Sunday, May 07, 2006
Filipino Immigrants
Yesterday I came to the Film centre to view a movie which i never had had the chance to know the title. I just came there and went first at the line. While approaching the door, a woman (a foreigner), merely at her 50's went out smiling. I was very anxious to speak with her and I had the feeling that she is canadian and that greeting her in french may please her. But then I just turned my back, seeming that I never saw her and so I entered the hall and seated with my classmates. The film was a bit old, it goes back to the days when the issue was about Flor Contemplation, a Domestic helper in Singapore who faced capital punishment due to the decision of the Singapore courts.
I recalled a debate in my sociology class about the ban against Filipino Workers going to Iraq. I was with the side which I firmly believed that we should not ban Filipino Workers. A strong point of mine was, even though there is a ban, there could be ways on entering Iraq. Another point was, wherever Filipinos go, they are endangered, even if they are here in the Philippines, they might get killed due to hunger caused by unimployement
The statistics are quite alarming. Every day, around five people come home here in our land as corpses. The largest manpower-exporting country is our own. Almost 10 million of our people work abroad. Try asking your fellows if they have relatives abroad, and you will be suprised with their response.
Brain drain is also a perenial problem here, for other professionals become de professionalized and employed at jobs which they never specialized with. Doctors become nurses, accountants become care givers and so on. Physical Therapists and other health professionals leave this country and never go back, we could not blame them, there is really a crisis with our economy, and infact with our culture.
It is an unstipulated matter of to which people laugh or scold me when I tell them that I go and rally through the streets. Some say, "That's what UP tells you", other say, "Get a life", well I do have a life, I am an activist. I fight for the rights of the labour force of this country, I fight for the people who are paying my education.
Aside from studying well, this is the only way I could pay them back. And I hope people reading this could feel the solidarity that I have in my heart and mind.
And now that the
link | posted by qiqo at 6:47 AM
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