’Tis the season of hope(lessness)

First was a to-do in 2003 over entire hospital wings of nurses being recruited for work abroad. Then, of doctors enrolling in nursing school to land better jobs overseas, thus menacing Philippine health care and actually leading to the closure of five hospitals last year. Now teachers too are being lured by job offers in America, Europe and Asia. Can the brain drain ever be plugged?

Truth to tell, the issue began to boil as far back as the ’60s. In those days, when the exchange rate was P2:$1, universities were beginning to churn out professionals but the economy was not growing fast enough to absorb them. Engineers, architects and lawyers didn’t care much about earning in dollars, doctors couldn’t raise the required capital to open clinics in hospitals; they all simply needed jobs. Newspaper editorials then blared about the need to industrialize, but protectionist policies wouldn’t allow it.

Twenty years later, the economy still wasn’t in fruition. The exchange rate had deteriorated to P12:$1. Professionals and craftsmen (mechanics, welders, electricians) were still in dire need of jobs. But there was also a new lure overseas: 12 times what one would earn for the same eight-to-five work in the Philippines. And so they left in droves for placement in the Middle East, which was then in a construction binge from petrodollars. To this day, close to two million of the 7.5 million overseas Filipino workers are in the region, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

Today, 20 more years later, there still aren’t enough jobs to come by for the 700,000 or so yearly graduates from college. By this time, the exchange rate has fallen farther to P54:$1. The quality of education too has deteriorated, as professionals hardly find time to share their knowledge and experience. Technical training too has slipped, since the ’80s overseas boom had sucked out the best craftsmen from the Philippines. Invariably they return not to practise their trades and thus take in apprentices, but to retire early with a tilapia fishpond, a poultry farm, or a fleet of tricycles. The lure of earning 54 times for the same eight-hour day is still strong. But there’s an even greater lure: the realization that, after 40 long years, the economy has not grown apace with population, and politicians are not about to do anything about it. With this feeling of hopelessness, nurses, doctors and teachers thus cannot be faulted for taking job offers that tack on family immigration visas within six months, plus housing assistance to boot. Not only them but a good number of non-professionals too want out. A recent survey shows that one of every three Filipinos wishes to emigrate.

Few have been the sparks of inspiration to stay and strive for long-dreamed-of national salvation. The two people-power revolts and the initial Subic boom gave people momentary hope, only to be dashed by politicking leaders. Other efforts like the Brain Gain Movement of Filipino techies, the Jesuit volunteers program, Knowledge Channel, and major foundation works are born in spite of politicians.

The general frustration can be gleaned in part from statistics e-mailed by a STAR reader from a fairly new university in Saudi Arabia. The reader is partly in charge of faculty recruitment, and the university took out ads in October in newspapers in Manila, US, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Teaching positions open were in English, Math, Physical Sciences, Computer, Finance, Accountancy, Marketing, and Physical Education for the Men’s College. Too, Interior Design, Art, Law, and Applied Linguistics for the Women’s College.

The school received more than 500 applications from all over the world for work starting the spring term of 2006. More than a third of the applicants are PhDs. Over a hundred résumés came from the Philippines. Only six have PhDs. Most are holders of master’s degrees in art or science – the minimum academic requirement stated in the ads – from top schools like the Ateneo, De la Salle, University of the Philippines, University of Sto. Tomas, and Asian Institute of Management. All the Filipinos presently hold high management positions in banks, commercial firms and government agencies, and are also professors in the universities they came from. One is a college dean; another was a vice president of one of the top five banks.

If the STAR reader had his way, he would fill up all the faculty vacancies with those top-notch Filipinos. But he knows most of them don’t stand a chance against the PhDs from elsewhere. Only three of the Filipinos would be hired. But the reader convinced the university director to take in five or six more in senior administrative positions. Still, he is bitter that in job competitions, Filipinos fare less because of the doctorates readily available in other lands while holding a job. More than that, that many of those who leave are among the Philippines’ best educators. And most of all, they want to leave their homeland out of desperation.

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