More middle-class Filipinos seek brighter future in Canada

[Juan Tamad]

MANILA--Despite its cold climate, Canada is fast becoming the country of choice for many middle-class professional Filipinos who are leaving the tropical Philippines in droves to seek a better future for themselves and their families overseas.
Armed with a college degree and a good career history with a multinational electronics firm in Manila, Ferdie Del Rosario plans to quit his job and emigrate to Canada.

Taking a day off from his job as a supervisor at Amkor Technology, he has brought one of his small children along to a seminar on becoming a Canadian citizen.

Del Rosario points to his daughter, playing on the aisle during a seminar break, and says he is doing it "for the future of my kids".

He says his life here is comfortable but even he is worried about what lies ahead for the Philippines.

"You can see the situation: there are so many graduates but not enough jobs. In my job, there are college graduates who are just machine operators."

Unemployment is running at about 11 percent nationally and rising, and, with 700,000 new college graduates every year, the economy cannot create enough skilled jobs to accommodate them.

A million Filipinos are expected to leave the country this year, most of them in search of temporary, higher-paying jobs. But a growing number are pulling up stakes for good in a country where 51 percent live on two dollars a day or less.

For the optimistic crowds who attend the seminars organized by the Canadian government's Citizenship and Immigration ministry, there is little sign of wistfulness about leaving the land of their birth.

Offered free of charge twice a week to those approved immigrants to Canada, the seminars prepare Filipinos about the realities of their new country: the cold weather, the culture shock and having as much as 30 percent of their salaries go to taxes--a sharp adjustment for Filipinos who are used to evading taxes back home.

Canadians based in the Philippines say there is much to love in the Southeast Asian country: a comfortable, tropical climate, beautiful beaches, fresh fruits and fresh seafood.

But at one recent seminar, the would-be migrants, mostly professionals or skilled workers, said they would be glad to leave "the pollution" and "bribery."

The only things the Filipinos said they would miss are the friends and family they will be leaving behind--and the low-cost househelp that every middle-class Filipino family can afford.

Filipinos are the third largest group of immigrants to Canada, just behind the Chinese and Indians. Approximately 12,000 immigrated last year alone, Canadian officials said.

The number excludes 2,000 Filipino caregivers allowed into Canada each year under a special program which lets them become permanent residents after about three years.

In the past, the United States was the migrants' first choice. But stricter US immigration regulations, Canada's more open policy to skilled workers, state-subsidized schools and health care are attracting more Filipinos.

The Canadian government advises migrants to bring enough money to survive for six months because it may take them that long to settle and find a job.

The immigrants are not intimidated by advice that their educational and professional qualifications may not count as much in Canada--or tales from earlier migrants about how they had to start working at the bottom of the ladder.

Teachers in government schools get paid about 200 dollars a month here in the Philippines, about half what they can earn as domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Government doctors earn around 400-500 dollar a month in the Philippines but in north America they can earn many times that each month as nurses.

Many are willing to endure this because they have lost hope in a home country which suffers from sluggish economic growth, political squabbling and corruption.

Gloomy sentiments about the Philippines have been growing for years. A July 2002 survey by Manila-based polling outfit Pulse Asia Inc. found that 24 percent of adults said they would "migrate to another country and live there" if given a chance.

Options of preventing the country's best and brightest from leaving are few. "Well, what can we do about it? Tell me, can I prevent you from leaving? I don't think so," says Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas.

One prospective migrant, dancer Jojo Lucila proudly recalls how he choreographed some of the official Philippine Independence Day parades in recent years.

But in his trips abroad, he was impressed by the discipline and way of life in Canada. "It is a good place to raise kids. Once there, you hardly see people blow their horns when they drive."

Lucila says "the straw that broke the camel's back" was joining his children in watching the televised corruption trial of deposed Philippine president Joseph Estrada.

His kids seemed more impressed by the eloquence of the lawyers rather than the moral issue of a president being tried for plundering his country, he recalls.

"You can't tell what are the obvious values [here]. Our system is too disorderly. You don't know who to trust. We want our kids to have a choice of understanding a better country, [learning] what is right and what should be done," he said.

Louise Belanger, Philippine manager of the Canadian Orientation Abroad project does not recall any case of a Filipino going to Canada and then returning home in disappointment.

One woman wrote to her, saying she wanted to give up after only six months. She was advised to stick it out and in a year, she found her desired job as a chartered accountant, Belanger recalls.

Glenda Carabit, assistant professor at a small provincial college, says she is going because "at my age, 40, I have served the country that long. I can spend the rest of my life as a Canadian."

She is confident that the she will be able to cope with the new environment. "I'm a Filipino. We can handle these things," Carabit says.

"It's a trend. Everybody is going now," she adds.

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There goes the future of the Philippines under this corrupt GMA administration..

[mazdamazda]

so... do you leave a sinking ship to "save" your family?

or

do you stay behind and help plug just one tiny hole in the hull of the ship? there is no guarantee of saving the ship... but think of the potential IF many would also join you in doing that... that's 80M Filipinos my friend.

[stinkaboy]

how long kaya makukuha ang tourist visa papuntang canada?

san ang seminar? any contact numbers? or website?

[pparado]

AMEN.....

that is the reality of it...and it does hurt.

For a better future of my kids...I would do the same.

[speedy]

I, myself am a good example of the results of migrating out of the Philippines and reside in the US. Both my parents had excellent positions in the Phillipines when we were younger but elected to move to the US some 20-25 years ago. Now both I, myself and my brother are successfull profesionals in each respective field. I am gratefull for what my parents did and acknowledge the sacrifice they had made for us kids. Both parents gave up their established positions in Manila for labor work in the US. I have given them the choice of moving back to Manila to retire but both have elected to stay here with their grand kids. I understand that old family and friends are back home but abroad you get the opportunity to make new friends and family. All you need to be is open and be willing to be a friend to someone else. And if your friends back in Manila are truly your friends, they would always be your friend and would always understand. Now that is just my story, I'm sure there are many others that would say otherwise but I know that were better off as a family than we would have been if we stayed.

[KCboy]

ako naman, im thankful din sa parents ko for migrating to vancouver canada, i tasted how it is to live in canada, got my degree there n i chose to come back and help in running our family business, i made a choice to come back, but im telling you guys now, i won't be here to retire. canada offers a simple life n that's what i want when i retire, i just wish the people who are running our beautiful country turns it around so that by the time i retire, i will have a choice. damn, it hurts so much to see what these ppl are doing to the country that i love so dear.

[ultimate]

i left for the U.S. in 1981. I work and make money in the U.S. but i come home to my beloved country 2 to 3 times a year to catch up with the good times and nightlife, and, of course, to be with my old friends
whom i always missed. The worst part is when you're ready to fly out of the country again. Malungkot ! hehehe.

[speedy]

Hey ultimate, your telling me that in 24 years in the us, you've never found any other friends, american or filipino or any other nationality here? Do you have relatives here? I see you live in Cali, lots of nightlife there too! There's got to be more than friendship that makes you travel to the philippines 2-3x a year.

[KCboy]

speedy,
depends yan what age ka nagmove, kasi if u move during your 30s na, hirap na makahanap ng circle of friends na ud consider really close kasi u just work n work, ako nga i moved when i wad 18, nahirapan din kasi the older u are, the harder it is to adjust.

[speedy]

speedy,
depends yan what age ka nagmove, kasi if u move during your 30s na, hirap na makahanap ng circle of friends na ud consider really close kasi u just work n work, ako nga i moved when i wad 18, nahirapan din kasi the older u are, the harder it is to adjust.

I guess you may be right, its hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I migrated when I was 15 and that was hard at first but after a year you look at the situation and make the best out of it. I still keep in touch with some of my friends from back home but not as much as the people I've met here in the US. I guess proximity has something to do with it.