Brown Soul

F. Sionil Jose gives a better and correct perspective of that Chip Tsao incident in his column in Philippine Star :

“Here we go again, some inconsequential columnist in Hong Kong takes a cheap shot at our unhappy country, calls us “a nation of servants” and immediately an uproar, and magma feelings of hurt are unleashed. Editorials, columnists, politicians are outraged — they demand apology as if one would really salve the bone-deep insult. It was the same sometime back when an English publisher defined “Filipina” as a housemaid. Such insults hurt profoundly but the pain fades quickly and soon after all that enraged outburst, we settle down to the same complacency, we continue sending more of our women abroad to be raped by Arabs, demeaned by Malaysians and Chinese, heckled by the Brits. What has our sense of outrage brought us?

Go to Hong Kong, to Singapore. Visit the Star Ferry environs in Hong Kong or Lucky Plaza, and Singapore’s Orchard St. And there, on Sundays you will see them, hundreds of Filipino domestics, yak-yaking, socializing on the sidewalk, having a pleasant respite from their work.

To the visitors, tourists and the natives, they are a piteous sight, illustrating so clearly and so well how this country has sank. As a Filipino, having witnessed such, I am utterly shamed. I do not blame our poor women for their sorry condition, for I know only too well their plight is the only way by which they can help their families at home and survive.

It is such a boring cliché now, but back to the not-so-distant past: Filipinas was the second richest country in the region, next only to Japan; our universities attracted students from all over Asia, and we had the best professionals, the most modern stores and hospitals.

And what was Hong Kong then? There were slums crawling up those hills on Victoria island, and slums all over Kowloon. Singapore as an English naval base was like old Binondo, with its small squalid shops and equally small houses.

But look at Singapore and Hong Kong now, then look at our country and people.

Sure, you can find in Makati magnificent mansions, the biggest luxury cars, the tony restaurants, skyscrapers. But elsewhere the ugly sprawl of slums, the very poor who now eat only once a day. We must ask ourselves that question, why we became “the hewers of wood and drawers of water” of the world. What happened to us, a very talented and heroic people with a revolutionary tradition?

Once we have answered this question, then we should no longer wonder why there is a continuing diaspora of our brightest people, of our women. It is then the time for us to be truly enraged — not at that Hong Kong columnist — but at the creators of this dismal miasma we call Filipinas. Do not kill the messenger who comes to us to tell the horrid truth about us. Ingest his message, then turn all that outrage, that vehemence, to the Filipinos who turned this beautiful country into the garbage dump of the region: the oligarchs, the Spanish mestizos, the Chinese Filipinos and the treasonous Indios who sent their money abroad instead of investing it here in industries to create jobs for our people. Then it is time for us to rail and condemn the crooked politicians who are the allies of these wretched rich who permitted the relentless hemorrhage of this nation’s capital.

Revolutionary tradition? Ask those rebels why, after 40 years, these leeches are still feasting on our blood!"
F. Sionil Jose is undeniably one of the few sages left in our country. He saw the Philippines in its glory days (1960s) and back. He saw how our neighboring nations rose up one by one until we got left behind.

Even without Tsao’s article, foreigners have low regard on us Filipinos, whether you are an OFW or staying in the Philippines. With millions of Filipinos working abroad as servants, what other image can the world have of Filipinos? Hasn’t the Philippine government succeeded in creating the world-wide perception that we are indeed a nation of servants?

Tsao has just become a mirror of what is really going on about the Filipinos and the Filipino image in the world…That is an undeniable fact…

We need to accept the fact that we are the number one exporter of domestic helpers especially to the US, Middle East and Hong Kong? Some of our teachers and other professionals resigned from their jobs here to apply as domestic helpers in other countries. We cannot blame foreigners if they call our country a “nation of servants” because their servants are mostly Filipinos.

Many migrant groups, including the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), Kanlungan Center Foundation, and Migrante International, have bashed Tsao for spouting this "racial slur." According to GMANews.TV Nevertheless, the groups admit that the Philippines has indeed become a country of overseas domestics.

Both CMA and Kanlungan questioned why Filipinos are so keen on denying the fact that we do have large a number of Filipinos doing domestic work abroad.

“We react because we have too many domestic workers abroad? But we do," CMA executive director Ellene Sana told GMANews.TV in an e-mail.

Institutionalization of migration

The phenomenon of migration in the Philippines can be traced back to the 1970s when there was a surge in the number of Filipinos leaving for abroad.

Dante Ang, chairman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, said this was because then Labor Secretary Blas Ople thought of deploying Filipino workers to the Middle East to take advantage of the oil-boom and at the same time, temporarily solve the growing unemployment rate in the country.

However, more than 30 years after migration was pegged to be a temporary stop-gap measure against unemployment, the deployment of Filipino workers still hasn’t slowed down.

In an article titled “Understanding International Labor Migration in the East," published in the May-June 2007 Newsletter of the Philippine Institute for Development, Maruja Asis, director for Research and Publications of the Scalabrini Migration Center, identified the factors why Filipino migration has continued for almost four decades.

One of the reasons for this, she said, is the “institutionalization of migration."

The Philippine government has always been very upfront with its desire to deploy more Filipinos overseas.

“Working abroad has become an accepted fate to most Filipinos," she said.

In fact, she said it is now unusual for a Filipino to not to aspire for a job abroad despite being faced with proof that overseas is not really a haven for the unemployed.

The POEA said that a total of 165,737 Filipinos left for work abroad in January 2009 as compared to 132,285 in January 2008 – indicating an increase of 25.3 percent.

It also said that the 2009 deployment target is one million – 16.6 percent of which has already been achieved. It added that about 5,346 Filipinos are being sent to work abroad daily.

But why that has happened to our nation despite the fact that “Filipinas was the second richest country in the region, next only to Japan; our universities attracted students from all over Asia, and we had the best professionals, the most modern stores and hospitals” and our country, our Land is blessed with the bounty of nature or rich in natural resources?
 WHY…?

F. Sionil Jose was right in saying;

"We have A REAL AND INSIDIOUS ENEMY that we must vanquish, and this enemy is worse than the intransigence of any foreign power. WE ARE OUR OWN ENEMY. And we must have the courage, the will, to change ourselves."

-Why Are Filipinos So Poor

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

"There are no tyrants where there are no slaves"

-Jose Rizal

source:
GMANews.TV
The Daily Tribune
Philippine Star
Continue...

The Chinese journalist, Chip Tsao, is coming under sharp criticism from Filipinos in the blogosphere and from two female lawmakers and a labor policy center have joined calls in demanding a public apology over a recent article “The War At Home” that made a racial slur against Filipinos in relation to the dispute over the Spratly islands.

Here’s the article:

“The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.
Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.”

Sen. Pia Cayetano said Filipinos "deserve no less than a formal public apology"
“HK Magazine and Tsao must apologize for insulting Filipinos, and they should pledge not to commit this mistake again," she said.

"Our being a poor nation does not diminish the validity of our historical and legal claim to the Spratlys. In the proper forum, this dispute will eventually be threshed out and resolved. Ignorance, hatred and racial bias are the last things we need in approaching this long-standing controversy," she added.

Cayetano also said that the Philippine claim to the Spratlys "is as valid as the other claims being pushed by other nations. It does not mean that we're disregarding the claims of others. We respect their claim inasmuch as they should acknowledge ours." 

She was quoted as saying.

"We should be proud that millions of OFWs are able to serve the world, whether as managers, laborers, caregivers or medical professionals. There's nothing to be ashamed of as long as we're earning an honest living without having to step on the dignity of others," she added.

Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople meanwhile also denounced Tsao, “His published declaration that he gave her Filipino maid a harsh lecture and warned her to tell every one of her compatriots that Spartly Islands belong to China or she'd lose her wages, is already a sign of an unstable, irresponsible and racist employer who resorts to verbal abuse even for perceived bilateral and historic infractions." said Ople.

Disgusting, derogatory, vile

Akbayan Rep. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel also protested over Tsao's article, saying the magazine should apologize immediately.
"This disgusting, derogatory, and vile remark can only come from dim-witted and mediocre writing. The magazine should apologize straightaway. The article reflects the kind of attitude that promotes abuses against Filipina workers," Hontiveros said.

She said Tsao's story should not have been published, owing to its defamatory nature characterized by racial discrimination against Filipinos in general, and domestic helpers in particular.

A world without a Filipino

"Filipina domestic workers should hold a one-day strike to tell the likes of Chip Tsao who's the real master of the HK economy. If all Filipino workers in HK would strike, the HK economy would grind to a halt without us having to invade the territory," she said.

I am reminded of an article“Imagine A World Without A Filipino” by Abdullah Al-Maghlooth (www.arabnews.com)

“So if Filipinos decided one day to stop working or go on strike for any reason, who would transport oil, food and heavy equipment across the world? We can only imagine the disaster that would happen.

When speaking about the Philippines, we should not forget Filipino nurses. They are some 23 percent of the world’s total number of nurses. The Philippines is home to over 190 accredited nursing colleges and institutes, from which some 9,000 nurses graduate each year. Many of them work abroad in countries such as the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Singapore.

The Philippines, which you can barely see on the map, is a very effective country thanks to its people. It has the ability to influence the entire world economy.

We should pay respect to Filipino workers, not only by employing them but also by learning from their valuable experiences.
We have to remember that we are very much dependent on the Filipinos around us. We could die a slow death if they chose to leave us.”

Nation of servants

Sad but true, the perception of a Filipino today is a striking contrast during the time of Rizal when Filipinos in Europe were referred to as “the glory of the universities”.

F.Sionil Jose’s article“Why We Are Poor” looks back in the 50s and 60s when the Philippines was still the most envied country in Southeast Asia. Today, we are just simply a nation of servants.

The only way to answer people, who insist that we are a nation of servants is not by shooting off our mouths. The only answer is to BEAT THEM by studying and working TEN TIMES HARDER than the rest—to beat them not just once or twice, but to do so consistently for the next 20,30, 40, 50 years.

Remember Condoleezza Rice, the first black woman to become the United States Secretary of State. She was born in Alabama and suffered discrimination on account of her color. But she was taught from a young age by her father, that she had to be “twice as good”and prove that she was deserving of advancement. Condoleezza Rice explains, “I was going to be SO WELL PREPARED, and I was going to do all of these things that were revered in white society SO WELL, that I would be armored somehow from racism. I would be able to confront white society ON ITS OWN TERMS.”


Unless we Filipinos are prepared to love our country, and sacrifice ourselves by doing the extra-mile, we really deserve to be called “A nation of servants”

Source:
www.washingtonpost.com
www.hk-magazine.com
www.arabnews.com
Brown Raise
ABS-CBN News


Update: March 31, 2009
HK Online Magazine has publicly apologized and deleted the article but Chip Tsao himself remained unapologetic. The blogosphere already caught the fire and they can no longer change the different reactions of thousands of people around the world. Continue...

As global economic and financial turmoil mounts, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has launched a "good news" offensive. Government spin won't, however, alleviate the impact of the global downturn on the local economy, where rising unemployment could thrust millions of Filipinos back under the poverty line.

Arroyo's government this month placed advertisements in local newspapers promoting the results of a recent public opinion survey that showed that 52% of Filipinos considered themselves poor. That marked a 7% improvement on the previous year's survey result, but the wealth effect will likely be shortlived, economists say.

Senator Edgardo Angara recently delivered his own gloomy assessment, when he said in a speech during budget deliberations that the two pillars of the economy - exports and remittances - were both "shaking". He estimated that by next year some 590,000 Filipinos would be at risk of losing their jobs, including 130,000 workers now employed on temporary visas in the United States. Another 50,000 overseas workers have already lost their jobs, including in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan, where massive layoffs are underway.

More than 9 million Filipinos are working abroad. Nearly 1 million Filipinos left the country for work overseas last year, while another million ventured out during the first nine months this year. Last year remittances from abroad accounted for 11.6% of GDP. And while remittances have so far held up, a number of foreign workers are believed to be dipping into their savings to keep money flowing to their families back home.

The country's unemployment rate is already a stubbornly high 7.4% - the second highest in the Asia-Pacific region after Indonesia. In a poll conducted by the Makati Business Club last month, 60% of local businesses said they expected their workforce to contract next year. As of July, more than 10 million Filipinos were unemployed or underemployed, according to government statistics.

Despite the government's good news spin, the average Filipino faces harder economic times.

What’s the real meaning of good news?

"That night, some shepherds were in the fields nearby watching their sheep. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord was shining around them, and they became very frightened. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all the people. Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord." (Luke 2:10-12)

What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him—
Give my heart.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man. That's what good news is!

Merry Christmas to all! Continue...

Divers scouring the capsized wreck of the MV Princess of the Stars recovered 199 bodies during their two-week retrieval operation that ended Monday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

“The [salvor firm Harbor Star] has informed our officer that they are done,” said PCG commandant Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo in a phone interview. “They recovered 199 bodies after they scoured decks C, B and A.”

Jorge Ponce, diving supervisor of Harbor Star, said the company accomplished its target of getting the bodies out of the decks.
The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc., sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon province on June 21 when it sailed into Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen).

While investigators sift through the wreckage which, of the 864 passengers aboard, only 57 survived. In the days following the tragedy, 350 bodies were recovered. One overlooked culprit for the national tragedy is the mounting brain drain of the country's best scientific minds.

That's in part because PAGASA has seen at least five weather forecasters, two weather observers and a hydrologist all leave the agency in the past year to take higher-paying jobs abroad. When the ferry disaster hit, all of their positions at PAGASA were still vacant.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) failed to issue proper storm warnings before the Princess of the Stars left port in Manila and into the path of an incoming typhoon. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said it recently invested US$40 million in new equipment at PAGASA, but that the agency lacked the qualified meteorologists and climatologists to put the advanced technology to proper use.

Other specialized science- and technology-oriented agencies, including the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau, are also fast losing science and technology experts to overseas recruiters and failing to fill their vacated posts. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development has lost some 75 English-speaking staff over the past two years, most of whom have migrated for higher-paying posts in other countries.

The Philippines has the third-largest population of outward migrants in the world, according to the United Nations. It is no longer just Filipino laborers who are heading overseas for better job. In recent years, doctors, nurses, teachers and pilots have all left in their professional droves for overseas opportunities.

Now, a growing number of the country's best and brightest scientists are being lured abroad by higher-paying salaries and better-funded research prospects.

The Philippine government already estimates it needs an additional 4,100 agriculture researchers, 2,000 fishery and marine science experts, 1,300 biotechnology staff and nearly 1,000 energy and environmental scientists just to meet rising challenges from higher energy and food costs.

Regional laggard
The number of scientists and engineers currently engaged in research and development (R&D) activities across the Philippines is about 8,800, representing a 20% decline from the figure recorded in 1996, according to DOST. That figure pales in regional comparison. Singapore, which has a population less than half of Metro Manila, employs 19,377 scientists and engineers involved in R&D activities, according to DOST's 2007 Compendium on Science and Technology Statistics. Regional competitor Thailand boasts more than 30,900 R&D-related staff, while Indonesia has 92,800, and even Vietnam employs 41,100.

That has resulted in lower scientific output. The Philippines recently ranked 29th out of 30 countries surveyed for their respective science and technology abilities, in a survey conducted by the Switzerland-based International Institute of Management Development (IIMD). The IIMD survey of world competitiveness from 2006, which compared various measures across 61 countries, ranked the Philippines 58th in scientific infrastructure.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recommends that developing countries allocate at least 1% of their gross domestic product (GDP) towards science and technology to maintain competitiveness and sustain economic growth. Philippine politicians have failed to make those budgetary earmarks. Despite recent increases in funding for science-related activities, including budgetary earmarks worth 3.7 billion pesos (US$81 million) in 2007, the allocation is still lower than the 3.8 billion pesos made in 1998.

The current budget's allocation for science and technology related activities comes to a paltry 0.14% of GDP, or half the amount of Thailand's 0.26% and about a mere fifth of Malaysia's 0.69%. The figures are even more miserly when measured in per capita terms, with the Philippines spending only $6.20 per head, while Thailand commits $19.70 and Malaysia spends $61.90, according to the World Economic Forum's most recent Global Competitiveness Report.

Apart from meager budgets, Filipino scientists and researchers complain that there are no concrete policies to channel and facilitate research outputs into marketable products or uses. Philippine research grants seldom if ever include monetary provisions for spinning-off research results for commercial applications, including the high costs of acquiring intellectual property rights for new innovations.

The government recently launched its new "Balik Scientist" program, which aims to reverse the brain drain by encouraging overseas Filipino scientists to return home and share their knowledge and experiences with up and coming local scientists.

The government has provisionally targeted alternative energy, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and information and communication technology as areas of priority for what it has referred to as a "brain gain" program. But without financial incentives to lure scientists home, the program has over its first five months received only five applications - considerably fewer than the estimated number of scientists who have left the Philippines over the same period.

The main reason for the so called, “Diaspora of Filipino professionals” is better pay abroad and lack of opportunity at home.

Source:
Inquirer.net
Asia Times
DOST Continue...

The BBC recently expressed its apologies for airing a comedy sketch that many Filipinos have found distasteful.

“Firstly, we're sorry if you were in any way offended by the program as this wasn't our intention,” the BBC’s Complaints Division stated.

The division described 'Harry & Paul' as a “post-watershed comedy sketch show well-known for its exaggerated humour and absurd characters.”

“It in no way represents real people and was never intended to offend or demean any viewer,” it added.

“We recognize that you were personally offended by the sketch and would like to assure you that your complaint has been registered on our audience log,” the complaints division stated.

The skit was part of a series known as “Northern Monkey,” and that the maid’s nationality was not relevant to the comedy.

“The fact that the maid is from the Philippines isn't relevant to the comedy,” it stated.

The said skit was first brought into the general public’s attention when Filipino groups complained that a portion of the “Harry & Paul” comedy show portrayed a Filipina in a very demeaning manner.

Philippine representative for party-list AKBAYAN Risa Hontiveros condemned the network for the “racist and humiliating” portrayal of a Filipina domestic worker.

"By making a horrible scene of exploitation an object of ridicule, the show trivializes an act of abuse commonly experienced by Filipina workers abroad…, an issue that merit global indignation,” she added.

Hontiveros also said that showing Filipinas as submissive sex objects reinforces the idea of people from other nationalities that they can just hire a petite and sexy Filipina domestic helper and turn her into a sexual object.

Philippine Ambassador to the UK Edgardo Espiritu criticized the skit as "gutter humor." He said the show counters the advocacy of the British government to observe equality for all and respect for human rights.

The Philippine embassy in London had already written to the United Kingdom's media regulatory agency as well as to the mayor of London, the secretary of state for women, and the television network to complain about the said show.

Filipinos in the UK also condemned the show and mapped out protest actions including an online petition called “Dignity and Respect for the Filipino Worker Campaign”.

Female lawmakers and other organizations followed suit in asking BBC to issue a public apology for presenting a racist, humiliating and disgusting depiction of a Filipina domestic worker.

Many groups have already urged the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to lodge a complaint before the British government and to demand apology from BBC.

An official complaint was emailed to the network. The show outraged many Filipinos, women’s groups and even lawmakers prompting the Philippine government to direct the foreign affairs department to act on the issue.

Philippine Government wants BBC apology for wrong reason.

A national alliance of women criticized the government’s hypocrisy for seeking a public apology over the racial slur aired in a British comedy show in the guise of defending the Filipino dignity.

“The Philippine government is seeking public apology from the show’s producers and the British Broadcasting Corporation not in defense of the Filipino dignity but in defense of its labor-export policy especially on the eve of the Philippine hosting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development,” said Gabriela Secretary General Emmi de Jesus.

“The Philippine government is flustered the 'anti-Pinay' portrayal in 'Harry and Paul' mirrors the current state of many Filipina overseas workers, which thus puts into question it’s claim that the Philippines is the showcase of how migration leads to development,” De Jesus said.

The group added that the portrayal of a Filipina maid in the skit “speaks not of development, but of degradation.”

It was revolting. It was a disgusting and an insensitive statement from our government!

Source:
ABS-CBN News
The Philippine Times Continue...

In Kishore Mahbubani’s book, The New Asian Hemisphere, he writes that there are two historical epochs taking place now in the 21st century: One, the end of Western domination. Mahbubani was not the first guy to say this. Roger Cohen of the International Herald Tribune noted it early this year with his article: The end of the era of the white man.

But there is another wave taking place today according to the Singaporean-Indian sage: THE RENAISSANCE OF ASIAN SOCIETIES. It is now the age of “Incredible India,” “Sparkling Korea” and “Malaysia truly Asia.”By 2010, he said, 90% of Phd holding scientists all over the world will now all be in Asia.

And the Philippines?

In the 1950s, the Philippines was the most dynamic economy in Asia - hailed by the World Bank as a future powerhouse. Half a century later the country is, in the words of Rommel Banlaoi, a political-science professor at the National Defense College, "the sick man of Asia“.


A Filipino resident in Singapore reveals that in the National University of Singapore, they are already teaching what the role is of the Philippines in the international community. It is not to produce scientists like India, nor to produce cars like Japan, nor to produce Olympians like China, but to produce DOMESTIC HELPERS for the world.

880,000 Filipinos leave the country every year in pursuit of more gainful employment abroad. They're laying pipelines in Siberia, mining diamonds in Angola and sailing ships in all the world's oceans. They clean thousands of homes a day from Hong Kong to Dubai to London; Bahrain's prime minister employs some 50 Filipinos in his own household (Philippines: Workers for the World, Newsweek, Oct.4, 2006)

• The Philippines is currently the world’s leading exporter of nurses, with 164,000 or 85% of the country’s trained nurses are working abroad, with doctors becoming nurses.

Nowhere is this emerging problem more pressing than in the medical sector. Dr Jaime Galvez-Tan, professor of the University of the Philippines' College of Medicine and a former secretary of the government's Department of Health (DOH), says the Philippines is currently the world's leading exporter of nurses. About 164,000 nurses, or 85% of the country's trained total, are working outside the Philippines. Out of this number, about 100,000 have left the Philippines in the past 10 years.

• About 200 hospitals have recently closed down across the country because of a lack of doctors and nurses with another 800 hospitals considered to be “partially closed” due to the lack of qualified health personnel

• The Filipino youth and students are uneducated, indebted, and hungry:
1 in 10 Filipinos has never gone to school (6.8 million)
1 in 6 Filipinos is not functionally literate (9.6 million)
4.1 million are illiterate
11.6 million youth are out-of-school
51% of Filipinos had at most elementary education
(The State of the Philippine Education, Freedom from Debt Coalition, July 25, 2006)

• Last 2006, the National Career Assessment Examination showed that out of the 1.3 million examinees, only 3.7%, or 49,066 students, are fit to enter college.

• The Philippines is No. 41 in Science and No. 42 in Mathematics among 45 countries.

Until we come to terms with who we are, our identity, our roots and heritage…the rise of Asia will never include the Philippines.

Sources:
Philippines: Workers for the World, Newsweek, Oct.4, 2006
The State of the Philippine Education, Freedom from Debt Coalition, July 25, 2006
Sick Man of Asia, Asia Times Online
Brain Drain Saps the Economy, Asia Times Online
High-school grads advised: Go tech-voc, www.manilatimes.net
Philippine Public Education – A Situationer, Independent Media Center Continue...

I heard this article last August 18 in one of the Life Coaches of EWC. And I tried to get the full article. And I found out that originally it was from a lady named pinkdxbchampange. Just thought of sharing it. So here it goes…

Over a thousand Filipinos arrive in Dubai every month. And why not?

Literally, the sun shines here all year round; prosperity is in the air; and it's a place where people have reasons to dream of waking up in the morning as millionaires or with kilos of gold on their lap!

Yun nga lang, habang hindi pa nangyayari yun, iba ang nakikita ng maraming Pinoy pagdilat nila sa umaga — kurtina! Sideways…sidesteps Hindi yan dance step. That's the latest move ngayon sa mga sharing flats. Sa sobrang liit ng space, patagilid ang galaw. Kaya minsan, mga ka-flatmates, hindi na magkakitaan. "Hoy, where have you been, ba? Hindi ka na umuuwi sa flat!" Kasi nga lagi silang naka-sideview!

Warning: Smoking is dangerous to your room.

Yes, naunahan ng Pinoy ang IKEA sa innovation na yan — Yes, styrofoam walls, styrofoam doors, styrofoam room. Di ba nga naman, styrofoam keeps you fresh! Para kang gulay, o kaya ice candy. Pero siguro mas feel mo minsan na 'tuna' ka, o di kaya 'sirena' kung feel mong si Claudine ka.

"Ate, di ba fire hazard yan?" "Anong fire hazard ka dyan? Rent ang mas nakakamatay dito!"

"Illegal ang partitions sa Dubai. At least ang styrofoam, pag nagkahulihan, mabilis sa baklasan. Gets mo?!!!" "Yes, Ate."

Therefore, 'no smoking': ang sirena baka maging daing!
 


Burj Al 'Cupboards' 
 
Hindi lang Emaar Properties ang may 'K' na magtayo ng skyscrapers? Haven't we heard, the Philippines is a major supplier of architects in Dubai? In other words, nasa dugo natin yan! Kaya ba ng Arabong gumawa ng rooms out of cupboards, luggages and shoe boxes
Dati sa airport lang bida ang mga luggages, ngayon multi-purpose na: dividers na rin sila — para ang isang kwarto maging lima!

Pampataas sila sa mga cupboards kasama ng mga shoe boxes na pinaka-antenna.
Siyempre, the taller the better — you keep your neighbor's eyes away.
 


Now Showing
 
Pagpasok ko ng flat, akala ko sinehan, ang daming kurtina. Mga kuarto pala. Pero ang cute, cinematic!!! Parang barangay, complete with skinitas. Kada bukas ng telon, parang movie — sari-saring life. May natutulog, may nag-eemote, may nka-curlers, may nakasimangot. Sa panlimang kurtina, may nag-totong-its, sa pang-anim, may naggugupit.
 
Ang gandang movie, di ba? "Ang Pinoy sa Likod ng Kurtina!
 
Paraisong Kurtina 
 
Ayyy!
Our Paraisong Kurtina. It can make you laugh, it can make you cry.

Be proud of our Paraisong Kurtina. It exists because we'd rather send our money home than spend more for our comfort. Within its walls, lies our desire for a little privacy, our groans, our tears, our dreams, our struggle for some little savings. My curtain says a lot. It says, "I have saved again, inay; I'll be able to send money next month"

Dream mo pa bang pumunta ng Dubai ???

Mag isip-isip…

As I listened to the talk given By coach Jane Q. from Dubai I can’t help my self but to reflect and uttered a prayer for them…sa mga kababayan natin who work hard just to support their families. Then the situation of our country…sigh! Continue...

This post is just a repost from my other Blog just want to share it with you

Yesterday I posted about our “kababayan” in the Middle East entitled; "Ang Pinoy sa Likod ng Kurtina!
 
Paraisong Kurtina.” Now let’s go to Singapore!

Today’s issue of Inquirer (Lifestyle section) talks about Singapore-based Filipino artists.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Philippine-Singapore diplomatic relations in 2009, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore and art group Siningapor mount an 11-man art and photo exhibit inspired by the Filipino diaspora.
What is life like as an overseas professional worker? And what is it like to live in Singapore—what are the things that you choose to see as a tourist, and those that you are forced to deal with as a resident?

In an art exhibit titled “Siningapor,” Singapore-based Filipino artists tackle issues such as migration, cultural identity and the resilience of Filipinos who have left their country to work abroad. They delve into the reality of living away from their home country.

Eleven artists, all full-time employees in the creative field, use painting, mixed media and photographs to express their own take on the Philippine diaspora and how the confluence of different cultures affect their identity as Filipinos
A well-known Tsinoy scholar, who was in Singapore a few weeks ago for an important academic convention on Oversees Chinese population, lamented how all the good editors had left the country.

She agreed the Philippines was becoming unconducive to work in, especially for writers because the industry didn’t pay well and had so little respect for the writer and the journalist. That’s just some of the reasons-albeit compelling ones.

The exhibit is curated by journalist-editor James P. Ong. Who also said that;
“Filipinos, more than anyone, have become global citizens. In this day and age—especially for Filipinos who work overseas—there’s not just one home. We work abroad, we assimilate into the culture of our host country, but we retain our Filipino identity.

That Filipino diaspora and issue of self-identity is what we are tackling in an art exhibit on Aug. 17.”
He also talks about the “Brain Drain” that’s happening in our country.
“Another question I am asked often is if Singapore has changed since the last time I lived here. A lot, I say. It’s like an entire generation has grown up and taken over.

Singapore has become a hub not just for the techies but also for the creatives. When I was here seven years ago, many of the Filipinos I knew were either working in the architectural/interior design industry or IT.Nowadays, with the S-Pass visa for mid-level skilled workers, there are a lot of Pinoys working in the hospitality industry (and this number is expected to increase sharply when Singapore opens its first-ever casino and a Universal Studios on Sentosa Island in 2010). There are also several Pinoys holding influential positions in magazines.

The inevitable question, I guess, is, Why the brain drain? A well-known Tsinoy scholar, who was here a few weeks ago for an important academic convention on Overseas Chinese population, lamented how all the good editors had left the country.
She agreed the Philippines was becoming unconducive to work in, especially for writers because the industry didn’t pay well and had so little respect for the writer and the journalist. That’s just some of the reasons—albeit compelling ones.

Top liveable city
But it’s not just Filipinos going to Singapore for a better job. The 21st century is all about Asia and China. Even foreigners from First World countries are moving here to work and resettle their families in the region.

The influential Monocle magazine, for the second year running, has named Singapore as one of the world’s Top 25 Liveable Cities and praised it for having “leapfrogged to First World status in barely two generations.”

First-World pay
Other Asians who work here like the idea of getting first-world pay. According to the Ministry of Manpower, the average monthly wage for a proofreader alone is S$1,500 and S$8,500 for an advertising creative director.Those who hold permanent resident status can send their children to a local school for as low as S$15 a year, and enjoy around 65-percent subsidy on health care. These are the benefits being given by a government that is sincere in wanting to take care of its nation’s population.

RP needs direction
Singapore is intent on becoming a major power, and it is doing something concrete to achieve that. Singapore has a master plan, and it is following it. That’s one thing we ourselves need to do as a nation and as a people: Acquire foresight and discipline. Filipinos already have the talent and skill, we just need a good leader to give us direction.”

Source:
www.inquirer.net
“Siningapor” will run Aug. 18-23, 12 noon-6 p.m., at the Photographic Society of Singapore Gallery (30 Selegie Road; Selegie Arts Centre, 180030. Tel. no. 65-6334 3361) Continue...