“This is the limiting belief I used to have that prompted me to work in the US for 10 long years. When I talked with Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, he told me this sad reality: “We have become a nation of “escape artists” -we escape from the Philippines and we betray our nation.” Ouch. That comment hurt but I realized it is true. One of the reasons why our country struggles to this day is that we have become a nation dependent on foreign salary. By working abroad we make our foreign “slave owners” rich. We give them our best nurses, our best doctors and our best engineers. “
This has been a recurring question which needs candid answers. Frankly, this is a question of metaphors. We are all “slaves” and we are all “owners”. We are all “producers” and we are all “consumers”. The difference lies in how we prioritize and select the areas of life where we are both “producer” and “owner” – and where we are both “consumer” and “slave”. On one end – we can be a consumer of information, just watching ABS-CBN, or INQ7, or GMA – or we can be producing our own content. We can be a slave of ABS-CBN or we can be a slave of FOX News – the question is which master gives higher pay and pats you better in the back. Why the fuck will you stick with a thankless master?
Clearing the Confusion on “Giving Away”
Who’s “giving who”? Who’s “we”? Do the oligarchy own us? Do “they” own us thus the metaphor of “give them our best nurses, our best doctors and our best engineers.” ? Does the Philippine state “own” us and by allowing “us” to go overseas, we are being “given away”? Obviously, that’s how the Philippine state and its feeling entitled vested interests think about the matter. I beg to disagree with the implication that I am a property of the Philippine state – much less the oligarchy. I vote with my feet and exercise my option as a free man to walk away and pursue my own happiness – and if that means going overseas, so be it.
Praktikalan yan, labanan yan ng pera. At the end of the day it boils down to money – you can’t sustain an advocacy if you don’t have money. You’ll be stupid to fight a losing battle locally. Odds are not in your favor – oligarchs have more money, influence, connections. which means you can be denied of a job anywhere anytime – you will be wiped out. That’s not a fair fight. The oligarchs and their deep pockets can feed as many tontows as they want – you can’t compete in that arena because you don’t have money. The protectionist economy is also skewed – the oligarchs have the money, you don’t.
Get a Life
Meanwhile, you need to make a living, you have to pay the bills – the mortgage, tuition, grocery, clothes, vacation, pension plan, health, taxes, investments, etc. You happen to have a valuable skillset – but the Philippines does not have industries or companies that can pay you the amount you think you are worth – but there are companies overseas who can – why limit yourself to a retarded Philippine economy? pay sucks. company sucks. colleagues at work suck, You are willing to be a minority share if a foreign VC comes in – but the constitution will not let you. If you get the oligarchs as a Venture Capitalist – save yourself the trouble – get the fuck out they will own your idea, your company, and you will go nowhere.
So, why stay? To enjoy in the Pinoys’ deluded affirmations of being “heroic”? – Heck what do you think of going overseas – a walk in the park? – And may gana pang manghingi ng pera – it’s a feeling of entitlement gone berserk. The pinoy family is a mini-welfare state – does that really works for Pinoy families? How many times have we come across the PLDT-Palamunin Dahil Tamad. On a matter of scale and complexity – scaling up the welfare-centric model of the Pinoy family does not work well with nations. A welfare state built on more free lunch – does not augur well for innovation and wealth creation.
While my countrymen are asleep in lalalalala land, dreaming of “free” condoms, “free” education, “free” health, being altruistic with money that does not belong to them, many choose the path less taken – fraught with peril – and which demands perseverance and humility. If ass wiping ain’t gonna teach you humility, I don’t know what will. But you see, that humility pays off – when one blends in more ingredients – foresight, creativity. In an enabling environment – sky is the limit, be what you can be. Question is do you know what you want? Are you comfortable in your skin? Because if you rely on other people to tell you who you are, and what you should be doing AND you take that as gospel truth without processing and validating it – reality will come back to bite you – real hard. You can lose big time. Still that’s fine – losing is part of the deal – and so is climbing out of a pit.
There’s a World Out There – Get Out of the Effin Basement
To level the playing field – many have taken the option of going overseas, some temporarily, some for good. With their skills and credentials in tow, they brave new shores and allow new seeds to grow and prosper. It’s not a bed of roses and many fall by the wayside. Still, those who took the pain, took the gain. Tough times never last, but tough people do. They use the “failures” as one more way of how not to do things. They soak in knowledge, experience, money, full protection of freedom of expression and human rights by adoptive governments – and continue the battle from outside the box called the Philippines – get to live and bullsyet another day. I don’t wanna be in Ampatuan’s company, that’s for sure 
Pinoys have this proverb that goes “ang nakikinig sa sabi sabi walang bait sa sarili”. Indeed we listen to others, but the decision to accept or reject the facticity and soundness of the information presented belongs to the decision-maker – the individual.
The message of this FIlipino proverb has been lost in translation. HILONG hilo.
Ouch…that smite right to our asses…we, who ran away from the Philippines, and settled in foreign countries…if you have written this article…to prick our consciences, in leaving the Philippines, because, we have some talents to improve the country…then, this will not work.
I left, because, I saw: no improvement in the governing system; corruption is widespread; usual “palakasan or padrino system; etc…in other word, “business as usual”…political oligarchy, family dynasties, incompetence on the forefront…plus, I cannot advance my knowledge in my Technical and Scientific career..
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Ana Reply:
April 2nd, 2011 at 12:02 pm
what are you talking about? this article is defending us OFW’s from those people whose calling us escape artist’s…. did you even read the article?
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Hyden Toro Reply:
April 2nd, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Yes, I’ve read it…I am one of the OFWs…then, settled as immigrant…because I was offered to stay by the country I worked as OFW…
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well written, you have taken the truth and the unspoken. We OFW’s have been mocked (bagong bayani crap just to make us feel better), used (like an atm), and dishonored (like you said calling us an escaped artist) it’s as if we owe them an explanation….when the explanation is already obvious. We demand better from life, why settle for OK when we know we deserve more! Working Abroad is not a walk in the park…it’s hard work and dedication and in return don’t we deserve a better pay?!!
I’d stay in the philippines if they can offer something better than politics or better than soap opera’s.
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MagLaLatiK Reply:
April 2nd, 2011 at 12:55 pm
when nationals begin leaving their own countries in search of an opportunity at a better life then it is a sign that there is something terribly wrong.
no one can be faulted for wanting a better life.
no one has the right to fault them.
Filipino attitude toward OFWs is appalling.
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chayo Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:10 am
The most appalling view being OFWs as milking cows by their families, friends, not to mention the country that send them abroad so those at home can benefit from “foreign remittances.”
Pinoys are sacrificial–that cannot be denied–but might they be doing so for the wrong reasons?
Pinoys value family to the point of encouraging parasitism (wittingly or unwittingly) among family members. Charity begins at home: yeah, sure. It’s a good excuse for lazy bums to remain underachievers, setting their sights on no further than the next “padala.”
There is no such thing as “No Choice.” The problem is indolence and the consequence of “indolence-inspired shortsightedness.”
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MagLaLatiK Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 4:08 am
chayo, i do agree that OFWs are treated as milking cows by their families and friends, and the government has even put a spin on the diaspora of the migrant workers by attempting to sell the “bagong bayani” moniker, sugar coating the tragedy of it all.
my saying that they had “No Choice” but to leave is in the context of them wanting a better life. last time i checked, the pursuit of happiness is a right inherent in each and every human being. i doubt you can say that opportunities are aplenty in the Philippines. you only have to look around really. granted that you seek opportunities and do not wait for it to come your way, but there’s a good number of college grads who cannot even find a decent job. what more for the uneducated and even the illiterate.
i’m sure there are great stories of rags to riches, but do realize that the reason they are remarkable is because they are quite rare.
i’m not making an excuse for the lazy bums. them not seeking ways to be productive is inexcusable.
but only by admitting that there is a problem with the system can we begin to provide solutions. Rizal’s indolence of the Filipino people is still relevant don’t you think?
our national realities are caused by us Filipinos. we have to do something to address them, let alone, solve them. admitting that there is something wrong is only the beginning. saying that the contry’s poor are poor because they are indolent or myopic doesn’t really provide room for addressing the situation, does it?
The choice to work abroad was a decision to a situation with no options … hay buhay nga naman ng Pinoy … hirap talaga …
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I tried giving it a try to work in the motherland once more … but in the end … I end up leaving again … I really don’t want to work in abroad anymore … I would have accepted a much lower salary than what I was earning … just want to land a job … start anew … but there isn’t any at all … our politicians stinks so bad … I really don’t listen to them anymore … anyhow … I’m proud that I did not vote for the President … my conscience is clear … hehehe … suck it Philippines … if you have voted wisely (and intelligently) … then we may have been better off …
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I would like to quote the ever affable commenter Conyo:
Do you have a nostalgic loyalty to your country of birth? The typical Jolog argument says that we must serve our country of birth which nourished us. Really? Any well traveled person (such as you and I) could easily conclude from observation that our country of birth has shortchanged us, inhibited our potential, and stunted our personal growth by force feeding us archaic belief systems and self-limiting values. And we are supposed to be loyal for that? One of my relatives born and raised in a First World Country is doing work with lasers while another seeks medical cures through genetic manipulation. And what do I get for being a loyal Pinoy? What are my “opportunities” in this hell hole? I can’t even get reliable DSL service!
What is “country” anyway? Is it not an allegiance to an idea or a set of principles by a certain group of people spread over a certain geographical region so that, through their collective efforts, they may improve their quality of life? And if this alliance of people fails to achieve its purpose, does one not have the right to “opt out” and seek an alliance elsewhere (as many Pinoys have done) to pursue a better life? Or stated another way, should a former fed-up-with-the-bullsh!t Catholic, after converting to Buddhism, maintain a sense of loyalty to the Vatican because it was his Religion of Birth that nourished him? The whole country of birth argument is based on emotion. Once you tackle the argument with pure reason, the power of the emotional appeal is easily dispelled.
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rafterman Reply:
April 2nd, 2011 at 6:06 pm
I almost forgot: See you at Starbucks!
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Conyo Reply:
April 8th, 2011 at 12:29 am
It seems that my logic does get through to some people
While romantic Benign0 still dreams about “reforming” Filipino culture, I take a more extreme position: Culture is Software. Just FORMAT/DELETE/UNINSTALL your goddamn Pinoy Operating System!
Using my Catholic Church analogy, why try reforming the goddamn Church when you can simply uninstall it from your mind?
So let me pose the question about Filipino culture again: Why do you bother?
I know, I know. People still don’t get my radical yet simple concept. That is why I shall continue acquiring Gold and Silver while Chairman Ben and the rest of the Central Bankers print fiat currencies into oblivion. And when the Greatest Depression finally happens (it technically already has), I shall do the following:
1. Call Cocoy Dayao and ask him: “Ano, nasan ang Pinoy Pride mo ngayon gago?”
2. Email Benign0 and ask him: “Why do still bother?”
3. Call Bong and ask him: “Have you sworn allegiance to the US Constitution yet?”
See you at Starbucks
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Oh, ‘di “escapist” nga kayo di ba? Nakakatawa itong article na to. “To live a better life” so bale you have scorned the Philippine life as not befitting to your taste, so mangibang bansa ka? Oh di escape yun?
You don’t have to defend. You cannot be enjoying living abroad and be patriotic at the same time. “You cannot have the cake and eat it too” hindi ba. Huwag nyong ipagtanggol sarili niyo pag may nagsabing sayang kayo, kung sana dito kayo nagpractice mas mabuti siguro ang kaledad ng mga buhay natin. Eh totoo naman eh. YOU are the Philippines. Hindi naman siguro pwedeng may pera muna bago magtrabaho. Pareho din yun di ba – hindi uunlad ang bansa kung wala naman dito ang mga taong may kayang paunlarin ang bansa. Expatriates from Japan swallowed their comforts by working in a country that cannot produce its own food, and then again suffered terrible losses from World War II. Japanese scholars rebuilt their country by working for nothing in the hopes that their investment will pay off, and it did a generation after. That’s what we mean by saying “sayang kayo”.
We have a point, YOU have a point. But there is no compromise, because it’s always owning the cake but could never taste it, or losing the cake by eating it and enjoying the pleasure of the cake. It could never be both. So to is working overseas to have a better life but would not benefit Philippines, or staying in the Philippines to help but would never enjoy a better life. It couldn’t be both.
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Hsing Tao Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 1:58 am
Ah, so gusto mo maging “patriotic” ang mga OFW at magsiuwi lahat? Sige kapag naging PATRIOTIC sila, 11 Million silang uuwi. 11 Million unemployed FIlipinos ang idadagdag mo sa marami nang walang trabaho (unless bigyan mo sila ng trabaho, just publish your phone number here para bigay natin sa kanila, Mr. smart guy). Mawawalan din ng remittances ang Pilipinas na siyang dahilan kaya lumulutang pa rin ang bansa kahit papaano.
Sometimes it is more patriotic to leave so you can give others the opportunity to take your place in the workforce. Kung umalis ka di may isang unemployed na papalit sa iyo at magkakatrabaho. Kapag nagpadala ka ng dollars, may pang tuition ang mga anak ko at pang kain. Mababalanse pa ang forex.
Sige Mr. Smart Guy, maraming mga matatalino ngayon sa Pilipinas na graduate ng mga prestigious schools na walang trabaho. Bigyan mo nang hindi na mag OFW. Otherwise, sinayang mo lang oras mo sa pag post ng comment mo na hindi muna pinag isipan.
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Wowie Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 2:19 am
You’re either of the following to be able to say the things above:
(1) Got lucky enough to land a job that is enough to feed yourself and your family (which unfortunately, not everyone has the same luck with the limited number of opportunities)
(2) Born in a more privileged lifestyle (i.e. upper middle-class or downright rich)
(3) Had enough connections to start off with a good career and climb up the ladder without any hitches (i.e. a friend of a friend knows a friend who work in this good company who can help you in and/or give you work/projects etc.)
(4) Never worked in a company who overwork their employees like crazy, reaping all the benefits & money, but does not even pay minimum wage to said overworked employees.
(5) Never experienced extreme financial problems (i.e. family member sick/dying because cannot pay for medicines and hospital care, family no food to eat, etc.)
It’s not a matter of being a “waste” anymore, it’s a matter of choice between misery or better life, and even life or death. Isn’t it kind of stupid and insensitive to blame people who just wanted to have a better life with the current “brain drain” in the country? It’s not like OFW’s just suddenly woke up and decided to leave the country like a snap of a finger. As series of events in their lives most probably transpired for them to jump and grab the opportunity of a better life. It’s a painful and psychology exhausting decision to leave a country you grew up with for so many years, family/friends & places your going to miss, and working on an entirely new and different environment than the place you call home.
As long as the government doesn’t fine tune its policies and change it’s current system, expect more and more Filipino’s opting to leave the country for a better life.
FYI, if OFWs are indeed escape artists and betraying the nation, they wouldn’t even bother sending remittances to their family back in the Philippines. Remember, that’s what is keeping the economy afloat these years. Ang sagwa di ba? Tapos reklamo kayo ng “brain drain” diyan at sasabihin niyo na “sayang kami”?
In reality, many OFWs actually just want to go home and settle back in their motherland. The only thing stopping them from doing it is their worry over their families financial situation. This should be a challenge to the Philippine Government. Open up the economy to give us more job opportunities. Give us a reason to STAY.
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ChinoF Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:22 am
“You cannot be enjoying living abroad and be patriotic at the same time.”
Are you sure that people abroad are all enjoying? Aren’t most of them actually working? Last I heard, Joma Sison was the one enjoying living abroad. lol
Only when they stop sending remittances to their families can you accuse them of being un-patriotic.
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ivan emil labayne Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 8:23 am
ultimately, the thing is that there are no decent jobs available here, so kelangang magabroad ng mga kababayan natin.ang tanong: what the hell happened to decent-paying jobs (aside from: jobs that really match with the skills and educational training of its citizens and the social needs of the nation). those kinds of jobs are not available because of the capitalistic social setting that skillfully thrives in machines and cheap human labor. kasama na rin ang policies which are essentially anti-people, (i.e. lack of benefits, contractualization etc.) so the decision of OFWs to work abroad is not reprehensible. what must be damned is the larger social condition that causes the OFW phenomenon. we need jobs here in the country, and we need jobs that advance the welfare of Filipinos and the nation as a whole, not jobs that serve the interest of foreign countries (Business process outsourcing companies, call centers, anyone?)
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Kaluluwa Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 1:17 pm
I think you guys missed @someone’s point. He said that if people who left the country did not want to live in Philippines, they should have mentally left Philippines alone and not bother with its culture nor its system. Of course, he assumed that those people had similar attitudes or views of “escaping” in regards to the significance of nationality.
If people conceived “nationality” only with its literal meaning as a name of a region, then the meaning of “escaping” in this case will depend on the quality of that region. For example, If individuals viewed themselves as people of the world instead of as people of Philippines, and they wanted to have a better life while Philippines opposed the better life, then it was just a country of the world where environment was harsh and harmful, therefore, that country must be abandoned for a different nation with better environmental quality. Simply, people should have removed figurative nationality and just become members of the human race, and as humans, not as a Filipinos, go to where survival is highly probable, so, in this case, “escapist” only referred to as a person escaping a nation based on quality of environment.
However, if people like @someone figuratively defined “nationality” as something of worth, then him labeling people who left the nation as an “escapist” referred to his hateful attitude towards those escapees as people who had no national pride. Unfortunately, he ignored the various reasons and emotions why OFWs wanted to get involve with Philippines whether its through blogs, forums, associations, etc, along with the dangerous and fatal experiences they encountered in the philippines and how those reasons contributed and could contribute to helping the nationality that is Filipino. Basically, he attacked with false stereotypical statements and generalized OFWs as people who did not care about philippines just because they left, a typical filipino trait.
Point is, become a human and evolve, or become a nationalist and hate.
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Honestly, I can’t understand the message the author wants to convey to his reader about his subject, the flow of his thought and how he has presented his idea is vague. Kaya may confusion sa mga readers. Just look at all the comments… hindi naintindihan kung ano ang gusto niyang sabihin. Sometimes using simple words in explaining your idea is much better. Just my two cents…
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Bong V is right, once you’ve decided to work and live overseas (temporarily or for good: the latter, i think, being the wiser option) you’ll find that it’s not a walk in the park. Which already says a lot about where we currently are. We’re we
A bum, for example, who is born in UK and suddenly fancies it to live in NZ after finding out it’s consistently among the most livable cities in the world (for one thing) would find it easier to go there and do that than a bum from the Philippines or Kenya.
A visa is backed-up by many credentials: where your coming from, your criminal record(or lack of), your health, your wealth , your education etc. That said, it is a rough but a very good lumped-up indicator of where your country IS in the global map.
Our daily decisions and lifestyle is a bid to what we want our society to be – in is much as buying a plasma TV or going to this or that school, out of envy, “bids-up” what our neighbor should also have.
That said, voting with our feet by leaving this country is indeed what it is: a vote, a bid. Not a pointless, shallow act of abandonment but a conscious or unconscious bid. When it is a conscious bid, the country of choosing (in a way) is THE country imagined (or wished for) as what the Philippines could be (could have been). This act is a vote where you get to have your cake and eat it too, because in doing this vote, you still get to pay the bills.
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Reminds me of Winnie Monsod’s speech to her UP students to “return what is due to the country”. Makes me think that OFWs are already doing enough to keep the economy afloat. It’s about time to take the opportunity for those who are in the Philippines to lay out the economic foundation. Already PNoy’s “rating” in terms of luring FDIs are very low, with the foreign restrictions in the Constitution the main culprit. http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20110403-329206/Aquino-gets-very-poor-mark-in-luring-investors
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hallelujah!
@bokiyo thanks for pointing it out. all of us has a role just so happenes that the role of the ofw is to remmit money to keep their family/the economy floating. now the question is…are the filipino’s back home maximizes these remittances to the fullest? does the government utilizes it for the better good?
why blame us hard working people when you should be greatful? without us like most of the people has pointed out already our country will sink even deeper.
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This writer is trying to convince others (and himself) that he actually cares about the Philippines.
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Off topic but related to emigration.
Spain passed a new law called “Ley de nietos” in 2008 which allows grandchildren of Spaniards the right to Spanish citizenship. Most Filipinos with Spanish lineage can be traced back to two generations, therefore a lot of them are eligible and are applying.
It wasn’t that much publicized, I didn’t even know about it. But this also means more emigration out of the Philippines.
Just an interesting piece of information because most countries do not provide citizenship for grandchildren.
Certain Filipino veterans who served under the Philippine division of the US army in WWII are eligible for American citizenship, including their whole family.
I think another reason why emigration often occurs in the Philippines is because the ease of doing so. There’s simply a lot more options compared to other countries.
In some cases it’s easier to apply citizenship in a developed country than finding decent employment in the Philippines.
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Wowie Reply:
April 6th, 2011 at 12:30 am
Yeah, a friend of mine who is mostly 90% Spanish because of all the half-half in her blood had their whole family migrated to Spain without any problems 3 years ago.
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I think nowhere else feels like home. I think many Filipinos abroad would have chosen to stay and work in the Philippines if our economy and government system are at par with our neighbor countries. Pero ciempre, pamilya muna bago bansa. Kung nagugutom na ang pamilya mo uunahin mo pa bang maging makabayan?
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