Why do Filipinos leave for abroad?

Adelaimar C. Arias-Jose

 

Registered and licensed attorney in the Philippines Feb 10

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If the Philippines is the cheapest greatest paradise in the world, why do 5,000 Filipinos leave every day?

Correction, please. It's 10,000 Filipinos leaving for abroad to work, to study, to join loved ones who have already migrated, and to travel for pleasure.

Correction, please. The Philippines is the cheapest paradise for foreigners but not necessarily for Filipinos. Foreigners who earn in dollars or in euros would find that the currency their income comes in buys so much more here than the pesos that ordinary laborers earn here. That is the irony of it.

This is important to remember: USD, Euro, BP, Saudi Riyal, Brunei dollars etc. buy more in the Philippines because the Philippine peso is weak against these currencies.

So, a Filipino’s get out of poverty strategy is to study hard, learn a skill or get a degree, work abroad, earn a living in foreign currency and use the currency in the Philippines so they can buy more stuff.

Do Filipinos leave for abroad? Yes, regularly. Do Filipinos leave for work abroad in droves? Oh, yes. And most of them leave to work abroad on contract for six months or two years. They earn dollars which they may save, invest, or send back home to the Philippines to support ailing or aging relatives, pay off family debts, or send children and siblings to school. Their dollar earnings translate to more pesos for their families.

Their contracts may be extended or renewed. They are able to buy a home or pay off a mortgage on a home. They may even be able to buy rental properties in their provinces which they list on Airbnb to rent out to foreign tourists.

So, why do Filipinos leave for abroad? Why do Filipinos leave their paradise home?

1. Historically, early Filipinos were semi-nomadic. There were areas near the coast they inhabited when the fishing was good but when the typhoon seasons come, coastal areas were dangerous. Fisher folk couldn't fish during typhoons, either. So, they had to find other means of livelihood during the off season.
2. Historically, Filipinos planted rice on farms that were not mechanized. They tended to their rice, but when the rice is growing, they couldn't sit around doing nothing. It didn't make sense to sit around and do nothing. They hired themselves out as laborers in towns or cities or they planted vegetables or fruits or took care of animals to butcher and sell. They made money for their family's support while the rice was ripening, and then they also hope to make money after the rice harvest.
3. During the Spanish colonial period, Spain took able-bodied men from their farms to render service for the Crown such as building roads and bridges. These were called polos y servicios. Those Filipinos traveled to wherever the Spanish colonial government needed their labor. They got paid low wages but if they had many sons, they could earn much more in pooled wages.
4. During the Spanish colonial period, when Manila was a stop for the Galleon trade from Acapulco, Mexico, Filipinos came on board as seafarers. They were called the Manila men. Some of them left the ship in Mexico never to return to the Philippines. Some of them came back and engaged in small scale trade or small scale smuggling.
5. During the American colonial period, America needed cheap labor to pick fruit in Hawaii and California. Hundreds of Filipino men migrated as fruit pickers. Some went on as laborers for fish canning factories up the West Coast to Canada and Alaska when no fruits could be picked.
6. Filipinos migrated to areas in Asia as entertainers, musicians, bar tenders especially after World War 2 when US servicemen were stationed in huge bases as occupying armies. It was cheaper to recruit Filipino entertainers than American entertainers. Filipinos knew English and they were well acquainted with American rock and roll and Billboard Top 40 hits.
7. Also during the American period, Army doctors trained Filipino women as nurses. During and after World War 2 when there was a shortage of American nurses to tend to the wounded, the disabled veterans, the US started recruiting Filipino nurses, too. This recruitment of Filipino nurses has gone on since then because countries like the US, Canada, AU, UK,even Germany and Japan are experiencing a shortage of nursing staff because of their growing aged population. People live longer, but they get sick and need care in those countries. Filipino nurses speak English and they are trained following an American curriculum. They are family-oriented and their temperaments are well suited to nursing work.
8. During and after World War 2, the US became an occupying force in the Philippines. They justified their presence in our country as a deterrent to Communism during the Cold War. What happened was, US GIs frequented bars that sprung up around the military bases. GIs mingled with the population and they found Filipino wives. Bi-racial children were born to those GIs. Those GIs either retired here or they took their families back to the US with them. Either way, Filipino women started living in the US as war brides. Sometimes, they sent their children to university in the Philippines so they can renew ties, but mostly, they sent their children to study here because it is cheaper to send kids to university here than it is to send their kids to US universities. That's how Filipino-American households avoid getting into the financial trap of repaying student loans.
9. When the US started their Cold War and proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere in the World, guess what? They opened recruitment into their Armed Forces to Filipinos who were their former allies in World War 2. Qualified Filipinos who serve in the US Armed Services were promised a military pension and immigrant status in the US. Those Filipinos served and became US permanent residents who shuttle between the US and the Philippines, or they stayed permanently in the US as naturalized citizens. But they usually come to the Philippines to retire here close to their loved ones. They open diners open for expats where they serve homemade Southern fried chicken, barbecue ribs, apple pie and chocolate chip cookies.
10. During the Asian boom in the 1980s, when Hong Kong and Singaporean housewives started working in offices, at high paying jobs or executive positions, they needed maids to tend to their homes and pets, caregivers to look after their young children and aged parents. They recruited Filipino women as domestic helpers. Filipino women whose traditional gender role required care work, found their caring skills capable of being monetized abroad. Even lowly paid Filipino public and private school teachers in the Philippines left for abroad to work as nannies or governesses for children of the newly rich. Qualified Filipino women with degrees in education, early childhood education, psychology, and child development were recruited to care for children of diplomats and royalty (Prince William had a Filipino nanny).
11. The same thing happened after the Oil Crisis in the 1970s. The oil-producing countries in the Middle Eastern countries needed more oil wells dug and operated. They needed roads built. They needed office buildings and condominium units built. They started recruiting Filipino construction workers and engineers, architects, and even plant managers to work there. The families who got rich because of their oil and landholdings built mansions and needed gardeners, domestic helpers, nannies for their children and caregivers for their ageing parents.
12. After the World Wars when there was low risk of piracy in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, cruise ships became popular. They recruited Filipinos to work as wait staff, kitchen staff, chefs, sous chefs, pastry chefs, and seafarers. Filipino musicians, dancers, actors and comedians worked onboard pleasure ships.
13. Commercial oceangoing vessels have Filipino seafarers working on board as ordinary seamen, able-bodied seamen, boatswains, oilers, shipmates, and even captains. These seafarers work for 6–8 months on board one ship, and they then return to the Philippines for a vacation and start looking for new jobs onboard other oceangoing vessels.

So, yes, the Philippines is a cheap paradise but only for foreigners whose dollars or euros buy more goods and services here. This is why our countrymen and countrywomen leave the Philippines—to earn dollars and euros so that they can share in the paradise that is the Philippines.

Filipinos leaving the Philippines is not due to the Philippines not being a paradise or a good place to visit or stay. But colonization has rendered our economy lucrative only for the moneyed class. Ordinary Filipinos leave so they can move up and be part of the moneyed class so they can enjoy life in their paradise home.

Every Filipino overseas worker dreams of retiring in the Philippines to a beachfront home or mountain cabin or a farm they purchased or built with their hard-earned money. Filipinos want to live in paradise, too, but they need dollars to get a piece of paradise first.