You know a country has really sunk to an unprecedented depth of wretchedness when its own citizens would prefer to remain in a war zone over taking their chances on a return to the “safety” of their homeland.
Such is what describes the rather embarrassing situation in the Philippine government’s efforts to repatriate up to 13,000 Filipino nationals living and working in Libya which has been wracked in recent weeks by internal strife between various armed groups.
Despite the danger, many Filipinos in Libya have ignored the government’s order for mandatory evacuation, DFA spokesman Charles Jose told reporters on Monday.
“The usual reason we hear from them is that they would rather take the chance. They think they have greater chances of surviving the war [there] than of surviving uncertainty [without jobs] here,” Jose said.
To most, it is quite difficult to imagine how one’s chances of survival in a war zone could be regarded as much “greater” than that in a relatively peaceful and stable country like the Philippines. But time and again, it’s been proven that Filipino overseas foreign workers (OFWs) who find themselves in the middle of war are likely to think twice about returning to the Philippines.
Many of the Filipino workers deployed to middle Eastern countries like Libya are highly-trained professionals in the health care and engineering fields. Whilst their work is highly-valued in their host countries (as evident in the high wages they earn there), many of these workers face poverty-level wages in the Philippines. Nurses in the Philippines even get paid negative wages thanks to a crushing supply that utterly dwarfs demand there.
Recently, prized meteorologists employed by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) too had voted with their feet and headed for the greener pasteurs of the weather services in foreign countries where their expertise is better-appreciated. This is remarkable considering the Philippines is completely vulnerable to the hundreds of tropical storms that ravage its islands every year. Much of the death and destruction wreaked by these storms could have been prevented by improved (or, at least, sustained) weather monitoring and forecasting capability — a critical service PAGASA struggles to provide.
But even for relatively-affluent Filipinos, life in the former US colony is no bed of roses. Even in Metro Manila, where most of the country’s movers and shakers live, the lifestyle is, to put it mildly, an acquired taste. The country’s premier city the development of which, one would think, would be prioritised by its wealthy and influential elite inhabitants remains one of the world’s least livable cities. The teeming megalopolis was referred to as the “Gates of Hell” by novelist Dan Brown in his recent book Inferno. Metro Manila’s notorious traffic gridlock dooms most of its residents to spending from three to four hours of their lives stuck in traffic everyday. And because of this, real estate prices in the inner city, specially within the areas of its central business districts, are far beyond the reach of even upper-middleclass Filipinos.
As such, many Filipinos who rely on a daily commute through Manila’s choked steaming streets endure appalling living conditions in hovels and dormitories just to be within a 2-3 hour commute of their places of work. Considering that agriculture in the Philippines no longer provides a decent enough income to millions of Filipinos, cities have come to represent the hope for decent employment for Filipinos.
This is the so-called “alternative” the Philippines presents to the average OFW eking out a living in hostile desert kingdoms half a planet away. For all the lip service paid to “inclusive growth” (made even more tragic by the supposed ‘positive’ macro-economic numbers the Philippines had attained over the last couple years), there is very little confidence among ordinary Filipinos that their homeland will be a better one anytime soon.
[Photo courtesy Women Under Siege Project.]
- Philippine Opposition fails to propose ALTERNATIVES to Duterte’s “senatoriables” - April 20, 2018
- Ph employers hire college grads for work that requires only hi-school grads just because they can - April 19, 2018
- Ellen Tordesillas of Vera Files bares lack of guiding definition for “fake news” to “fact check” Facebook! - April 18, 2018
- Facebook users should be left to decide what is fake and what is authentic - April 17, 2018
- Rappler “fact checking” partnership with Facebook is turning into a FIASCO - April 16, 2018
Leave a Reply
19 Comments on "Filipinos see a better future in foreign war zones than in the Philippines"
Your caption is so perfect. I saw the news on this late last night and our thoughts mesh. It really is more fun in the Philippines because fun is usually in inverse proportion to work. That stupid myth Noynoy is on record saying that people abroad choose to go because they work here is just that. Then again who said it?
Your country’s indeed in deep crap when its people prefer to dodge bullets some place else than to live in a cesspool of a different sort. Yokel, anti-intellectual mentality, systemic corruption and oligarchism, and general complacency among the masses preferring to discuss the finer points of fashion at the recent SONA than what actually matters can and will lead to the Philippines sinking into an even deeper low.
Empty campaign promises wrapped with yellow ribbon, without a doubt, would not create the needed jobs in our country.
For many brave OFW‘s, the choicea are limited. Take the risks of working abroad just to provide for their families, or stay here without a chance to earn a decent salary.
If not for the dollar remittances of the OFW‘s, then our economy will not have a positive growth at all. Sad, but true.
On a positive note, this is a good way of decreasing the Philippines’ population. If I recall, Noynoy wanted to decrease this country’s population, right? Well, this OFW exodus also does the trick for him (I have no idea idea, though, whether or not he knows it). Well, that’s fewer mouths for that “magnanimous” president to feed, right? Hahaha. 😛
/sarcasm
No fun in Asia’s number One sinkhole.
More fun battling Al Qaeda on the western front.
If I did not have a wife & children here I would leave this shithole my next SSA payday.
you can live fine in the philippines and make a great living. im doin it right now. people go abroad to get a bigger house and compete with neighbors and relatives