Our sojourn here in America with my wife is not really a vacation, but a research travel on the lives and careers of Filipino migrant workers in the so-called land of milk and honey. I interviewed Filipino community leaders and embassy officials, as well as ordinary workers who are here pursuing the American dream. In general, they are doing well. In fact, some of them are doing very well. There a few however who are having problems at work and in family relations. But then again, the large majority are making good and are the envy of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and even Americans. They rise in their career and have beautiful family life and community relations. I always tell them that they are living up to the image of a true Filipino: Pili na lipi ma pino ang ugali.
My good friend and kumpadre Celso Ballesteros is an engineer working in a large engineering and logistics company in San Francisco. He is highly respected by his peers, many of whom are Vietnamese, Chinese and Mexicans. His children who all grew up in Metro Manila and graduated here are now successful in their careers and family life in the US. I have a godchild, Edric de las Alas, my former Law student in UE who married my Law student in UST, Sharon. They are now both paralegal employees in the LA county and will soon practice law in the state of California. Another set of godchildren in marriage, Lito and Nenen, who are now living in the Riverside Area between LA and San Diego, are a very rich couple who prospered from both employment and business.
We have a town mate from Ronda, Cebu, Doris Villagonzalo, a registered nurse, who is working in New York who has become an outstanding hospital personnel and a pride of Filipino health workers in the East coast. The most successful perhaps is Dr. Antonio Macatol my classmate in Southwestern University way back in the late sixties. He is perhaps the richest Filipino professional in the whole of USA, and is a recognized pillar of the medical practitioners in Connecticut. Tony is a surgeon who operates at least twice a day. He is a preferred doctor and is very popular among his patients. He is also a successful real estate broker and car dealer. We visited his mansion, which is bigger than a provincial capitol in some Philippine provinces. He picked us up at the JFK International Airport in a limousine with a uniformed Puerto Rican driver.
In Las Vegas, my cousins are earning well in the casino. The husband works as a casino dealer and the wife as a waitress but they were able to buy two expensive SUVs from casino tips alone. They have three big houses, all rented out. They live in a small but comfortable home and their two children are going to private schools. They never graduated from any college course here but they are earning more than some lawyers and doctors here. I have a friend in Honolulu who works as a doctor in Kawai Island, with free housing and free education for his children. He lives a very comfortable life, working and fishing and having a very comfortable residence in a paradise island resort. He and his wife are living in a luxurious residential village of the rich and the famous.
What makes all of them a success however, to my mind, is that they have maintained a solid and happy marriage and family relations. They are striving hard to maintain the Filipino culture, going to church as a whole family every Sunday, getting together among cousins, relatives and in-laws every weekends, and celebrating fiestas and Independence Day, Christmas and other holidays. We were surprised to see our own nephews and nieces kissing our hands, and leading us in prayers before each meal. We are very happy to see the Filipinos here in the USA, passionately involved in gathering relief goods and collecting donations for the Yolanda victims. They are very active in embassy and consulate activities and in community activities.
Most of all, we are very happy to note that employers always prefer Filipino workers here. My brother, Jonathan, is an outstanding police officer in Federal Way, a city south of Seattle, and my other brother, Bernard is head of quality in a giant firm in Seattle. My cousin Fesing is managing a bakery in that city and many other relatives and friends are valued by their employers. They are never late, they never refuse to render overtime. They even work on their birthdays if called upon. They get commendations, promotions, salary hikes and good allowances and bonuses. The economy here is not really well this time but the Filipinos' work and career are in good shape. Employers love Filipinos, and our country is looked upon positively by management and corporate leaders. I am truly proud of our migrant workers in America.