“Four hundred years in a monastery and then fifty years in Hollywood”, is how a journalist once described the recipe for the twisted psyche of the Filipinos and the absence of a national identity. With this sentence she referred to the four hundred years of Spanish rule and the fifty years that the Americans held sway in this archipelago.
I've never been there, but I'm interested in the country because I've been working with many Filipinos and nas for years. Thousands of young professionals come to Thailand looking for work and millions spread around the world to offer their services as housekeepers, nannies, nurses, doctors, engineers or waiters, particularly in the Gulf countries. Collectively, these overseas labor nomads annually send about twelve billion dollars to their mother country, ten percent of the Philippine Gross National Product.
The Philippine government, mostly a bunch of cowboys, more or less raked together once every six years by the extremely influential Catholic Church, after elections where every conceivable form of fraud has been tried, applauds every dollar that comes in. Finding solutions for the causes of large-scale mass emigration and costly 'brain drain' – highly educated people often seek refuge elsewhere – has become an agenda item for Philippine politicians that is just as important as cleaning windows.
The causes of the massive exodus of the Filipino labor force obviously lie in the socio-economic vegetable garden: low wages, corruption, (if you come to Thailand because you are fed up with the corruption in your home country, then the economic ethics there), political violence (more than a hundred left-wing journalists have been shot in the past year) and a general economic malaise.
Filipino politicians pursue an active emigration policy. A colleague of mine received 2500 pesos (70 euros) from the government when she decided to leave for Thailand. The attentive readers among us, and there are many on the blog, will probably think: why don't these highly educated Filipinos work on the problems in their country themselves, just like in any other country?
And here comes the suffocating Catholic church “into the picture” ladies and gentlemen… Filipinos are even more Catholic than the Pope and concepts like 'change', 'different approach', 'turnaround', or 'revolutionary movement' are even more pagan than fisting at candlelight.
The “People's Revolution” in the 80s, led by Corazon Aquino, died a sudden death from the power of the Catholic Church in the country. Aquino was encapsulated by the Cardinals within a year.
Two weeks ago we had a party at school. Someone left. I sat at a table with some colleagues and asked George from Kenya what Melissa de Mallorca, the Filipino math teacher who sat across from me, was reading all the time.
“The Bible, dude. She's reading the fucking bible…”
Cor Verhoef, 5 August 2010.
Submitted communication
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Dear Cor,
Bit loaded this piece. The Catholica is getting off very badly and if we look at the many welfare work of the Catholica in the Philippines, but also worldwide, some things described above are far from the truth. Unless you are an atheist of course…. 😉
Comment removed. Not relevant for Thailandblog.
Dear Han, indeed relevant to TB. It sheds light on the large numbers of Filipinos who have left their homeland for Thailand and the reasons behind it. An estimated 100.000 Filipinos work in Thailand, mostly in education. I know, dear Han, it's not your average TB piece, but it's something different from reader questions like "How do I get from Suvarnabumi to my hotel?" (That reader question really stood there)
Well, the Philippines, a poverty-stricken country with very large differences between the poor and the rich. Been there 2 times during Marcos time. It wasn't safe back then and I've heard it's gotten even worse these days. Perhaps that is why many flee their country and come to Thailand, among other things, to have a little more prosperity and security?
Dear Cor Verhoef,
The Philippines is a poor, but very beautiful country with, just like everywhere in South-East Asia, a big divide between rich and poor.
And as strange as it may sound in the predominantly Catholic country, the level of education is definitely better than in Thailand.
The Philippines has 7000 islands, some of which, especially those with larger cities, are less safe, but the smaller islands are completely safe, crime rate 0. Thailand can also learn a lesson from that.
I was there two years ago, also in the area where that typhoon passed. One of the biggest problems in the Philippines is the Annual typhoons, about 18 to 19 every year, half of which make landfall, with precipitation of about 2 meters in a few days and wind speeds of around 200 kilometers per hour.
Watch the videos on You Tube of the devastation it causes.
And go there, to know what you are writing about