Migration: The Philippine Experience

This is a shortened version of paper presented during the Ecumenical Conference Philippines-Germany, held on 25-27 October 2002 in Vallendar, Rhineland, Germany

Thank you for inviting me to speak in this conference. The topic you have given me is quite big – and trying to fit it into this presentation is almost sure not to give justice to many important parts of the Philippine migration experience. To add to that is the fact that my own fields of direct experience are small parts of the big topic. I am an Overseas Filipino based in a relatively small European country, with a relatively small OF population.

I will be using the term Overseas Filipino (OF) to refer to our sector. This term includes all those of Filipino origin who live outside the Philippines. This includes Overseas Contract Workers, other Filipino overseas workers, Filipinos married to host country nationals, transients (e.g. students) and even the children of migrants. The term OCW does not apply to at least a half of us abroad, and to only very few Filipinos in Europe. The term ‘migrant’ includes most of us here, except for the second generation OFs (they didn’t migrate, their parents did). Some OFs would prefer to call themselves as ‘Filipino expatriates’. The categories of: migrant, immigrant and refugee are not really useful; since the distinction among them is rather vague in practice.

I would like to make a number of points to contextualize this presentation. First of all, as an Overseas Filipino, my view of the Philippine migration experience is not the same as those looking from the ‘outside’. So, while the people of the countries where we are, or even Filipinos in the Philippines, may talk about migration as an ‘issue’; As an Overseas Filipino I prefer to take the point of view of our situation and experience as a sector of society – societies, since a migrant is a member of two societies: that of the sending country (the Philippines, in this case), and the receiving country. For us, migration is not an issue – the issues, from our point of view, arise from how both the Philippines and our various host countries relate to us.

Secondly, it is important to note that the situation of OFs differ per country, and within the Filipino community in any given country, there are many differences. This means that we have to be wary about making sweeping generalizations.

Also, while it is true that we face a lot of difficulties, this does not mean that our lives are all struggle. Like our kababayans in the Philippines, Filipinos abroad also know how to make the best out of the situation we’re in. Most of those among us who have lived abroad for more than a couple of years are satisfied with their lives. They have gone abroad seeking to improve their lives, and to earn money for their families, and they are able to do so. Even many of those who live in constant fear of deportation would say that their lives abroad are better now than when they were in the Philippines, they also had problems in the Philippines after all.

History

The first recorded Filipino migrant would have to be Enrique (Trapobana), who as a slave of Ferdinand Magellan, accompanied his expedition that literally went around the world. Magellan had bought Enrique during a stint in Melaka, and subsequently brought him to Portugal (as pasalubong?). Enrique’s native tongue was Cebuano Visayan, since he was only able to fully understand the natives upon landing in Limasawa and later Cebu. Anyway, the point is that even then, Enrique distinguished himself as a hard working, skilled and loyal worker. He was also a seaman. Eventually, Enrique became a balikbayan ( a quite unique one, since he was the first person to circumnavigate the globe), and reintegrated into Cebuano society after Magellan’s death.

During the period of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade, Filipino seamen sometimes jumped ship upon arrival in Acapulco. Some of them made their way westward. A Filipino community was recorded to have been established the Saint Malo village in Louisiana, USA at around 1830. Later, Filipinos went to Spain, especially after the opening of the Suez canal in the late 1800s. While the intellectuals among them made a lasting impression (especially those involved in the first and second Propaganda movements), there were also seamen and other workers who ended up in Spain. There were certainly Filipina nannies in the late 1800s in Spain – it seems that even then, Filipina domestics were already in demand among aristocratic Spanish families.

When the US took over the Philippines, Filipinos started to migrate to the US in bigger numbers. While the so-called pensionados (government scholars) were subsidized by the US government, Filipino farm workers started to arrive in Hawaii and California.

The Filipino immigration to the US sped up again after 1965, with the ‘dual track’ approach under the new immigration law; which allowed both for the entry of relatives of naturalized migrants, as well as those with specific skills (e.g. medical doctors, nurses) which were in short supply in the US at that time.
At present, there are about 2 million Filipinos in the US.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Marcos regime promoted the export of Philippine workers, mainly to the Middle East and Asia. As a part of this drive, Filipino nurses and seamen (and other kinds of workers) were also deployed to Europe. With the economic crisis in the Philippines, many skilled workers were not able to find jobs, and they opted to ‘seek their fortune’ (nakikipagsapalaran) in foreign countries. Many teachers and other professionals sought jobs abroad as domestic workers; nursing and maritime schools were in demand, because they were seen as giving their graduates a good chance of getting work abroad.

Overseas Filipinos Today

Today, there are more than 5 million Filipinos living and working outside the Philippines. This includes 2 million in the USA, 1.2 million in the Middle East, 600,000 in Europe, and 200,000 seafarers. Overseas Filipinos are engaged in a wide range of occupations: e.g. teachers, construction workers, manufacturing, transportation, seamen, business administration, domestic workers, medical professions, etc.

Overseas Filipinos are almost literally everywhere. It would indeed be difficult to find a country without Filipinos, or a city for that matter in Western Europe, the US or even the Middle East where there are no Filipinos. One effect of this is that OFs are involved in some way or another with a lot of world events. Filipinos died in the World Trade Center disaster, at least 2 Filipinas died in Israel from Palestinian suicide bombers; if any oceangoing ship is lost at sea it is most likely that there were some Filipinos onboard.

Overseas Filipinos have distinguished themselves in many places. Filipino seafarers make up almost one fourth of the seafarers on international ships. Philippine nurses and caregivers have a good reputation in Europe and the US. In the Middle East, companies advertise “We have Filipino workers” to signify that they give quality service. And in some countries, e.g. Spain, Greece, employing a Filipina domestic is a sign of ‘having made it’ in their society.

Causes of Migration

Lack of employment opportunities in the Philippines, or low pay for skilled workers and professionals is the main reason why these people migrate to other countries. At the high end of these would be top-level professionals e.g. in IT, etc. who could only find employment that fit their level of skill abroad. But the bulk of professionals and skilled workers go abroad because their salaries in the Philippines are too low, and in some cases because there is an over-supply of those skills (in relation to job openings, not absolute need) in the Philippines.

It is not the poorest section of Philippine society which migrates. In terms of the ‘ABCDE’ categorization of social strata that is often used; we can say that migrants would come from the BCD sections, with more coming from ‘C’. The majority of Filipino migrants have finished the tertiary level of education.

Filipinos are quite willing to take on jobs abroad which are below their level of skill or education. This is because they are able to earn more and have a better life than if they kept their jobs in the Philippines. This is the case of the many teachers and other college graduates who take on domestic jobs abroad. At the same time, they are quick to respond to opportunities to take on better jobs, or to improve their qualifications.

Colonial mentality, or the image that life abroad is better than life in the Philippines, is another major cause of Philippine migration. Some professionals, who work in the Philippines still want to transfer abroad, leaving well-paying jobs, because they believe that they would be better off abroad.

Specific laws and policies in the Philippines and abroad have facilitated migration. Perhaps the most significant single law has been the US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which opened the way for the entry of foreigners to the US through two routes: the first, is through being petitioned by relatives who are naturalized US citizens; the second route is through ‘occupational immigration’, in which thousands of professionals (mostly doctors and nurses) arrived with their spouses and children.

In the 1970s, the Marcos government initiated the labor export policy, which encouraged Filipinos to take jobs in the Middle East and other Asian countries.
As a result of this, there are about 1.2 million Filipinos working in the Middle East today, hundreds of thousands throughout the rest of Asia, and more than 200,000 Filipino seafarers. Tens of thousands of those deployed in the Middle East and Asia found their way to Europe through various ways.

Closer international ties, through business, tourism, academic exchanges, internet, etc., is also increasing the numbers of Overseas Filipinos. Philippine society is more open now, and Filipinos travel abroad more often; foreigners visit the Philippines on business or as tourists. With so much contact between Filipinos and foreigners, it is inevitable that some people would fall in love; and in the majority of cases, the couple would settle outside the Philippines. Many Filipinos who have gone abroad for what they initially thought would be a short stay (e.g. to finish a short course), often end up staying longer.

Family reunification, or the bringing over of the children, spouse, etc. of earlier migrants is growing as more and more OFs get established in their host countries. The presence of OFs in a given country also increases the possibilities for entry of subsequent batches. Thus, we can see that OFs often arrange to have their unmarried relatives come abroad on family visits, as au pair, or other ways, in the hope that they would find a way of staying longer (perhaps through marriage).
This fits into the Filipino family practice of investing limited resources on having the one with the biggest chance of advancement. This means that the smartest child’s education is prioritized, even if this child is not the oldest, or is a girl. In return, when this child becomes successful, she would have the duty to support the rest of the family. This is also extended in a sense towards those going abroad – the family invests limited resources in getting one member of the family to go abroad, in the hope that she/he would send back remittances to support the family, and eventually bring family members over.

Even in the face of host countries’ measures to limit the entry of migrants, the number of OFs will most probably continue to grow in the coming years. This is due to factors such as: family formation and reunification, skilled workers and professionals brought in to fill specific gaps in local markets (e.g. nurses or teachers), and the natural outward flow of people that is caused by open international relations.

In a study done on Overseas Filipinos by M.O. Butalid-Echaves ( “The acculturation of overseas Filipinos in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands”, August 1999), the respondents were asked what their reasons were for coming. (more than one answer was possible) The reasons for coming were: work (41%), marriage to a host country national (24%), “to broaden their experience/knowledge” (17%)

Overseas Filipinos and their host countries

Overseas Filipinos are part of two societies: that of the Philippines, and of their host country. Developments in either society, or in how these societies relate to migrants, have effects on us. While OFs are affected, to a greater or lesser degree, by the policies of the Philippine government; most of the time, we are most affected by conditions in our host countries.

The system of residence/work permits sets limits on what migrants are allowed to do in the host country. With this system, host countries reserve certain job categories for their nationals. One problem caused by this is the dependent position of OFs married to host nationals, in the first few years of their stay.
In the face of restrictions to entry, many migrants do not even bother to get a work/residence permit. One common strategy is to come in by any means (as tourist, au pair, student, or even by entering clandestinely), then to stay on as undocumented worker (we do not want to use the term ‘ illegal worker’ ) , and hope that you would not get caught till you have found a way to legalize yourself.

Legalization is often achieved by availing of periodic amnesties for undocumented migrants, by marriage to a citizen, or by getting into special categories of jobs that don’t require work permits (e.g. employees of international NGOs,foreign embassies, churches, and some multinationals). Many Filipino domestic workers in Europe are ‘runaways’, having escaped from the hands of exploitative and abusive employers (often from the Middle East) who visited Europe on family vacations. There are thus a large number of Filipino migrants in Europe who are ‘undocumented’ (i.e. without residence and work permits).
As undocumented workers, these OFs are forced to live in uncertainty, they accept the worst kinds of jobs, get the lowest wages, and live in substandard housing. They also live in constant fear of getting caught and deported, so they avoid main intersections and all places where the police are likely to conduct spot checks (sometimes the police even check churches, schools or during community sport events).

Many of our host countries do not recognize our diplomas and professional qualifications. In addition, many countries do not even offer a possibility for foreign professionals to get accredited through examinations, short courses, or evaluation of diplomas.

In addition to problems caused by government policy, migrants also have to deal with racism, discrimination and stereotyping from the natives. Before going into these problems, let me point out that only a minority of host country nationals are really racist; most people are quite decent, and treat us well. European employers generally treat their Filipino employees much better than Filipinos do.

Racist treatment of migrants range from physical attacks (including arson, beatings and even the murder of foreigners), to segregation (there are all sorts of ‘whites only’ establishments), to insults, to refusing all contact with ‘dirty blacks’ (Filipinos are also considered ‘black’ in Europe).

We are also negatively affected by the stereotyping of migrants by the native population. For example, since many Filipinos are domestic workers in a number of countries (to the point that ‘Filipino’ becomes synonymous to ‘domestic helper’), some people think that Filipinos are not fit to do other things.

In addition to the legal difficulties that many OFs face, we also have to deal with problems of cultural adjustment. The bigger the ‘cultural distance’ of the host country’s culture from that of the Philippines, the bigger the adjustment that the OF needs to do to bridge this gap. Thus, OFs in the US would have a relatively easier time making the cultural adjustment, in comparison to those in the Middle East, for example. For OFs with children, this is especially important – since they have to bring up their children in two cultures.

Overseas Filipinos have set up organizations and social networks to help them cope with their problems. There are very many organizations based on OFs various interests and needs: sports, religious, regional origin in the Phils., social, self-help, economic/business, and of course political (both in terms of the Phils., and the host country).

Overseas Filipinos and the Philippines

The Philippine government is quite consistent in its neglect of Overseas Filipinos. First of all, it doesn’t act as if the welfare of its citizens abroad is one of its prime concerns. This shows in the often inadequate support to Filipinos in trouble (e.g. deported, imprisoned, etc.) and in the sloppy treatment of OFs who go to Philippine embassies and consulates for various consular services.

The Philippine government’s policy seems to be to make Filipino overseas labor competitive by keeping our wages cheap. It also clearly subordinates the interests of migrants to the trade, aid and investment relations with the various countries receiving OFs. In addition, Philippine embassies and consulates are not given enough resources to do their work well.

The role of the Philippine government should be to work for ‘migrant-friendly’ conditions especially in countries with many OFs. For starters, the Philippine government should negotiate bilateral labor treaties with host governments. A bilateral labor treaty would help to ensure fair treatment of workers coming from both countries. Agreements to mutually recognize diplomas/work qualifications would help many of us here to find jobs that are more fitted to our level of training and education.

The Philippine government should also work hard to ‘regularize’ the many undocumented Filipino workers abroad. It could work towards prodding the host countries to declare an amnesty for undocumented workers. It should also take steps that host countries respect the basic human rights of undocumented workers. Also, it should take the initiative to ask for extended stay permits for Filipinos who have pending court cases against employers for illegal dismissal, cases of wives battered by their native husbands, or cases against women traffickers.

OFs who have left most of their family in the Philippines, have to cope with the problems of prolonged separation. There are a lot of social problems caused by this e.g. in the upbringing of the children and marital relations.
Kakammpi, an organization of migrant workers families, faces these problems in the course of their work. According to Fe Nicodemus, Kakammpi’s chairperson (in a speech to a OF conference in Athens, Greece, in 1997):

“Among children of migrant workers, incidents of drug abuse, delinquency, early pregnancies or marriages and child abuse are increasing. Children also manifest strong materialistic values as they become overly dependent on money and gifts from overseas. Sometimes, they become extravagant especially when opportunities are good.“

Many OFs are also deeply interested in Philippine development. In our own little way, all of us are doing what we can to help the Philippines: through supporting our families living expenses, by sending our poorer relatives to school, by investing in small business ventures, and by helping community projects. OFs are also active in encouraging tourism, and in promoting trade and investment from our host countries.
What Filipinos in the Philippines are fond of mentioning is that OFs remit up to US$ 6 million a year, and that this has helped to buoy up the economy in the midst of crisis. But in human terms, this is just the financial ‘tip of the iceberg’ – because literally millions of Filipinos have benefitted from this.

It is frustrating for us OFs to note, that inspite of all that we do, there are still big segments of Philippine society that condemn us for ‘turning our back on the country’. It is frustrating for us when the Philippine government does its best to attract foreign investments, but put up laws that limit Overseas Filipinos from making medium or large scale investments in the country.

To add to this, some progressive groups also fault us for remitting part of our hard-earned incomes to the Philippines. These groups picture us as ‘supporting the corrupt system in the Philippines’.

Opening a New Chapter

These last months have seen a lot of developments that affect Overseas Filipinos everywhere. On 21 and 22 October, an Absentee Voting Bill for Filipinos Abroad (AVB) was passed on third reading by the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives. [On 23 October, the Senate passed the ‘Retention of Citizenship’bill ; which restores Filipino citizenship to those who lost it when they became naturalized citizens of another country.] While it will take some weeks before a unified AVB will be signed into law, we are almost sure that Overseas Filipinos will be able to vote in the 2004 elections in the Philippines. This is indeed going to change our situation vis-a-vis the Philippines.

But what is even more impressive is the massive campaign undertaken by Overseas Filipinos throughout the world in order to push through with the AVB, and the even more massive mobilization of OFs that will take place to assist in the preparation and implementation of the elections. In August 2001, for the first time in history, Overseas Filipinos from the US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Oceania presented a united appeal to the Philippine president, Senate and House of Representatives, to pass an Absentee Voting bill. The grand coalition for absentee voting included literally hundreds of organizations and federations representing hundreds of thousands of OFs. This loose coalition was formalized in May 2002 as the International Coalition for Overseas Filipinos Voting Rights. Although OFs have been working for an AVB for more than ten years; this was the first time that we were cooperating globally.

The support from segments of Philippine civil society for our AVB campaign is an encouraging sign. The Catholic church and numerous NGOs have helped us push the government to pass the AVB in time for the 2004 elections. More Filipinos in the Philippines are realizing that we are their natural allies in the campaign against corruption, and for political reforms; and that our potential role in Philippine economic development has barely been tapped.

The internet has been a big factor in the development of the Overseas Filipino sector. For one, it has made it possible for OFs to keep up-to-date about developments in the Philippines. The EDSA II uprising which overthrew Pres. Estrada was participated in by thousands of OFs. eLagda’s campaign to get 1 million Filipinos against Estrada was able to mobilize 150,000 active e-Mandirigma’s ( e- warriors) which bombarded target politicians with e-mails during the critical period of the Estrada impeachment process.

After this experience, eLagda and other internet-based OF networks have been set up to work on a whole range of OF issues. These networks have brought together OFs from various parts of the world – and have been a very valuable platform for dialogue among OFs. Cooperation among OFs across countries or global regions has also been growing in other spheres. The Balik-aral initiative in Geneva, where Filipino IT expatriates set up a computer school for Filipino domestics, was inspired by a similar initiative in Japan. There are now a number of international OF efforts to set up an OFW Bank.

OFs may also be starting to shed our ‘invisible’ political profiles in our various host countries. In the US, they have recently set up a caucus of Filipinos in the Democratic party – this is quite overdue, given the large numbers of OFs in various States. In Europe, OF cooperative initiatives e.g. the elementary schools in Athens and Rome, the Bahay-Kubo housing association in London, have already ‘graduated’ from the difficult initial years. The future will see cooperation on these and other lines.

There are still so many things that need to be done towards getting OFs to fully participate in Philippine development on one hand, as well as to participate more fully in their various host countries. However, recent developments may indeed be the sign that the story of OFs is now entering a new chapter.

Carlo Butalid

26 October 2002