Progress yes, but at what expense?

GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star,Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The TV talk show in which he guested is closing. Mr. Shooli takes off his signature Mongolian hat, peels off fake whiskers. Departing from his comedy routine, he ponders the topic just discussed. “I will be my real self, Jun Urbano, for a while,” he remarks gloomily. “They say it’s economic progress. But is it really, when Father is working as a mechanic in faraway Dubai, Mother is a maid in Singapore, Sister is a japayuki, Brother is tago-nang-tago in America, while only Baby is left home?”

Urbano is no economist. Yet he echoes the thinking of many Filipinos about their nation. Their government is trumpeting an economic upsurge never experienced in a decade. Last quarter’s GDP grew 7.5 percent from last year’s 5.5 in the same period; GNP was 8.3 percent from the previous 6.4. And these have been rising for 23 consecutive quarters. All this because of the administration’s supposed correct economic programs, including the marketing abroad of the Philippines’ top export: labor.

Notably close to 40 percent of GNP comes from employment income abroad. But at what expense?

That government calls overseas workers modern-day heroes is in recognition that their remittances keep the economy alive. If not braving sunstroke in the Middle East, harsh winters in Europe, and storms in all the seven seas, they’d be home jobless and living off the government’s meager welfare budget. But there they are, sending home an ever-growing amount, this year forecast to hit $14 billion. Some churchmen also romanticize the role of overseas workers as supposed spreaders of the Christian faith. In truth the exodus of nine million workers is taking a toll on the family — and consequently on society. Migrants’ associations variously estimate broken homes at one of every three up to one of every five because of overseas separation. Spouses as well as children are stigmatized. The effect on the nation’s moral fabric has yet to be studied.

There are initial findings, though, on the impact of faraway parents on children. Vincent Fabella, president of Jose Rizal University, notices unusually high college dropout rate among children of overseas workers. Colleagues at the Philippine Association of College and Universities, of which he was chairman, experience the same. Psychologists say it’s all due to denial of parent-child quality time. That’s where the irony lies. Parents work their backs off in other lands to earn enough and send the kids to the best schools money can buy. But the kids drop out because their parents are not present to guide and guard.

The folly of government dependence on overseas jobs — instead of creating them — has long been known. Sociologists have been decrying the brain drain since the 1960s. Then as now government couldn’t spur real industrialization. There was no system for industries to give rise to new ones, and for jobs to abound. What was prevalent was for the emigrant to send some cash back to the homeland for some family member to graduate from college and take care of the rest. Today, nurses and teachers are being enticed to uproot their families for overseas placements. The country’s top meteorologist, head no less of the weather bureau, is about to leave with his family for Canada. All that is fine, perhaps, since they will be together to live as complete families. But not the nine million overseas transients, who are not so lucky to depart forever from the hopeless homeland.

And the overseas employment boom may not stay forever. Already there are signs of contraction of the US economy, at four million the biggest hirer of Filipino contractual employees. This would mean less job openings soon.

Ahead of it, the flood of remittances has begun to work against the interest of overseas workers. Because more and more foreign currencies are being sent home, the peso is gaining strength by the day. Many of the workers negotiated their pay when the exchange rate was P50:$1; it is now P44. Money they send home now buys fewer goods than it used to, as a natural consequence of excessive overseas employment.

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It had to happen sooner or later — with the way money flows during Philippine elections. A defeated barangay captain in Sumisip, Basilan, is terrorizing villagers, demanding they return his campaign expenses before he steps down. Police said residents of Barangay Bait have fled their homes for fear of reprisal by armed goons of erstwhile chief Narding Damahan. Trounced by a newcomer in last week’s election, Damahan wants anybody and everybody to reimburse him for costs, like paying off voters. Problem is, the money had long been used for food and fuel.

This fellow may not be the last poll loser to go berserk. In future elections, other candidates who throw money to families that sell votes to highest bidders but double-cross will surely try to exact violent revenge. More so since in the Philippines, politics is associated with private armies.