Philanthropist to the world

With mounting debts and a struggling economy, it is hard to imagine that the Philippines can be philanthropic. It is. Someone once said to me that if overseas Filipinos were to go on strike, it would affect the whole world – secretaries in the UN, seamen manning ocean ships and liners, nurses and doctors in hospitals not to speak of what has been euphemistically labeled as caregivers working for millions of households with working mothers and the aged. So far, the perspective on all Filipinos abroad (not just workers as it is often misused) is about the millions of money they remit to the Philippines making them a pillar of our economy.

But there is another perspective which we have overlooked – that as workers and technicians to the world, Filipinos deserve something more than the wages earned by those abroad. While in exile in London, my husband and I looked at other governments’ policies towards their overseas workers. At the time there were ongoing negotiations between the Turkish and German governments on the millions of Turkish gasterbeiter. One of the things the Turks wanted on the table was a surcharge cost to the German government for the education of their citizens who live and work there. If the country needs their skills (or their labor), then they must also pay for the education that gave them the skills, quite apart from the wages the workers receive. The beneficiary, in this case, would be the state of Turkey.

The same would apply to Filipinos who benefit the countries they migrate to. Certainly it is most true of our much needed nurses. There are 100,000 registered nurses in the Philippines. They may no longer live or work here but once upon a time they did. The same goes for 90 percent of our medical school graduates. Since the 1970s, the United States has imported our nurses, to solve their shortage in trained nurses. The United States needs an estimated 600,000 nurses between now and 2010. No wonder there is even a special H-1 visa for them.

We often think that if nurses become nurses, they become so on their own. In a way that is partly true at least as far as tuition and daily expenses are concerned. But education has a context and that context is supplied by the state. They lived here and they learned here. That includes all that pertains to residence and citizenship in the Philippines. I am not talking about politics or bad governance. I am talking about what the Turkish already understood about their migrant workers – their education can be regarded as a cost to the state before their migration.

Moreover, the countries that need the nurses are also among the countries and their banking institutions, to which we pay increasingly unbearable interest on debts. These have taken away funds from such basic needs as education and health. All this makes us philanthropists to the world. And it is a double whammy. Here we are struggling to make both ends meet and yet we are giving to the world for free the costs of educating our citizens who then end up abroad. Moreover the system of educating nurses in the Philippines and the US are the same. There is a cost to the skills they learned here. That cost could do so much for our poorly funded schools and the many students left behind.

I know it may be a pie in the sky to imagine that we could successfully persuade host countries for this surcharge. But we can at least let the world know how much we have given. I use the word philanthropist popularized in Robert Tressel’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. It tells the story of a group of working men who are roused by Owen, a ‘journeyman-prophet’ with a vision of a just society. Tressel used Owen to attack the greed and dishonesty of the capitalist system. The book is said to have inspired the British welfare state and strengthened the Labor Party. That is probably all we can hope for if we bring it up as an issue of injustice and make a case for the Philippines to its debtor countries. By putting the blame on our government and politicians (that is not to say that they are without fault) for difficulties we are in, we may be missing the bigger picture and where we should be casting our net.

MISCELLANY. We are all very pleased that the Philippines was selected for the well-regarded Cannes Film Festival. How did it happen? Last November 2004, Louis Paul Heussaff of Axantis Productions was advised by his partner in Paris, Les Film du Phoenix, Pierre William Glenn, president of "Conseil Superieur Technique of the French Cinemas" that there would be a new section in the Cannes Festival called "Tous les Cinemas du Monde". It was exciting first-hand information that he thought the Philippines should not miss. He immediately passed it on to the French Embassy in Manila and ultimately led to the selection of the Philippines. Out of 125 countries seven were chosen to show their films at the festival: Morocco, South Africa, Mexico, Austria, Peru, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. It shows yet again how private sector and governments can work together successfully. Thanks are due to the Embassy of France in Manila especially Cultural Counsellor Francois Blamont and audio visual attaché, Martin Macalintal. Also to Axantis Productions Philippines and Les film du Phoenix, Louis Paul Heussaff and Film Development Council of the Philippines, Ms. Laurence Guillen. Speaking of the French, they are busy with a colorful schedule of events for the French Spring in Manila this June. Called ‘Unity in Diversity’, there will be a recital by Helene Delavault (famous operatic singer), a film festival, a photo exhibit by George Tapan aptly called Paris Off Color, a jazz festival, juggling and street theater, a contemporary circus performance, fine culinary week, cabaret night and a fete de la musique as a fitting finale.

AN ASEAN AOC? It is not just Filipinos or Germans who are anxious about the opening of NAIA 3. Member nations of ASEAN are particularly interested especially those who know that a new, spunking airport will boost our tourism and they want to take a peep before it happens. Member countries of ASEAN are coming to Manila to finally tie the knots for an ASEAN Airline Operators Council (AOC). This project was first broached last year by Singapore and Bangkok but was shelved until today. "They are so serious," Onie Nakpil, chairman of AOC (Manila) "they tell me that they plan to hold the meeting here if I cannot go to Kuala Lumpur when the MOU between the airline operators will be signed. (There is talk that they want Nakpil also as chairman of the ASEAN AOC.) The group will exchange information as well as be a lobby group for some of their common problems with their respective governments. It is Bangkok that is especially interested in what happens to NAIA3, the Thais being a big rival for tourism in the region.

WORKSHOP "LEADERS BUILDING BRIDGES FOR A PEACEFUL TOMORROW." Belle Abaya sent an invitation to this column for this workshop. "Over the past decade, there has been a quiet revolution that has dramatically advanced conflict resolution in many parts of the world The revolution came in the form of a fundamental yet extremely successful dispute resolution system called mediation," she said.

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