The World is an
Apple and
The Philippines only have
Mansanas
- 26 August 2003 -
Before, they were known as Overseas
Contract Workers, or OCW’s.
Now, the term used is OFW, or Overseas
Filipino Workers. These men
and women are the ones who bring in the most amount of dollars that the
country needs to survive. They
are being hailed as the new heroes.
Bayani.
At the same time, they’re also the cause
of the phenomenon called, brain drain.
All the good doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers and technicians
are leaving the country for higher paying jobs in other countries.
What is left are mostly those who were not good enough to leave,
and a few good ones who don’t need to leave because they already have
the job slot here, and fewer still of idealists who believe that they
might make a difference.
Why did this all happen? Why did we let it happen?
In the beginning, the main concern had really been for the benefit of the Filipino worker. Just before the declaration of Martial Law back in 1972, the European countries, in particular, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy, were in need of quality domestic helpers, sewers, construction workers, drivers, and other like positions for their renewed economic growth. Their main qualification was that the candidate must be experienced AND can speak English. That was the main criteria, and the Filipinos were the number one choice of these countries. We were good at these jobs, and of all the Asian countries, we have practically adopted the English language as our own. Very seldom did we find a Filipino who could not speak English. Indeed, there were even fewer who could not understand English.
Before this time, many Filipinos would travel and work in another country to learn what they could and came back to start his own business using the knowledge that he'd learned. Soon, the trend changed, and, during Martial Law days, fearing that the country would be in chaos, the exodus to work in a foreign land gathered momentum, only a trickle at first because of the travel ban imposed by the dictatorship, then like a waterfall when the ban was lifted.
Then in the 1980's, the Middle East became the richest area on earth, and this time, the engineers, doctors, nurses, and teachers added their number to the domestic helpers and other job descriptions previously leaving the country. Those were the golden years of overseas employment. High salaries, stable jobs, quality living. What more can a person want?
While all this was going on in the Middle East, here in Asia, the demand for women and other entertainers started to rise in Japan. Thus, the Japayuki was born. The 90's saw the start of other Asian countries hiring Filipinos. Hongkong had already started before anyone else. Now, Malaysia and Singapore have started to hire Filipina Domestic Helpers in huge numbers, then the United States, Canada, and Australia followed suit with doctors, nurses and care-givers.
Imagine, from one of the most successful economies in Asia during the 1950's, the Philippines has become one of the most unstable country in the world, with huge debts, and a government that borders on farce. The once backward nation of Malaysia now treats their domestic helpers like second class citizens, and they happen to be Filipinas. There was the controversial issue of the Oxford Dictionary's definition of a Filipina as "a domestic helper." Add to this the fact that there are now less Filipinos who can speak correct English, due to a government decision to change the educational medium of instruction to Filipino. So, our advantage against other countries like Pakistan and India have diminished. Where once we were paid more than the workers from these countries simply because we speak English, now the hiring country prefer to get these workers than Filipinos as they are cheaper to hire and can understand and speak almost like the new Filipinos now.
It is wrong to be envious of another country's success, but one cannot help but admire the way the Japanese rose from the ashes of war to become the strongest nation in Asia in less than four decades. One must admire the ingenuity of the people who patiently let their "masters" teach them what to do, going as far as working in foreign soil, only to return to their homeland, re-invent what they learned and gave it a Japanese tag and sold it back to the masters.
Could the Filipinos have done the same thing? Maybe. The people have shown their own brand of ingenuity and how well they can adapt to any culture or situation.
Before, most Filipinos were proud of their country. Nowadays, they're just proud that they're Filipinos but give excuses about their country. All over the world, a Filipino will still greet another Filipino with the word kabayan or countryman, but ask him about the Philippines, and it's always, "life is hard there," or "there's less opportunity there that's why we're here," or "it's so unstable!"
A lot of people are blaming the leadership. The government is not doing enough to help the nation and its people. But there are a few who believe that it's the people themselves who should wake up to the reality that unless they do something FOR the country, then the country will not be able to do anything for them.
If those people who were successful in other countries believe that they can make a difference should they decide to return, then maybe WILL make a difference. Unless they do so, they will never know.
During the Martial Law years, only a few brave souls spoke out against Marcos. Soon, as the years went on, more people spoke out, and in 1986, the ripple became a wave and broke into a typhoon during those February days that toppled the Marcos regime.
If Filipinos can only stop looking at the Philippines in a negative way, or stop bitching and start some action, or start behaving correctly like they would if they were in another country, maybe, just maybe, the country will have a chance to recover. Maybe, just maybe, if the change comes from the children, to their parents, then back down to their own children, then the government has no recourse but to change, because the government IS the people.
