Exodus

With the recent news of Filipino commercial pilots being pirated by foreign airline companies, it shows how much the Filipino is being valued outside the Philippines. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself shows the irony that befells the country when she said that Philippine commercial airlines have lots of planes but don't have pilots to fly them, while our Air Force has a lot of piots but don't have any planes to fly.

This phenomenon of Filipinos being valued more outside of their own country didn't happen overnight. It can be compare to a tsunami, slowly the tide recedes before the big wave hits. Though the wave hasn't hit yet, I don't think the goverment should wait on the sideline before it hits us.

When I was still a kid, I remember that it was our construction workers/laborers who were being sought after by the Middle East country. They provided quality worksmanship and also was cheap labor. The goverment was happy then because of the huge amount of dollar remittance they sent into the Philippines. No social, emotional or psychological ramification was being considered then, or what impact it would cause society.

Now it is not only in the Middle East that the Filipino workforce are being sought after. Heck I guess there is no country in the world where you can't find a Filipino providing quality work. These translates to a lot of dollars remitted to the Philippines and thus driving the economy not only during Christmas season when it is at its peak, but all throughout the year. In fact due to this fact, coupled with the sound fiscal management program of the goverment, the Philippine peso was declared as one if not the most stable currency in the market.

The problem that I have with this is first, is with the exodus of our high quality workforce the country a huge void needs to be filled up quickly, second, those who remain here in the country are feeling the scarcity of finding quality work or service.

So unless this issue be address the soonest possible time, even the families of those working abroad who has the financial capability to pay for quality work won't find it.

Thursday March 30, 2006 2:51 PM