Braindrain in the Philippines - Are All OFWs Real Heroes? August 28, 2008
Posted by mona in : Uncategorized , trackbackIt’s all over the news again. The Philippines is losing its professionals to high paying jobs and opportunities abroad. BRAIN DRAIN!!!
According to ABS-CBN News Online :
The Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) on Wednesday warned that an agreement enabling the free flow of professionals among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would further deplete the Philippines of licensed professionals if left uncontrolled.
Once this agreement comes into being, what’s next for the Philippines?
A lot of public hospitals, aside from being ill-equipped, don’t have enough (if they have any at all!) doctors and nurses. Some health centers, specially in the far-flung provinces, are being shut down because of this. Some of the countries medical practitioners, specifically doctors, are taking up nursing courses just to qualify for jobs abroad. There is also a great void in the public school system as more and more of our teachers are going for offers abroad as caregivers or domestic helpers.
More and more Filipino, professionals and skilled workers are opting to work abroad as “an answer to the call of the times”. With an estimated 24.5 million Filipinos living below the $1.35 per day Asian Poverty Line (Source: ABS-CBN News Online), this agreement is like an answer to their prayers. Now, who could resist the temptation of earning more to improve the life of his family?
House Bill 4580 was filed by Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo (PGMA’s brother-in-law aka Jose Pidal) requiring professionals to perform a two-year stint in the country before going abroad. Of course, this was met by a lot of opposition from the licensed professionals themselves which prompted Rep. Arroyo to withdraw his proposal.
This is a double-bladed issue that I feel should be taken very seriously.
Overseas Filipino Workers are often refered to as “living heroes”. They sacrifice being separated from their families to work abroad, sometimes even being abused by employers, with the purpose of improving their families’ lives here. With their dollar remittances, the government says they have greatly improved the state of our economy (or so that’s what the government says!).
In a country where you see:
- nurses paying the hospitals (instead of the other way around) to get the required work experience and training to qualify abroad;
- public school teachers who are being paid so low that they can’t even afford good education for their own children;
- a whole lot of graft and corruption and government kickbacks being done right smack in front of your face;
- families being pushed further and further down the poverty line,
how can one really give back something to the country with very little opportunity for advancement? Opportunities here are so limited that they now come with a price - either you pay for them or you better know someone who could shift his weight around to give you the job that you want. Go ask the nurses, the teachers and the engineers. They know.
What choices can the Philippines offer its citizens to make them want to stay and serve his fellowmen? Can the government guarantee a life away from poverty if one chooses to stay and work here?
So, in comes the deeper, more “patriotic” issue of GIVING BACK TO THE COUNTRY.
Whose needs should one serve first - the country’s or his own? Who needs to give back first?
A lot of my friends who have gone abroad to work told me “Uuwi lang kami kapag okay na ang sitwasyon sa Pilipinas.” (They will only come back once the situation in the Philippines has stabilized.)
So, does that mean that we, the non-hero professionals who choose to stay, are left to fix things and battle it out here so that when everything is “okay and stabilized” they will be met with a hero’s welcome and a ticker tape parade?
Could it be that the role of the OFWs has been greatly romanticized by some politicians by declaring them “heroes?”
Are dollar remittances enough to say that one has done enough to show love for his own country?
I know that the times call for realistic solutions. But, see, what would happen to the Philippines if:
- more and more Filipinos die due to lack of qualified medical professionals to man the hospitals and the health centers?
- more and more Filipinos children will end up uneducated in the streets because of the lack of good teachers?
- all the good architects and engineers fly off to build roads and bridges aborad while his fellowmen in the remote areas have to walk miles on footpaths?
Would the situation here really be “okay and stabilized” if the only solution we can ever come up with to remedy the sorry state of our country is to run away from here and work elsewhere?
And what does an “okay and stabilized situation” really mean in the first place? Does having a car a house, nice furniture, the latest Plasma TV, the latest cellphones and the latest Magic Sing videoke microphone enough to say everything’s okay and stabilized? Shouldn’t we all be thinking of how things will be in the long run? Isn’t it that OFWs come home and leave again simply because there are still no opportunities for them here? Will there ever be opportunites here if everybody else seem to be leaving?
I know I might sound too sickeningly idealistic for some people. But then, again, as they say, it is more difficult to do what is truly right. I know leaving your family and friends to work abroad is tough. But I guess, in order for the Philippines to move forward, we need more than just the dollars. We need to have good qualified professionals as well. This country needs its citizens to invest more than just their hard-earned money, but moreso, their time and talent.
Comments»
Philippine construction is blooming in Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Cebu, Davao, Rizal, but Philippines architects are working abroad, strange.
There has been quite an upswing in the construction business in the last couple of years especially with banks offering very low interest rates for housing loans (and don’t forget the freebies that go with the loans…hehehe!). This, however, is no clear indication that Filipino architects are really earning from this upswing.
A house or even a building can actually be built here in the Philippines without a real live architect. All it takes is a draftsman and a crafty contractor who would pay off someone to sign the papers. Sad, strange but so true.
Some of the bigger projects here are sad to say mostly designed by foreign firms leaving no room for the up and coming architects to make names for themselves.
I guess those are just some of the reasons why some of the more talented Filipino architects are all eyeing for jobs abroad.