To my parents' disappointment, I am still here in the Philippines! Now, work global-think local justifies the steady exodus of 3,000 Filipinos to seek greener pasture of overseas jobs. Then, they were called OCW, later OFW, and transformed to Global Filipino. This is our country, and I think work local-think local adds value to all of us as Filipinos.

A Filipino, in the Philippines, I remain.

Anybody else WHO WANTS TO BE A FILIPINO?



REGARDING HENRY
By Henrylito D. Tacio

WHO WANTS TO BE A FILIPINO?

After digging to a depth of 100 meters last year, Japanese scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1,000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network ten decades ago.

In the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 meters and headlines in the American papers read: "US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Japanese."

One week later, a Filipino newspaper reported the following: "After digging as deep as 500 meters, Filipino scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5,000 years ago, their ancestors were already using wireless technology."

Ah, Filipinos, a different kind of breed, indeed. "Filipinos are worth dying for!" declared the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino. And they are scattered all over the globe. Wherever I go – whether Australia, Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom, or United States – I usually meet them. Their usual greeting when I see one is "Kabayan, kumusta ka?"

"Are you happy to be here?" a Filipino reporter asked some Filipinos working in Italy. The reply was a sounding "Yes." As follow-up question, the interviewer inquired, "Would you like to go back to the Philippines?" The answer was a big "No." When asked for the reason, they chorused: "We are treated fairly and people really admire us, our way of doing things."

"In Florence," reports Alan C. Robles, a Filipino journalist who travels in and out of Europe, every now and then, "the McDonald's concessionaire wants only Filipinos to staff all the outlets." No wonder, then, why Oscar winner Roberto Benigni said that Italy without Filipinos would be like Italy without spaghetti.

Even in Saudi Arabia, Filipinos are well appreciated. In an e-mail, I got this information: "Muhammad Al-Maghrabi became handicapped and shut down his flower and gifts shop business in Jeddah after his Filipino workers insisted on leaving and returning home."

This was what the owner said, "When they left, I felt as if I had lost my arms. I was so sad that I lost my appetite." So, he decided to fly to Manila to look for two other Filipino workers to replace the ones who had left. When asked why he didn't hire any other nationalities, he replied, "There is no comparison between Filipinos and others."

Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Filipino workers — 1,019,577 — outside the Philippines. In 2006 alone, the Kingdom recruited more than 223,000 workers from the Philippines and their numbers are still increasing.
Even health professionals are joining the bandwagon. Every year, about 2,000 doctors leave the country for good. "The figures came as a shock to me," said Dr. Willie T. Ong, who urged newly graduate doctors to stay and serve the country. He is so concerned that the exodus of doctors -- and nurses, too! -- would leave the country's millions of poor with no one to turn to for medical treatment.

Filipinos, particularly those who are professionals and skilled, who left the country and find job elsewhere is a big "brain drain," to quote the words of experts. The British Royal Society minted the "brain drain" tag in the early 1950s. That described the cascade of highly skilled workers into the United States and Canada.

"Our first overseas Filipino workers left in the early 1970s," reports veteran journalist Juan Mercado. "That torrent continues today. This has whittled down our stock of seamen and health care personnel, from pediatricians to obstetricians and oncologists." And in a recent Baguio meeting, it was noted that the country is now shortage of geologists, pilots, computer specialists, accountants, and air controllers, among others.

All told, 3,000 or so Filipinos migrate to other counties every day. "Educated Filipinos tend to leave the country to serve foreigners at their country's expense," deplored 2004 Chemistry Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover.

We cannot blame them for leaving the country. The standard of living here is very low. There are no jobs available. The political situation is unstable. The economy is not doing well. "Until 1972, peso had kept its value of P8 to the one dollar until I finished college," someone observed.
Most Filipinos are poor. "Without land, they cannot build homes or produce food," pointed out Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Antonio Meloto. "Without decent homes, they have no dreams. Without dreams, they have no desire to study or work. It is terribly un-Christian for Filipinos to be squatters in a country where there is so much land in the possession of a few."

So, don't wonder if today the Philippines is famous as the "housemaid" capital of the world. It ranks very high as the "cheapest labor" capital of the world, too. In an e-mail, the letter sender wrote, "We have maids in Hong Kong, laborers in Saudi Arabia, dancers in Japan, migrants and TNTs (for tago ng tago) in Australia and the United States, and all sorts of other 'tricky' jobs in other parts of the globe."

Quo Vadis, Pinoy?"
For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com

Labels: filipino, Global Filipino, Henry Tacio, OCW, OFW, TNT

 
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Kabataang Manileno, Kaisa
40th Commencement Exercises
Manila Science High School
April 8, 2003

LIFE OF SCIENCE

Efren E.S. Ricalde, Batch '71
President/CEO,
GeoSpatial Solutions Inc.

So much water has passed under the bridge since the day I was privileged to wear the MaSci graduation cap. But time has not dulled my memory of that special day. And that is how it should be.

Listening to another graduation speaker many years ago, I felt privileged and proud. Privileged because I was educated in a special school and proud because such an education was made possible despite my humble background, intellect and hard work. Since that special day, I have been back to MaSci many times and have reminisced with my classmates about our happy days here.

I hope that you too will have fond memories of your days here in our Alma Mater. I was therefore touched when I was invited to deliver the commencement speech with the theme “Sa Matatag sa Republika, Kabataang Manileño, Kaisa.” I want to connect this theme to “The Life of Science” and I hope that the Matatag na Republika will be based, not on the Filipino culture, but on the culture of science.

What is the life of science? The physicist Lise Meitner wrote in old age, looking back: “I believe all young people think about how they would like their lives to develop; when I did so I always arrived at the conclusion that life need not be easy, provided only that it was not empty. And this wish I have been granted.”

I wholeheartedly embrace this view. The life of science is not easy but it is also not empty. Meitner had to flee from her native Austria and from the Nazis so as to remain free as a human and as a physicist. But as always, freedom has a price; for Meitner, the price was probably the Nobel Prize. In the Philippines and other Third World nations, students of science scientists also have to flee -- not from a totalitarian regime but from a culture that is indifferent to science.

Filipino culture and the culture of science are incompatible. Filipino cultural values - puwede na, bahala na, ningas-­kugon, palakasan, palusot, “who you know and not what you know,” transparency and corruption are the antithesis of the cultural values of science-accuracy and precision, patience, persistence, fairness, transparency and integrity. Sadly, Filipino culture is a culture of mediocrity and science is a culture of excellence. In the Filipinos’ hierarchy of values, trapo and trapos which embody the Filipino culture of mediocrity is at the top while science and scientists which embody the scientific culture of excellence is near the bottom.

Notwithstanding this bleak reality, I remain optimistic. I have faith in the positive resilience of the Filipino youth. By resilience, I do not mean the negative kind - that of the pliant bamboo permanently and forever bowing before the wind. Conventional Filipino thinking interprets the resilience of the bamboo as a positive and commendable Filipino trait but in fact such negative resilience is defeatist and fatalistic and is part of the Filipino culture of mediocrity. By resilience, I learn the positive kind -- the resilience to stand tall and steadfast and to transcend the limitations of Filipino culture. It is the resilience necessary to endure and then to overcome the Filipino cultural obstacles of puwede na, bahala na, ningas-kugon, manana habit, palusot and other negative traits.

This then is my question and challenge to you as you look forward to your career and to the future: Do you have what it takes to live a full life and to transcend the limitations of Filipino culture?

This question and challenge is of fundamental and profound importance to me. I am convinced that Filipinos exist in a cultural prison. All the fundamental and destabilizing problems that the Philippines face today can be traced to an intrinsically wrong set of cultural values. As one prominent writer said: “Filipino culture is a damaged culture.”

In contrast to my bleak cultural assessment, I am utterly convinced that if the basis is only intellect, then the Philippines’ future is bright and promising. I believe that the Filipino youth is intellectual, able and talented and you the graduating class is a tangible proof of this.

Having looked and examined the intertwined issues of science, culture and intellect - what can we conclude that is meaningful and relevant to you, the graduating class and to our nation?

It is this: we Filipinos have allowed our dysfunctional culture to dominate our innate intellectual talents. This has resulted in severe fundamental problems for the Philippines and in a climate and environment that is indifferent and not conducive to science and intellectual pursuits. Filipinos are forced to leave the country in order to exercise their intellectual talents in more conducive and hospitable environments. Trapos, probably is the group that find the current situation in the Philippines most attractive.

So what is it that we must do to make a difference to our country and to our individual selves? We must individually and collectively end the domination by culture of the intellect and science and then reverse the process. Intellect and science must dominate Filipino culture. Trapo is an easy and empty life. Science is a hard and full life. And as Einstein said: Politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.


Class of 2003 of the Manila Science High School, I wish you full lives.
Congratulations and Thank you.

Labels: alma mater, CEO blog, commencement, Efren Ricalde, filipino, Life, Lise Meitner, Manila Science, MaSci, Ricalde, Science

 
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