ilonggo because unlike the tagalog language, it is not being taught in school for one thing. My assumption with your Chavacano barber would be, he had somehow influences and has been around some Ilonggos but has forgotten how to speak it after being detached to that Illongo dominated environment, somehow he retained an ear for that dialect .

You cannot speak tagalog because you refused to speak it in an effort to be defiant, it's somewhat synonymous to a selected hearing or listening which is more or less brought about by your own defense mechanism in your effort to gain social distinction and control basically to boost your own ego. For some reason you embraced english to pretend something that you are not and for what ever gain, only you yourself could only tell, unless ofcourse if I actually would be given a chance to dissect your inner psyche face to face.

Good point! Majority of my friends are from Bacolod and some come from the so-called "Bacolod aristocracy". They can all understand and speak conversational Tagalog and are ready to make the effort to converse with a Tagalog-speaker. Yes, some have difficulty but they do not mind at all. For them, being able to communicate with other fellow Filipinos is more important. I admire them for this.

[kiretoce]

Once a Xenophobe, always a Xenophobe. (A leopard can't change its spots. right? ;) )

[xDieselJockx]

OH BTW dinho, i just read your private messages to me. It was too defensive, I won't even comment on those.....

[Lili]

Wow, Dieseljockx you are on a roll. Wish you were my personal trainer / psychiatrist / motivation coach. :nocrook: The wife/GF acculturated you very well. :okay:

[amras]

A lot of my Filipino friends here in my school are from Davao or Gen. San, so basically they speak Bisaya. But like most Filipinos do, they can speak and understand Tagalog. When they talk to each other, they use their dialects, and when they're with us we all use Filipino. We only speak english if we are hanging aroudn with our foreign friends so as not to alienate them.

It has also become a bit of a joke when they speak to us in Bisaya since we dont understand it, so we ask them to translate it to english or tagalog. There are times when I happen to mention some deep Tagalog slangs or words and they would ask me what's the meaning of it. So it became a point of interaction between us.

[amras]

OFW remittances jump 14% to $1.8B (http://money.inq7.net/topstories/view_topstories.php?yyyy=2006&mon=04&dd=13&file=1)
Posted: 2:05 AM | Apr. 13, 2006


Inquirer

MONEY remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) totaled $1.8 billion in January and February, sustaining a double-digit growth rate of 14 percent from the same period last year despite a slowdown in the number of workes going abroad, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank) said Wednesday.

In February, OFW remittances coursed through banks reached $866 million, up 11.6 percent year-on-year despite a 10-percent decrease in number of land-based workers deployed abroad to 134,436, the BSP said, citing preliminary figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Sea-based workers deployed in February increased 5.9 percent year-on-year to 41,595, it said.

"The increased deployment of highly skilled, thus higher-paid, land-based workers such as engineers, teachers, ship and pilot/aircraft officers, production-related workers and service providers more than compensated for the decline in the total number of deployed land-based workers," the BSP said.

The BSP attributed the increase in OFW remittances partly on commercial banks' expansion of services.

"Commercial banks ... heightened their marketing campaign by offering various 'telemoney' products and services -- such as phone-banking, Internet/online banking and bills payment services-specifically in Hong Kong, the United States, Italy, and the UK as well as strengthened tie-ups with foreign money transfer agents and non-bank channels," it said.

The major sources of OFW remittances were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

The BSP said the government was pursuing programs that would strengthen workers' technical training and education to enhance job-skills matching.

There are about eight million overseas Filipinos, equivalent to about 10 percent of the Philippine population, including three million who are permanent residents overseas.

[ramvingar]

How's my explanation to Dinho Ramvinegar?

sorry, diesel. I did not see this post earlier. Was too busy fuming, I guess. :)

Your explanation was very clear and you took the words right out of my mouth. :okay:

[Animo]

OVERSEAS Filipino workers (OFWs), who have to leave their loved ones behind, wager on the belief that a reward awaits their sacrifice -- a good life for their families.

And a good life is usually characterized by providing the family with a house and a stable source of income.



The dream of a good life sustains them as they immerse in a different culture and work for strangers.

But earning enough money to afford a house or to put up a business is never easy for anyone. OFWs send their hard-earned money to their families, hoping there will be enough left for savings to buy a house and put up a business later.

But most of the time, the money they send is just enough for survival.

Valeriano "Butch" Perez, an OFW based in Spain, understands this common problem among Filipino workers abroad.

To help his fellow Filipinos, and to earn money at the same time, Perez worked on the suggestion of a friend to put up a lending company for OFWs in Spain. This gave birth to SP Sabado International S.A.

SP Sabado acts as a guarantor for OFWs who want to borrow from banks in Spain to buy a house or a vehicle.

To make sure that the borrowed money is really spent on buying a house or a vehicle for the families in the Philippines, the borrowers do not get to hold the cash. SP Sabado purchases the houses or vehicles in their stead.

Perez explained that a borrower has a 1.2-million-peso credit limit that is payable within five years at an interest rate of 8 to 9 percent a year.

SP Sabado has constructed houses in different locations in the Philippines such as Bicol, Ilocos Norte, Laguna, Pangasinan and Isabela.

Perez said that a Filipino worker in Spain who wants to borrow just has to show proof of employment and a residence card. The Filipino workers should have stayed in Spain for at least a year to qualify for a loan.

Like most undertakings, SP Sabado had its share of hardships. It took Perez a while to establish relationships with banks in Spain and convince them to lend money.

But his unrelenting efforts to woo as many banks as he could made his project a success. The company now has ties with four banks, including Banco Santander.

Life has not been easy for Perez, whose family had been financially hard up. Unable to finish his studies, he knew there were few opportunities for him in the country.

He used to work in a farm in Nueva Ecija, but insufficient income forced him and his wife to seek greener pastures abroad. The plan was to go to Spain, which did not require a visa for migrants, then to the United States, after preparing all the required papers and saving enough for the fare.

But fate meant him to stay in Spain.

When the couple arrived in 1981, Perez found a job as a laborer. His job of mixing cement for construction sites earned him the equivalent of 120 dollars a month.

From there, Perez jumped to various jobs like gardening, driving and cooking. His menial jobs paid well, according to Perez.

"The average income of Filipino workers in Spain then was only about 500 dollars, but my wife and I were earning 1,000 and 700 dollars each," Perez said.

But Perez did not want to stay as a laborer forever.

An insurance agent offered him a pension plan while he was still working as a cook in a fine dining restaurant in Madrid.

Seeing the benefits of the plan and earning more than enough to afford it, Perez got one without knowing that this would signal the start of a promising career.

When his friends found out about the pension plan that Perez got, they became interested in getting one for themselves, too. Seeing an opportunity to earn, Perez decided to work as a sub-agent in the insurance company and sold insurance plans to his friends.

His unprecedented success in the field of selling brought in a lot of money for British Life Insurance Co. (now known as Norwich Union). He became its top salesman during his five-year stay.

The amount he earned from the insurance job encouraged him to work full-time as an agent and to leave his cooking job.

Exemplifying the Filipino's talent and hard work, Perez was nominated by the Filipino attaché in Spain to the Bagong Bayani Award in 1994, where he placed second.

That same year, three of his four children were able to go to Spain. The eldest had joined them in 1987.

Achieving financial stability, Perez applied for early retirement and joined a real estate firm in 1997. He was attracted to work for the firm when it promised to give him a house for free if he could sell 10 houses.

Perez knew selling 10 houses was a piece of cake, since he had many friends who would like to buy houses for themselves. And true enough, Perez got his free house in one month.

But the suggestion of a friend to put up a lending company never failed to tickle his fancy. It was the same friend who referred him to the bank director who first agreed to do business with SP Sabado.

In need of capital for the lending venture, Perez sold the house he got from his real estate job and used the money together with his savings from his insurance job to finance SP Sabado.

The OFW-friendly services of the company made SP Sabado a hit among Filipinos in Spain. With its increasing clients, SP Sabado needed more funds to expand. This made him ask the help of a friend who introduced him to Victor Fraguas, a Spanish consul general, and Jose Rodriguez, a known banker in Spain.

The two new business partners poured in more resources into the company, thus expanding its capital base. This required SP Sabado, which was registered as a small family business, to change its name to SP Summit Trading S.L., now registered as a corporation.

SP Summit is based in Madrid. Its office here in Manila is located in Marikina, headed by Angie Perez, Butch's sister-in-law. She is assisted by her husband Mark Perez, the younger brother of Butch.

Butch's wife Shirley and Victor's wife Remy do the public relations work for the company.

To date, SP Summit has helped over a hundred Filipino workers in Spain realize their dream of owning a house or a transport vehicle for their families.

The local office buys the lots and builds the houses.

When it started in 1997, its initial sales totaled to 433,378 euros. SP Summit Trading has had continual sales growth. It projects sale of 2 million and 4 to 6 million euros for 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Aware of the patronage of OFWs in Spain to the company's lending services, SP Summit Trading is planning to expand to other countries in Europe.

[Animo]

THE LOSS of Filipino talent to foreign shores has been a perennial problem, but what makes it truly alarming now is that, this time, Filipinos are not merely being "pushed out" of the country by depressing Third World wages but are being "pulled in" by the host countries' rising demand for trained professionals. The changing demographics of Europe and America should warn us that they will be recruiting more and more Filipinos to fill jobs for which there are not enough trained and willing locals.

How have we responded to this challenge?

First off, we must be careful to avoid the class prejudice implicit in the most recent lamentations, which were triggered by hospital closures caused by the exodus of doctors and nurses. There are also earlier anecdotal accounts of middle-class migration. When poor Filipinos relocate to find jobs abroad, we see no loss, and indeed we all celebrate the new contributors of dollar remittances. When middle-class Filipinos find jobs abroad, we bemoan the loss of the nation's human patrimony and see shortages of professional services 10 years down the road. The first is apparently "brawn drain" -- they are expendable and unusable in our economy. The second is "brain drain" -- they are valuable to Philippine society and must be retained. This bias is completely misguided.

We lose Filipino genius either way. In the first, we lose the benefit of Filipino labor that we have failed to develop, harness and reward. Just the other day, I spoke to a Filipino chef in Spain who, from the way he described his oeuvre, could create mouth-watering paella. When I asked what he used to do in Manila, he said he was a bodyguard to a local politician! And it took Spain to bring out the culinary artist from within!

We must also consider that the children of migrant Filipino families could very well be the next generation of Filipino professionals. For all we know, the next Manny Pangilinan could have just now exited through airport immigration, tagging along with his parents who are bound for a new life in Canada. When families migrate, we typically tend to look at their class origins in Manila. But migration precisely liberates them from the shackles of class, gives them a chance to start anew and find a place where hard work and determination matter more than pedigree and birth. The North Atlantic democracies on both sides pride themselves in rewarding achievement, and for them, what matters most about their newly arrived Filipino migrants is their future, and not their past.

The real difference, however, lies in the loss of investments in trained labor. We invest scarce resources to educate Filipino professionals, only to export them when they are fully trained. When they leave to use their skills abroad, in effect it is other societies that reap the harvest that we have sown. They tap our products full-grown, and enjoy a hidden subsidy from us because they no longer need to invest in their own schools, in teacher training, in scholarships or, for that matter, in the entire social infrastructure needed to raise an infant into a medical doctor, nurse, physical or occupational therapist, accountant, or banker.

I do not agree with the proposal to ban, or regulate tightly, the exit of trained professionals. If businessmen can speak of the free movement of capital, struggling fathers and mothers must live by the free movement of labor. Let Filipino talent seek the market where it is paid the highest value. Let Filipino parents find the most congenial world for their children. Using the law to stifle this market will only create a discrete class of people who are both frustrated and intelligent, a combination both combustible and nasty. Worse, given the state of corruption in the country, such regulations will only create a new industry of exemption fixers.

I think there are tiny, incremental steps that can stem the hemorrhage of Filipino talent. For one, perhaps the respective professions should reorganize themselves to take care of their young, entry-level cohorts. As a total outsider to the medical field, I sometimes wonder if the fee system among doctors is geared to those already "made," those who have "arrived."

Contrast that to the profession I am more familiar with, namely, law. In the early 1970s, the big American-style law partnership entered the scene and offered young lawyers an opportunity to earn a living wage immediately upon passing the bar. Until then, the idea was that a fresh graduate could work only as an apprentice and must live on an apprentice's stipend until he was able to take clients on his own. This changed the rules of the game, so to speak, and has enabled law graduates from humble families to live decently even while they wait for the time when they have earned their spurs.

I do not know if the medical guilds have looked at how they can nurture young doctors when they need that nurturing most, i.e., when they are investing in new equipment and technology, when they are building their own patient-base, and coincidentally, when they are raising their children. I am aware of US hospitals that pay their young doctors real salaries and advance some of their start-up expenses, chargeable against future earnings.

http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=57676&col=115

[xDieselJockx]

Wow, Dieseljockx you are on a roll. Wish you were my personal trainer / psychiatrist / motivation coach. :nocrook: The wife/GF acculturated you very well. :okay:

Awwww, you are making me blush, now, all of a sudden I'm shy again...ROFL

[Dinho]

whoa....lets cool the hostility around here. Dinho, i've already warned you about confrontation with other members. And please dont write in caps. Its annoying and hostile (cos it means you are shouting).

You my friend, are quite ignorant.

Sorry about writing in CAPS. I was in a hurry and left the caps on.

[JAMAICUS]

^^Sorry to be "O.T." but Dinho, May I ask you something? Please answer me “FRANKLY”. No or little explanation first, please.

1. Do you hate all Tagalog speaking Filipino?
2. Do you blame all Tagalog speaking people for the imposition of the “Tagalog-Filipino” language policy throughout the country which was done by politicians?
3. Do you think all Tagalogs don’t speak good English?

Please answer these questions so I may know you. And, I am with you against imposition of the "Tagalog/Filipino Language" policy to non-tagalog speaking Filipinos. It is pure stupidity to do that.Yet, I must know something from you first.

[manileño]

Hey Jamaicus! i wanna answer too. :)

1. Certainly not
2. No time to blame

3. Filipinos who speak English as first language (out of total 85 million pop):
est. less than 0.0001 percent.

Filipinos who can speak English as second language:
est. less than 30 percent (and to quote Dinho below, the learned 'upper middle class and elite'. may be included in this figure the balikbayans and many returning OFWs.)

English as Sole official language in the Philippines?
Niloloko n'yo lang mga sarili ninyo. :)

[Dinho]

^^Sorry to be "O.T." but Dinho, May I ask you something? Please answer me “FRANKLY”. No or little explanation first, please.

1. Do you hate all Tagalog speaking Filipino?
2. Do you blame all Tagalog speaking people for the imposition of the “Tagalog-Filipino” language policy throughout the country which was done by politicians?
3. Do you think all Tagalogs don’t speak good English?

Please answer these questions so I may know you. And, I am with you against imposition of the "Tagalog/Filipino Language" policy to non-tagalog speaking Filipinos. It is pure stupidity to do that.Yet, I must know something from you first.

1. I do not hate Tagalog speaking Filipinos - I am just annoyed at some of them when they insist on using Tagalog.
2. I do not blame them but when arguing with people like Dieseljox, I sometimes end up doing just that. My apologies for that. But, I know it was the Tagalog majority government then that is to be blamed.
3. As I've said Tagalogs can speak English. No question about that. A lot of them could speak good English. But most would belong to the upper middle class and the elite. I still have to find a typical middle class Tagalog who could sustain a conversation in English.

Just a clarification. I don't have much choice now since I never did study Filipino in school. I studied at a combination of Amercian and Chinese schools in my hometown. Filipino/Tagalog was taught but never given any importance. Araling Panlipunan & Rizal, supposedly taught in Filipino/Tagalog was taught in English. As for the other Negrense being able to speak Tagalog well, it is indeed true. But they are the people with interests in Manila. They are the elite. I am just middle class. But I grew up with expatriate Americans in Bacolod. That is why I am quite comfortable speaking English.

[manileño]

I still have to find a typical middle class Tagalog who could sustain a conversation in English.

That's it. English can't be the only official language because not even a significant number of Filipinos can speak the language. If english-speaking middle class filipinos are rare, what more when we go down the ladder onto the biggest class in society, the masa and those living in poverty. (more than 50%). :)

[JAMAICUS]

^^ May I request soemthing? When you are going to say that "Tagologs don't speak English" or something like that, please use the word SOME like "Some Tagalogs are....." or use non-generalization words. Please do this because the generalization of Tagalogs makes some of the most decent SSC forumers tearful(like what you did to your AP teacher probably?Which, sharing the story with us made some angry) which can cause misunderstandings in debates. Please, the generalization is hurtful to some. Please, for the sake of peace in SSC, do this. At least, when doing this, the fury among some would tone down. PEACE!!! Good day! :)

[driftwood]

I still have to find a typical middle class Tagalog who could sustain a conversation in English.What's a typical middle-class Tagalog? How do you define him/her? What's he/she like? :dunno:

(Side comment: I understand the value of having pride in one's ethnicity and culture... but why insist on focusing on the differences? We are all Filipinos after all. Shouldn't it be that the joy of one region is the joy of the entire nation? The affliction of one is the affliction of all? :dunno: )

[manileño]

^^ i think he meant average. :)

660!

[Dinho]

^^ May I request something? When you are going to say that "Tagalogs don't speak English" or something like that, please use the word SOME like "Some Tagalogs are....." or use non-generalization words. Please do this because the generalization of Tagalogs makes some of the most decent SSC forumers tearful(like what you did to your AP teacher probably?Which, sharing the story with us made some angry) which can cause misunderstandings in debates. Please, the generalization is hurtful to some. Please, for the sake of peace in SSC, do this. At least, when doing this, the fury among some would tone down. PEACE!!! Good day! :)

Will do.

[Dinho]

What's a typical middle-class Tagalog? How do you define him/her? What's he/she like? :dunno:

(Side comment: I understand the value of having pride in one's ethnicity and culture... but why insist on focusing on the differences? We are all Filipinos after all. Shouldn't it be that the joy of one region is the joy of the entire nation? The affliction of one is the affliction of all? :dunno: )

The lower class is earning barely enough for day to day living

The middle class is earning enough to be able to afford the most basic necessities in life including a decent house and car at the very least.

The upper class are people who earn a substantial income with enough for savings.

[normandb]

deleted

[amras]

alam mo Mang Dinho kung ayaw mong magsalita ng Tagalog eh di wag kang magsalita ng Tagalog. PERO huwag ka ring magpumilit na intindinhin ka ng mga kausap mo dahil marming hindi nakakaintindi sa 'yo. Ang problema mo kasi ay ang pagiging hambog at arogante mo. Wala kaming pakialam kung nasa middle east ka at nabubuhay ng maaliwalas sa disyerto tutal naman eh wala ka rin namang pakialam sa buhay ng ibang tao.

[normandb]

alam mo Mang Dinho kung ayaw mong magsalita ng Tagalog eh di wag kang magsalita ng Tagalog. PERO huwag ka ring magpumilit na intindinhin ka ng mga kausap mo dahil marming hindi nakakaintindi sa 'yo. Ang problema mo kasi ay ang pagiging hambog at arogante mo. Wala kaming pakialam kung nasa middle east ka at nabubuhay ng maaliwalas sa disyerto tutal naman eh wala ka rin namang pakialam sa buhay ng ibang tao.

tanggalin mo yong "Mang" kasi tawag nila sa akin dito Mandino baka isipin ng iba ako yong jologs na social climber dito hi hi hi :D mahirap na mapagkamalan.

[amras]

tanggalin mo yong "Mang" kasi tawag nila sa akin dito Mandino baka isipin ng iba ako yong jologs na social climber dito hi hi hi :D mahirap na mapagkamalan.

haha.. sige Manong Dinho na lang? Tatang? Nuno?

[Dinho]

NCBMandy and Amras, I had posted somewhere that I could understand some Tagalog, some Cebuano, some Spanish and even the Ilonggo subdialect Karay-ah. So I understand what you were saying. But I cannot speak all of those dialects because listening to another language is totally different from having to speak or write it. It takes longer to translate to some other language you are not accustomed to.

I never pretend to be something I'm not. I speak English but with a very Ilonggo accent. Of course I could easily speak with an American accent... but I choose not to because some people might think I am pretending to be a Fil Am which I'm not. I am not a social climber as you have accused me to be. I belong to the middle class but have friends from every social level in Bacolod, Iloilo, and even here in the Middle East. I do not look at a person's income before deciding on whether I should be friends with him/her. I have British friends who run the biggest companies here... I also have Nepali friends who are labourers at the construction sites and other establishments. In Bacolod, I have friends who live in nipa huts at Banago Port, Pulupandan (a poor subaurb of Metro Bacolod) and I have friends who live at Ayala Northpoint, Sta. Clara, and Capitolville. I look at the persons character first. What annoys me is that many (not all) Filipinos here in the Middle East start comparing salaries when they meet somebody new. Then they start talking about Pinoy Showbiz. It is totally distasteful.

Branding somebody as a social climber just because he speaks English and has friends from the upper classes is injustice. That is why a lot (not all) of Filipinos are not improving because they are afraid of being branded as such and such or being alienated by their own peers. If we retain this attitude, we might as well adopt the Caste system of some of our Asian neighbors so that we can make sure that nobody would become friends with people from other groups. Even India and Nepal is trying its best to do away with the caste system. So, question to both of you is, should we go backwards just so everybody will be kept in their place?

(Why do some Filipinos have to resort to personal attacks when discussing something they're opposed to?)

[normandb]

NCBMandy and Amras, I had posted somewhere that I could understand some Tagalog, some Cebuano, some Spanish and even the Ilonggo subdialect Karay-ah. So I understand what you were saying. But I cannot speak all of those dialects because listening to another language is totally different from having to speak or write it. It takes longer to translate to some other language you are not accustomed to. I never pretend to be something I'm not. I speak English but with a very Ilonggo accent. Of course I could easily speak with an American accent... but I choose not to because some people might think I am pretending to be a Fil Am which I'm not. I am not a social climber as you have accused me to be. I belong to the middle class but have friends from every social level in Bacolod and even here in the Middle East. I do not look at a person's income before deciding on whether I should be friends with him/her. I have British friends who run the biggest companies here... I also have Nepali friends who are labourers at the construction sites and other establishments. I look at the persons character first. What annoys me is that many (not all) Filipinos here in the Middle East start comparing salaries when they meet somebody new. Then they start talking about Pinoy Showbiz. It is totally distasteful.

Branding somebody as a social climber just because he speaks English and has friends from the upper classes is injustice. That is why a lot (not all) of Filipinos are not improving because they are afraid of being branded as such and such or being alienated by their own peers. If we retain this attitude, we might as well adopt the Caste system of some of our Asian neighbors so that we can make sure that nobody would become friends with people from other groups. Even India and Nepal is trying its best to do away with the caste system. So, question to both of you is, should we go backwards just so everybody will be kept in their place?

filipino middle class can be classy and elegant without criticizing the english proficiency of some of his fellow filipinos. I know you mean no harm to your previous posts but the tactlessness of some of your post makes us totally pissed off. Your implying that we are not a well bred citizen of this country because we lack the mastery of the english language. Most filipinos in the middle east are working there to earn for a living because of lack of opportunities back home. They are comparing salaries maybe because they intending to transfer to a job where they can get a good deal (bigger salaries, better benefits). They are not just as lucky as you. For once in your life why don't you try to be humble, just once dude just once.

(Why do some Filipinos have to resort to personal attacks when discussing something they're opposed to?)

you started it. remember your post in the Airplane Airline thread
The most annoying thing for me is to be seated next to a Tagalog who just cannot speak decent English!

WTF! I know you edited your post because I cant find the original one.

[amras]

Tatang, wow! nakakagulat. ang dami mo palang kaibigan.

[Dinho]

Tatang, wow! nakakagulat. ang dami mo palang kaibigan.

Don't you have anything better to say?

[evangelistik]

You're blaming the reason that a lot of filipinos aren't proficient with english because of the fear of social rejection?

Hmmmm. I think it's because the education system doesn't do enough to teach its students the language; I think that it's also due to a lack of necessity, and thus it only seldomly needs to be used...


Maybe it's just me, but to be ostracized for wanting to master a new language is an alien concept (to me).

[Dinho]

You're blaming the reason that a lot of filipinos aren't proficient with english because of the fear of social rejection?

Hmmmm. I think it's because the education system doesn't do enough to teach its students the language; I think that it's also due to a lack of necessity, and thus it only seldomly needs to be used...


Maybe it's just me, but to be ostracized for wanting to master a new language is an alien concept (to me).

That too! That's why I would rather speak English so that my fellow Filipinos could have a chance to practice it... Even helped a Nepali colleague learn English from nada. At least he is now able to converse relatively well for a Nepali. Add to that the constant practice he's been getting from frequent contact with the Westerners.

[manileño]

Ok. I am confused. What is the issue here again? The abolishment of Tagalog leaving English the only official language in the country? OR English Proficiency level of Filipinos?

[normandb]

Ok. I am confused. What is the issue here again? The abolishment of Tagalog leaving English the only official language in the country? OR English Proficiency level of Filipinos?

the last one. read my previous post. i quoted his post from the other thread.

[manileño]

thanks mandy :)

I think that it's also due to a lack of necessity, and thus it only seldomly needs to be used...

im gonna have to agree with evangelistik here. I think the majority of Filipinos are satisfied in their own country and that of course not even half of the population can leave and work abroad. :) I think the main culprit to low proficiency level of Filipinos in English (and i mean nationally) is the fact the farmer and fisherman, vendor and weaver won't succumb to the global language and would stick to their own cultures and still live decent and normal lives. English is no use to them in their work place and would only be forced to speak it in Intramuros, Boracay or when a lost foreigner lands in their town. :) We can't blame them.

Not everone dreams of Makati and Abroad.

[normandb]

^^ I'm out of here. Arent you guys going to greet me a Happy MAuNDY Thursday? :D GTG, enjoy your holy week. Ciao! manileño, Dinho, evangelistik, amras.

@Dinho
Peace Bro, I don't mean to offend you on my post. I just gave my reactions to your "unintentional" insults towards us (tagalogs).

[evangelistik]

Happy MAuNDY THursday? Hehe, sorry na lang. Hinde ko gets.

Cya later bro.

[Dinho]

^^ I'm out of here. Arent you guys going to greet me a Happy MAuNDY Thursday? :D GTG, enjoy your holy week. Ciao! manileño, Dinho, evangelistik, amras.

@Dinho
Peace Bro, I don't mean to offend you on my post. I just gave my reactions to your "unintentional" insults towards us (tagalogs).

That's better. I also enjoyed "talking" with you. Am going out to the dunes with my friends tomorrow - which is our equivalent of Easter Sunday. And Mandy, your English is quite good! Do you have an unmarried sister? Heheh... just kidding! Already have a girlfriend...

[xDieselJockx]

You're blaming the reason that a lot of filipinos aren't proficient with english because of the fear of social rejection?

Hmmmm. I think it's because the education system doesn't do enough to teach its students the language; I think that it's also due to a lack of necessity, and thus it only seldomly needs to be used...


Maybe it's just me, but to be ostracized for wanting to master a new language is an alien concept (to me).


Dinho was just finding an excuse for his actions to cover up his mess, he has a lot of hang ups in life. To name one, he is so touchy on the issue of using OFC to all filipino expatriates in the middleast which is purely just a state of mind. And to think that the majority of the Illongos and Bacolod people in this town I'm living in are below the middle class whose parents strived hard, owed money to send their kids to college, They all speak tagalog, even if it means they have to resort to tagalog-english combi.

Dinho was just finding ways to justify his pretentiousness and the more he open his mouth and expressed what he had in mind, the more you discover more of his pretenteousness.

I'm sorry to say these, it does came from my gf who was from Cebu and she did verified to me that the people from Bacolod, a great many of them feels high and mighty even if deep inside their stomach is empty. It seems like everybody from Bacolod belongs to rich and famous. Just read back on his previous post before this? You can pretty much tell he is full of delusions and it's a "delusion of grandeur" to be exact.

Again, I'm not generalizing all of them.

"Pouvez vous tout de phase dans la paix et être heureux avec ce que vous avez. "

[evangelistik]

Ah. Unfortunately I didn't read enough of the thread to really grasp what everyone was arguing about.

It's sad, though, if you think about it. Because those who are cocky or pretentious about a specific thing... is the VERY thing they're insecure about. If Dinho really has the kind of outlook that most of the forumers here say, then we should pity him, instead of getting angry @ him. =P

[JAMAICUS]

PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS!!!


Economic impact of Filipino migration
Posted: 7:54 PM | Apr. 16, 2006

Aurelio R. Montinola III
Inquirer


Published on Page B2-2 of the April 17, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

I WILL HAVE TO START with an Albert Einstein test question. Supposedly, he gave the same test to his graduate students at Princeton, and one confused student said "Professor Einstein, these are the same questions you gave us last year." To which Einstein smiled, and said, "Yes, but the answers are different."

The OFW issue is similar to Einstein's test. Three decades ago, when Filipino migration began to accelerate, we coined the phrase "brain drain" to emphasize its phenomenon being inimical to national development.

Today, the answer is different, or at least mixed.

Why? There are three major reasons. First, there is globalization, which has brought the world's economies into closer integration. Second, there is the information revolution through the fax, the cellphone, the Internet, and even VOIP. Third, there are changing demographics as the developed countries find themselves with aging populations with job needs, which in turn developing countries (including the Philippines with a 21.6 years median age) fill with mobile jobseekers.

These tidal changes have transformed the 8 million overseas Filipinos into a powerful national force. They have opened the world literally for our people. They have increased many times over the earnings and remittances of overseas Filipinos. Perhaps, as never before, Filipino migration is now in a position to make a lasting contribution to the modernization of the country.

Migration facts and figures
Whether because of adverse local conditions or attractive opportunities abroad, some 2,700 Filipinos leave daily for abroad--or almost one million annually. Compare this with the situation in 1975 when the Marcos government deployed 35,000 workers as the start of a new national policy.

Next to Mexico, the Philippines has become the second largest migrant sending country in the world, with an estimated 8 million abroad. The key difference is that Mexicans generally go to the neighboring U.S., while the Filipinos go everywhere.

In turn, after Mexico and India, we are the third largest remittance receiving country.

Of the 8 million abroad, some 3 million are immigrants (permanent), another 3.5 million are contract workers (temporary), and some 1.2 million are classified as irregular.

The $10 billion POEA reported dollar inflows last year come generally from the Americas , with 60 percent of the total. Whether these come truly from the United States or from worldwide remittance companies using US bank accounts is harder to track. Also, some $8 billion come from land-based OFWs and the remaining $2 billion from seafarers.

Top 5 destinations last year were Saudi Arabia, Hongkong, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, and Japan; the fastest growing are Qatar, Singapore, and the UAE 65 percent of the OFWs are women--domestic workers, entertainers, nurses, and teachers.

We also supply 29 percent of all seamen worldwide--the largest percentage of any country in the world.

Government has always been involved, through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and this is one area where they have generally been considered to have done well, or at least not badly.

In short, as the columnist Jessica Zafra once stated tongue in cheek, "The Filipinos will rule the world--with a maid in every ruler's bedroom and bathroom." Thankfully, today, we have upgraded our OFWs to our missing, hopefully to return one day, middle class.

The migration debate
Opinion is mixed on the economic benefits of migration.

One side sees only a negative impact--excessive consumption, perpetuation of a culture of dependence on overseas remitters, and, similar to countries cursed with too much oil, the government's reluctance and delay in passing much needed structural reforms to put our economic house in order.

These reservations are not to be ignored. However, lately, the evidence for a positive economic impact has been compelling.

The Asian Development Bank , in its first in-depth report on OFW remittances, notes, "Remittances provide the most direct, immediate, and far reaching benefit to overseas workers, their families , and their country. These international transfers... are a more constant source of income than official development assistance, foreign direct investment, and other private inflows."

I submit the following additional evidence:

1. At the macro level, country effects have been positive.

As OFW remittances have steadily grown in the past three years, the peso/dollar rate has increasingly become more stable. In fact, it can be posited that during the dark days of the Asian economic crisis, it was OFW inflows that kept the Philippines from falling further.

OFW remittances pay for the annual amortization of Philippine foreign debt principal and interest. Previous to 2003, this was not the case; however both in 2004 and 2005, OFW remittances cover annual foreign debt amortization, probably the only country in the world to do so. Paradoxically, Filipinos outside the Philippines are paying for the debt of Filipinos in the Philippines.

We hear of other countries using "other people's money" in the form of direct foreign investment or tourism to grow their economies. Our OFWs use "other people's infrastructure" to live and go about their business, and in this way, ease the strain on our own limited infrastructure resources. Put another way, we don't have room for 8 million OFW pay jobs in our country, but our citizens are resourceful and intrepid to find these jobs in someone else's country.

We know that the Social Security System (SSS) and the GSIS pay for the benefits of employed private sector and government sector employees, but in amounts less than desired. One can posit that the OFWs serve as the defacto SSS of their beneficiary families, many of whom may not be employed, as they steadily send $ 300 - $ 400 a month to their families. These were about $1.4B equivalent in SSS and GSIS benefits in 2004: if you assume that only 20 percent of total OFW remittances are requested from relatives overseas for unexpected calamities, this already doubles the local SSS and GSIS benefit amount.

While recognizing that population control is a major developing standblock, we have national debates on what is the appropriate form. I will submit that OFWs going abroad is one of the more natural forms of birth control, and as the women majority of OFWs leave and become more educated about globalization, this eases our population control problems. In fact, I am told that our population growth rate has reduced from 2.36 percent for the period 1995 - 2000 to 2.2 percent estimated for the period 2001 - 2005; I understand, however, that you have to go below 2 to make progress.

2. Sectoral influence has likewise been beneficial.

Targetting remittances
For the banks, targeting OFW remittances started simply as national development assistance and an alternative source of much needed dollars. About 10 years ago, most major banks strategically bet on adding overseas outlets and tie-ups, improving their technology, and then loudly advertising their branding and product reach. The results are impressive, as total OFW remittances through the banking channels have increased from around $2 billion 10 years ago to almost $ 11 billion today. Also, as competition has increased and as volumes of scale have developed, remittance fees and spreads have come down significantly.

For the telecom companies, the cellphone has been the great global connector. TV ads constantly show overseas families talking to each other, and one day they may even do VOIP conversations at economical prices. Again, aside from the branding focus on this large segment, competition and volumes of scale have enabled the rival telecom companies to advertising continually dropping outward long distance calls, and even text or SMS messages. A guesstimate is that 10 - 20 percent of telecom revenues come from calls from Pinoys to their OFW relative.

For property companies, the effects are even more dramatic. Development companies are now building housing communities with OFWs clearly part of the target market, and some companies regularly send sales people to OFW-rich foreign locations. Today, 25 percent of all cash payments and 25 percent of all housing loans are OFW in nature, and this has caused the mini property development boom you are witnessing today.

Retail shopping
Finally, there is retail shopping, which was the original beneficiary of OFW consumption shopping and eating, particularly during the Christmas season and in all the growing malls around the country.

3. Geographical growth has been noticeable.

Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas are primary examples of OFW driven housing developments. However, there are many other examples around the country.

In fact , a study by Dean Young and Claudia Martinez on remittances and poverty in migrants' home areas observed, "Remittances have broader effects on economic activity in migrants home areas, leading to changes in poverty and inequality even in households without migrant members."

Sadly, it means that families without OFWs are poorer than families with OFWs.

While excessive consumption is criticized, in fact the act of consumption creates a multiplier effect on the demand for goods and services, and even indirect investment. When used for health or education reasons, human development is in fact aided.

Lately, there has been rising evidence that an increasing portion of remittances is being invested and saved. The ADB study indicates that 9 out of 10 overseas Filipinos surveyed in the US save in banks, and 70 percent of these maintain bank accounts in the Philippines. In fact, as all the Philippine banks have improved their overseas reach and their local distribution capability, they have strongly contributed to helping increase the total amount of remittances being sent through formal banking channels to the Philippines.

Given all these, it can be hypothesized that, with some behavioral changes, the OFW funds can be used as an important tool of national development.

Looking forward
Looking forward, much still has to be done to better understand and study the phenomenon of Philippine labor migration and its impact on economy and society. Professor David has eloquently spoken on the social side, but others will continue the search for more insight.

Overseas Filipinos constitute our country's biggest comparative advantage in the borderless world of our time. We are way ahead of other countries in proactively training and deploying our workers overseas. Before the new global economy emerged, we were already there. Now we are in position to negotiate better arrangements for our workers in receiving countries.

Wired magazine hit the nail on the head when it observed: "The Philippines is the forerunner of tomorrow's distributed economy in supplying nurses, teachers, techies, and sailors to the global village...

With advances in transportation and telecommunications barreling ahead, it's only a matter of time before the Philippine miracle becomes a standard for the new mobile global order, zapping their wages homeward through space, reentering for a new assignment."

What is strategically significant is that this resource and competitive edge will abide for many more years. The demand for migrant labor will increase, particularly in Europe, Japan and the US, because their work forces are diminishing with every passing year.

The challenge is not whether we can sustain the numbers of our people overseas, but how we can improve their development, maximize their earnings, exact better terms for their labor, and utilize more effectively their remittances for national development. The ADB study makes this observation that we do well to heed: "The sheer volume, stable growth overtime, and anti cyclical nature of remittances suggest that they hold tremendous potential as a source of external development finance. With resources for development assistance dwindling, migrants' remittances are emerging as a strategy for uplifting conditions in developing countries."

Harvard program
A Harvard program on International Migration has also been recently initiated, with special focus on the Philippines. Its focus will be to help academe understand the complex dynamics between socio economic development and global migration, to assist Philippine policy makers to anticipate and to respond to migration in many countries, and to identify cross border and cross population learnings.

I would also like to thank the Ayala Group, Doris Ho, Washington Sycip , and all other individuals who are doing current research on this same problem today.

Conclusion
The time for feeling guilty about our OFWs is over. We must shift gears and recognize the vital role they can play in national development and modernization.

The government and the private sector must therefore work together to pursue a strategic policy on labor migration that will eventually turn the current "Brain Drain" into, as Fernando Zobel has stated in another speech, a " Brain Gain." India today is the best example of its overseas non-resident Indians coming back to assist in specific technology locations and fields; if they can do it, why can't we dream the same?

While migrants' remittance reached record levels last year, we now have the more encouraging news that OFWs and their families are saving and investing more. If we can convince them to save and invest in the Philippines, as actually many of them are predisposed to do so at least partially, then even better.

We are constantly told that the Philippines by growing 5 percent GDP a year will at best stay flat. If we can utilize our OFW remittances and their corresponding savings or investment better, perhaps we can raise this to a more growth oriented 7 percent. As a banker, I recognize the vital role that financial institutions must play in linking remittances to development. Large banks as well as community based financial institutions should strive to provide products and services that encourage savings among OFWs and support their entrepreneurial ventures. We at BPI will be prepared to assist in these national development objectives.

[kiretoce]

UP chancellor to grads: We didn't teach you to be exported
By DJ Yap April 25, 2006

Members of the Graduating Class 2006 of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, may have proven themselves to be of "export-quality," worthy of employment anywhere in the First World. But their Chancellor has a gentle, somewhat stern, reminder for them: "Wherever you go, remember that we did not teach you just to be exported."

"If you're not going to be part of the solution to the country's woes, then please do not become part of the problem," said Chancellor Sergio Cao, addressing almost 4,000 graduates during the premier state university's 95th commencement exercises on Sunday.

The new graduates should use their skills and talents where they are most needed--right here in their own country--rather than search for greener pastures and fatter paychecks elsewhere, according to Cao.

In a four-hour ceremony, accompanied by the UP Symphonic Orchestra, the graduates were formally bestowed their degrees at the Amphitheater.

This year's batch had a total of 3,963 graduating students. Diliman, the largest among the units in the UP System, has 15 colleges, four institutes and four schools, two centers and one program.

Of the total number of graduates, 3,177 received baccalaureate degrees, 717 masteral degrees and 69 doctoral degrees. Twelve of them graduated summa cum laude; 125, magna cum laude, and 198, cum laude.

Country needs all help

In his opening remarks, Cao said the Philippines needed all the help it could get, as it was reeling from one disaster after another--from the "Wowowee" stampede to the Guinsaugon landslide.

The "Wowowee" stampede on Feb. 4 killed 71 fans of the popular TV game show, many of them old women who had camped out in front of the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City for days, along with thousands of poor people, in the hope of winning prizes.

The Guinsaugon landslide buried a whole village in St. Bernard town in Southern Leyte on Feb. 17, killing 152 people. More than 900 others were missing.

Serve own people

It is during crises like these that a UP education can help, Cao said.

"You are scholars of the nation who are supposed to serve your people, not to serve another country," he said, eliciting cheers from the huge crowd of graduates, parents and well-wishers.

Now that they were no longer students but alumni of the state university, the graduates should begin "repaying" the people, whose taxes subsidized their education and made them true "Iskolar ng Bayan" (Scholars of the People), he said.

The chancellor said the payback should be similar to the government's "study now, pay later" program, but its beneficiaries would be ordinary Filipinos.

Cao compared the graduating class to grain--planted, watered and harvested lovingly--the fruit of the teachers' hard work.

"Do better than us, your teachers, in coming up with the solutions to all the world's problems," he said.

Role in nation-building

Donald Ngwe, a Bachelor of Science in Economics graduate who delivered the response on behalf of the graduating class, said the hallmark of a UP education, or "tatak UP," was the desire to rid society of its sickness and to learn fundamental truths "in different ways, in different fields."

Each graduate, according to Ngwe, has his or her role in nation-building: Musicians in creating masterpieces, journalists in reporting the truth, teachers in guiding the next generation, engineers in building infrastructure in the community, and businessmen, government workers and economists in implementing policies for the common good.

"Our generation is called upon to face the problems confronting our nation. Let us use our strength and wit to enrich our land, instead of leaving our shores for better opportunities abroad," he said.

Acts of good citizenship

Ngwe said the graduates could help move the country forward through acts of good citizenship, such as paying one's taxes and obeying the law.

Guest of honor was Edgardo Gomez, a professor emeritus, world-renowned marine biologist and founding director of the UP Marine Science Institute (MSI).

Gomez discussed the beginnings of MSI, and how it became the country's foremost research institution for marine biology and chemistry, physical oceanography, among other disciplines.

He stressed the importance of service: "Serve others well before you serve yourself, and the man upstairs will look after you."

Lightning rally

As part of tradition, a lightning rally was staged just before the graduates sang "UP Naming Mahal (UP Beloved)" toward the end of the rites.

A small group of militant students suddenly appeared in front of the stage and began shouting slogans against President Macapagal-Arroyo and demanding justice for murdered activists.

Some of the graduates joined the protesters, who unfurled protest banners and streamers.

Facing the crowd, the militants raised their fists and sang along to the dying strains of their alma mater's song.

[kiretoce]

RP overseas schools urged to promote Filipino identity
By Alcuin Papa

PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS overseas must continue promoting the Filipino identity, Department of Education officer in charge Fe Hidalgo said in a speech she delivered last week before officials of Philippine schools in Xiamen, China.

"As Filipino educators overseas, you all know the importance of promoting Filipino identity. But... you must [also] recognize the need to teach Filipino children abroad that they, too, are part of that Filipino identity, not just because they belong to our race, but because they, too, contribute to the richness of our race. They are integral to our national pride and our national identity. The efforts we made to make Philippine schools overseas possible are all about our children and what we teach them," Hidalgo told her audience of administrators and educators.

She asked overseas school officials to maintain both quality and access to overseas schools. She also suggested that educators maintain a high degree of quality and professionalism in the management of their schools.

"I am sure that you are very much aware of the important role you play in the Philippine education system and in the lives of the young Filipino boys and girls you serve. But while you continue to provide affordable quality education based on the Philippine curriculum, while you contribute to shaping the Filipino identity of the overseas Filipino children and youth you serve, and while you endeavor to ensure that the standards overseas can enable students to be readily integrated into the Philippine educational system upon their return to our country, you must also ensure that your schools are managed well," she said.

Hidalgo also suggested that school managers "find ways of making your schools run productively and smoothly. Provide the leadership necessary to ensure quality performance in all aspects of school management."

She said the hiring and selection guidelines for school managers and teachers must be tailored to the same standards as the host country "to ensure that the management of your schools -- and the management of your classrooms -- are at their optimal levels. Also, provide opportunities for the professional development of your principals and teachers."

So Filipino overseas students would have a smoother transition to local schools, Hidalgo said the teaching and testing methods must conform to local standards "so we can find out how well our overseas Filipino students perform, and find out how well they can adjust to studying in Philippine schools upon their return."

She also suggested that overseas schools build links to local schools to keep in touch with standards being used in the country.

Hidalgo also pushed for the adoption and eventual institutionalization of the Department of Education's flagship program called Schools First Initiative (SFI). The program seeks to bring in other education stakeholders into projects meant to develop and support schools in the community.

[Dinho]

Dinho was just finding an excuse for his actions to cover up his mess, he has a lot of hang ups in life. To name one, he is so touchy on the issue of using OFC to all filipino expatriates in the middleast which is purely just a state of mind. And to think that the majority of the Illongos and Bacolod people in this town I'm living in are below the middle class whose parents strived hard, owed money to send their kids to college, They all speak tagalog, even if it means they have to resort to tagalog-english combi.

Dinho was just finding ways to justify his pretentiousness and the more he open his mouth and expressed what he had in mind, the more you discover more of his pretenteousness.

I'm sorry to say these, it does came from my gf who was from Cebu and she did verified to me that the people from Bacolod, a great many of them feels high and mighty even if deep inside their stomach is empty. It seems like everybody from Bacolod belongs to rich and famous. Just read back on his previous post before this? You can pretty much tell he is full of delusions and it's a "delusion of grandeur" to be exact.

Again, I'm not generalizing all of them.

"Pouvez vous tout de phase dans la paix et être heureux avec ce que vous avez. "

You are out of line Dieseljoxx. This thread is about the Filipinos outside the Philippines. This thread is not about me! Whatever I said, was based on my experience here in the Middle East. Why do you have to insist that we Filipinos should live like people from the 3rd world. I only complained about those things because I wanted my fellow Filipinos to improve themselves.

[xDieselJockx]

You are out of line Dieseljoxx. This thread is about the Filipinos outside the Philippines. This thread is not about me! Whatever I said, was based on my experience here in the Middle East. Why do you have to insist that we Filipinos should live like people from the 3rd world. I only complained about those things because I wanted my fellow Filipinos to improve themselves.


Oh, you are still breathing. Where have you been? we've missed you. LOL

Alright, whatever. I'm not the only one who noticed some things on you. If you want others to improve, maybe you can try how lili and the rest of these wonderful people encourage others without the use of a not so constructive critizism and being self-centered. I don't see anything in any thread that I've indicated nor mentioned anything that would suggest for any filipino to live like in 3rd world, that's rubbish. But if you are genuinely encouraging other people to do better ? Then , more power to you. ;)

How's life in Qatar anyway? You like it there? Is it better than UAE? I heard so much about UAE, even Michael Jackson loves it there. One of these days, I'll visit that area. Cheers, life is good.

[kiretoce]

How's life in Qatar anyway? You like it there? Is it better than UAE? I heard so much about UAE, even Michael Jackson loves it there. One of these days, I'll visit that area. Cheers, life is good.

Umm....isn't he (Michael Jackson) in Bahrain, not the UAE? :dunno:

[xDieselJockx]

Umm....isn't he (Michael Jackson) in Bahrain, not the UAE? :dunno:

I'm almost positive he is in UAE but who knows? I really don't care about the guy I just happened to mention him because the tabloid indicated that he is enjoying his middleast stay.

[Animo]

Gemma C Araneta

THE world has probably forgotten that Haiti, now one of the most politically precarious countries in the Caribbean, was once upon a time the first republic ever to be proclaimed in that region. St. Domingue, as it was called during French colonial days declared its independence on 1 January 1884, and reverted to Haiti, its original name in Taino. Independence did not come easily, there were fierce and bloody encounters of slaves against French colonizers and plantation owners, the most decisive of which was the Bataille de Vertiere on 18 November 1803. Haitians have their share of heroes and the most beloved liberators are JeanJacques Dessalines and Toussaint Louverture, both exslaves, who are revered as fathers of the nation and of independence.

Haiti’s history seems more star-crossed than ours. They were also invaded by the USA, but much later, in July 1915 and the occupation ended in 1934, when the blueprints of the Philippine Commonwealth were almost done. From 1957 to 1986, Haiti was ruled by the Duvalier dynasty. Francois (Papa Doc) and son Jean Claude (Baby Doc), both presidents-for-life, reigned with terror using zombies and the dreaded Tonton Macoute. In February 1991, Jean Aristide, ex-priest and victim of Duvalier’s incredible cruelty, became the first popularly-elected president of Haiti. There were no public services to speak of in that first republic of the Caribbean.

Today, there is a presidentelect in the person of Rene Preval and his initial move was to visit Cuba. That will probably provoke the ire of a powerful neighbor but Mr. Preval believes it is important to reestablish links with a country that has remained at Haiti’s side, through thick and thin. Mr. Preval is aware that health is Haiti’s most urgent problem and that Cuba is an affordable and reliable source of assistance. After all, in the past six years, Cuban doctors remained steadfast and were tirelessly working in Haiti’s remotest and most depressed areas, where even locals dared not go.

During his visit to Cuba, Mr. Preval was accompanied by a multi-disciplinary delegation that included agronomists, physicians and healthcare workers, artists and advocates of culture. As expected, he received a red carpet reception after which he had several "fraternal and intense talks" with President Fidel Castro. That is the beauty of South-South relations; these usually go beyond diplomatic rituals and motherhood statements and are in-depth discussions about how the two countries, Cuba and Haiti, should face local and global challenges. Upon his return, .President-elect Preval affirmed that the encounter with the Cuban leader resulted in very concrete measures which will be set in place by joint committees in June and July of this year. Mr. Preval reiterated his commitment to the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular, the promotion and strengthening of relations with Cuba.

Since the outstanding breakthrough in medical science and biochemistry, Cuba has been offering and sending aid to many Third World countries. In Haiti, Cuban doctors are also training students and practitioners gravely affected by decades of political turmoil and economic deterioration. To date, Cuban doctors have performed a hundred thousand operations and have attended to eight million consultations in Haiti. Over and above that, Haitian patients have also been sent to Cuba, in particular to the eastern province of Santiago, for more sophisticated medical treatments. "Operation Miracle" a joint Cuban-Venezuelan project has offered free ophthalmologic attention to indigents in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Haiti, some six hundred afflicted persons have undergone sight-saving surgery. (source: PhilippineCuban Association).

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the first ever republic in Asia, doctors are transforming themselves to nurses and caregivers, hoping to get lucrative jobs in the USA and Canada where ‘baby boomers’ are now coming of age. There is news about Indian doctors coming over to fill that vacuum. Could their Cuban colleagues be far behind? (gemma601@yahoo.com) Tune in "Krus na daan," DZRJ, 810 khz, Monday-Friday, 5 -6 pm.

Watch "Only Gemma!" RJTV, Mondays, 7-8 pm. Sky 19 (Mla.&Baguio), Sky 44 (Dagupan) Destiny 6 (Cebu) & 79 (Mla), Palompon 23 (Leyte), Colorview 40 (Zambales), Caceres 6, Comsatel 44, Quezon 29, Mananap 18, Mariveles Space 27, La Union 38, Albay 6, Isabela 18.

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/04/27/OPED2006042762471.html

[Animo]

LAST week’s column, Kapit Sa Patalim, elicited some touching responses from readers. In that piece, I suggested that overseas Filipinos, especially those in the US who may be affected by proposed stringent immigration legislation, should save up and prepare for a better life back in the Philippines rather than consider a return to the homeland as a consignment to “hell.”

I gave the example of the janitor at our office in Daly City, California. By working hard, setting aside some of his earnings and investing in his hometown in Nicaragua, he now owns a cattle ranch and a farm planted to coffee.

Fernando B. Cruz, who works with Finsa Trading Middle East FZE in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, wrote:

“I have been working in Dubai for the past 15 years and very lucky to have my family with me . . . but I and my wife are certain that we will go back to the Philippines after some time. Why are we not afraid? We are able to build our own dream house and we are trying to save as much as we can for our retirement. In fact, now we are able to build a small four-door apartment for renting, bought some preneed retirement plan, etc.

“In Dubai it is sad to see how many of our kababayan are [spending] more than what they earn, hence, they end up in debt or worse, some Filipinas engage in prostitution dahil sa luho nila.”

From Minnesota came an email from Adelbert “Addi” Batica, program manager for the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. I consider Addi a relative (he is from Basey, Samar, I’m from Tacloban, and we are both Waray-Waray).

In 1979 Addi and his wife, Elsa, spent six months in Azpitia, a small village in Peru. He was project director of the Azpitia Human Development Project, an experiment in “total community development.” When they visited the village 25 years later, it had been transformed for the better. Addi looks at Azpitia as “a symbol of hope for other depressed communities, and it could serve as an inspiration for many villages in the Philippines.”

Here is what Addi wrote to me:

“I’m doing exactly what that Nicaraguan janitor is doing, saving a little for my eventual return to the old hometown. In my case, it will happen pretty soon, I’m giving myself one more year here in the US… I do know that when I first set foot in the US in 1977, [my] stay was going to be temporary. In fact, that urge to return was so strong, so that my wife and I decided to go down to Peru for a year to get a feel for the rural life.

“I poured out my energies and passion plotting for an eventual return, and in 1995 [my first visit to the Philippines in 18 years], it occurred to me that, ‘Yes, I’m coming back.’ Hence, I began preparing for my return back then. In 1998 I decided to revive my father’s old farm, and in 2000, I bought three hectares of coconut land right next to it. This is the place where I finally plan to relocate.

“Anybody who is expecting a ‘rose garden’ to simply sprout in the Philippines is reaching for the moon. Certainly, government can’t work that kind of miracle for us, like you said, the rose garden has to sprout from our own efforts.

“More needs to be done in the Philippines, instead of simply relying on remittances from OFWs. In fact, OFWs’ families and beneficiaries should at least save, or better yet—reinvest a portion of those remittances in the local economy, in agriculture, fishing, as well as microenterprises.

“I think many of us who are overseas can learn from the experiences of other people. In my case, I learned so many things by listening to Latin Americans who were doing ‘menial’ jobs in the US. One thing, though, that impresses me about these folk is what we might call malasakit for their home country.

“It’s not just that they dream of great things for their country, but they pitch in, in their own humble way.

“Such malasakit does bring tears to my eyes. And yes, once back in their home countries, they don’t mind doing ‘menial’ work either, be it being a driver or a farmer. I suppose there are many of them scattered all over Latin America doing small but heroic deeds in their own way. Now, if only all of us could put more effort into improving conditions in the Philippines, just imagine the kind of Philippines that could be created in the end.”

To that, I say, “Amen.”

Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/19/yehey/opinion/20060419opi4.html

[marites4]

Isnt that what domestic helpers are doing all around the globe?^
Most filams don't return home to retire in the Phils. Only a few do. It's not because they're not financially secured it's because from years of living in a developed country with efficient public services getting adjusted to the public service system in the PHils will be severe torture in hell.
No doubt it is a tropical lush paradise, if the govt. could just improve how they run the system I think more would be enticed to return .

[Animo]

THE FILIPINO is a lover and among the things the Filipino individual loves is his lifestyle, his immediate family, especially the elders, and his close friends over the years.

As the word ‘lovers’ often connotes, thoughts bordering on illicit sexual relations may come up but that is not the case in the matter of the balikbayan box. Strictly speaking, however, the human animal being the only rational creature produced by God, is the only one capable of true love.

The Filipino loves the idea of living, singing, dancing, and smiling – all generated by basic feelings of love to be shared with others.

One current symbol of love, Filipino style, is embodied in the balikbayan box that we Filipinos never fail to ship with goodies galore to our loved – there it goes again – ones in the Philippines or elsewhere.

Some observers say that we are among the few immigrants who slave at our jobs – oftentimes, three jobs at a time – and instead of saving most of our earnings we “squander” our incomes on foodstuff and items we know will make our Philippine-based loved ones happy.

In fact, to many the balikbayan box is almost like the galleon of centuries ago which the Spanish throne launched from Manila to Acapulco, those first trading vessels of the time which brought gold, silver, precious metals and rare artifacts.

Our modern galleons today are the balikbayan boxes containing the fruits of our sacrifice which we offer in love to our parents, brothers, sisters and even children, who for some reason cannot yet or will never be able to come and join us as immigrants here in the U.S.

Unlike Pandora’s box which tragically contained a multitude of plagues such as gout, rheumatism, and colic which attacked the body, and envy, spite, and revenge which assaulted the mind, the balikbayan box is a more positive offering and that is the hope which lies at the very bottom.

Whatever evils we may suffer in our homeland, hope never entirely leaves us; and while we have that, no amount of other ills can make us completely wretched.

So, the balikbayan box is our hope chest and is at the root of all our efforts in fashioning a life outside the Philippines, building a career in the U.S. while remaining linked, like the umbilical cord between a mother in the Philippines and her son in America.

This brown, cardboard magic box is a treasure chest and its contents represent a loving son’s investment in time and sweat. It could very well be a small treasure straight from someone’s heart.

Not only that, the relative who returns as a balikbayan also brings along padala in the form of cash or precious jewelry to some special person in the mainland, “galing sa ‘Pinas” as they refer to our home.

Oftentimes, aside from items in the box, some secretly wish vicariously that they themselves are virtually inside the box taking this journey back home – which many yearn to go back to, and rejoin and reconnect with that special person.

It could be a husband, a son or daughter, or an aging mother or father. For every shipment of a balikbayan box holds within the spirit of love from across the seas, bearing not only products but also our hearts. Balikbayan has now become synonymous with the intense love of one who wants to nurture it in every box that is sent home.

These brown soldiers of peace – fathers, mothers, and sons – venturing outside the limits of our shores, do so with confidence and hope that someday somehow they can get above the struggle and live comfortably with the earnings they make abroad.

Indeed, the balikbayan box seems to be an indictment against the many administrations over the decades who have failed to provide sufficient jobs for the growing population of Filipinos, all because unscrupulous individuals in government thought of their own selves first and the citizens last.

Myrna, who used to teach in a Luzon town, now works as a muchacha in a Madrid family and has learned to speak Spanish, religiously saves all her income so that she can send money (via bank transfers) and goods (via balikbayan boxes) to her three children living with their grandmother.

Her husband early in their family life just took off with a bar girl and was never seen again. With this chance to work in Madrid, she has really exerted all her efforts at her job. Soon she will be sending for her children once her papers are fixed – and many Spanish employers are delighted to help Filipinos whose personalities they appreciate and like.

The same is true in Rome where thousands of Filipino domestic workers quietly care for Italian children. Once they are hired by Italian families, they get personal assistance from their employers to secure their working visas, for these women and men from the Philippines have won the hearts of many Italians.
Would that we see the time when not only boxes of balikbayan reach our shores, but also treasure chests of balik katarungan, balik tulungan, and balik tunay na samahan as our elders knew in their Filipino lives back then before World War II.

http://www.philippinenews.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=b8adffabeb872b91ef993a0a3e873c00

[Lili]

(I don't know if I should even post this here since I don't want the Philippines to experience brain drain and mass emigration. Just consider also the higher cost of living.)

The Top 50 More jobs:

Stats on 166 titles How MONEY picked the best jobs

Rank Career- Job growth(10-yr forecast) - Average pay (salary and bonus)

1 Software engineer 46.07% $80,427
2 College professor 31.39% $81,491
3 Financial advisor 25.92% $122,462
4 Human resources manager 23.47% $73,731
5 Physician assistant 49.65% $75,117
6 Market research analyst 20.19% $82,317
7 Computer/IT analyst 36.10% $83,427
8 Real estate appraiser 22.78% $66,216
9 Pharmacist 24.57% $91,998
10 Psychologist 19.14% $66,359
11 Advertising manager 20.34% $107,049
12 Physical therapist 36.74% $54,883
13 Technical writer 23.22% $57,841
14 Chiropractor 22.40% $84,996
15 Medical scientist 34.06% $70,053
16 Physical scientist 12.18% $80,213
17 Engineer 13.38% $76,100
18 Curriculum developer 27.53% $55,793
19 Editor 14.77% $78,242
20 Public relations specialist 22.61% $84,567
21 Sales manager 19.67% $135,903
22 Optometrist 19.73% $93,670
23 Property manager 15.30% $78,375
24 Actuary 23.16% $81,509
25 Writer 17.72% $60,519
26 Social service manager 25.52% $74,584
27 Paralegal 29.75% $61,204
28 Health services manager 22.76% $92,211
29 Advertising sales agent 16.33% $112,683
30 Physician/Surgeon 23.98% $247,536
31 Management analyst 20.12% $63,426
32 Occupational therapist 33.61% $51,973
33 Mental health counselor 27.18% $53,150
34 Landscape architect 19.43% $50,383
35 Biotechnology research scientist 17.05% $66,393
36 Urban planner 15.17% $60,891
37 Lawyer 14.97% $153,923
38 Speech-language pathologist 14.57% $58,329
39 Meeting and convention planner 22.21% $56,072
40 Dietitian/Nutritionist 18.30% $52,244
41 Biological scientist 17.03% $61,317
42 Financial analyst 17.33% $66,203
43 Dentist 13.52% $122,883
44 Accountant 22.43% $62,575
45 Environmental scientist 17.11% $59,027
46 Lab technologist 20.53% $51,502
47 Registered nurse 29.35% $68,872
48 Sales engineer 13.96% $78,875
49 Veterinarian 17.39% $79,923
50 School Administrator 14.55% $73,767

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[Animo]

By CHARISSA M. LUCI

Another batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon has departed Beirut to join the 188 Filipinos in Damascus who are scheduled to arrive in Manila today at 1 p.m. aboard a chartered aircraft which will dock at the 250th Presidential hangar at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

President Arroyo will personally welcome the OFWs who will arrive today.

In a teleconference, it was reported that 106 repatriates are on their way to join the first batch of OFWs staying at a safe facility in Damascus, Syria.

Ambassador Roy Cimatu, the head of the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT), and charge d’ affaires to Beirut Walter Salmingo informed Vice President Noli de Castro, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and other Cabinet officials of this development.

The additional Filipino workers will bring the total number of OFWs to be repatriated to 294. The Philippine Embassy in Beirut has listed around 1,572 OFWs who have expressed intent to be repatriated.

Salmingo disclosed that some 246 OFWs have sought refuge at the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Achrafieh.

He also described the ongoing conflict in Beirut as "localized" to allay the fears of the Filipino workers’ families.

"Not all 30,000 Filipinos here are at risk. This is not a total war," he said, citing that southern Lebanon is Israeli’s main target.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael E. Seguis said he will facilitate the immediate entry of the 106 Filipinos in Damascus.

Philippine Ambassador to Israel Antonio Modena added that the Beirut-Damascus route is safer than other routes. The 190-kilometer route will take three to four hours of traveling.

"Hindi na baleng mahaba ang biyahe basta safe naman," said Modena who has coordinated with the Israeli government for the safe passage of the Filipinos.

The government has identified five transit points in four countries to be used for the repatriation. These are Cyprus, Turkey, Rhodes in Greece, and Damascus and Tartus in Syria.

During the teleconference, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos announced that the United States, Italy, Spain and Great Britain have approved the government’s request for help in the immediate repatriation of the OFWs.

"Your priority after you move the second batch is to follow up on the commitments of these five governments," Conejos told Salmingo.

Conejos also asked Salmingo to coordinate with the representatives of the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the transportation of the Filipinos. IOM provided the government 20 planes to evacuate thousands of Filipinos in 1990 during the Iraq-Kuwait war.

Conejos also told Salmingo that the third batch of OFWs will be joined by 105 Thai nationals.

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon had earlier requested President Arroyo to help 105 Thai nationals to leave Beirut. (With reports from Anjo Perez and Louie Perez)

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/07/22/MTNN2006072269857.html