The Voice of Overseas Filipinos
OFW: The hope of our Nation
Two days after I posted my article "Wanted: A Few Good Men (and Women) on this website, I was deluged, literally, with emails in reaction to my ideas. Majority of the emails agreed with me in one way or another. However, there were a few who felt slighted that I accused all the politicians in the Philippines as corrupt and dishonest. It was a general statement and I had no intention of disparaging all the politicians. I am one of them and I can look at your eye and tell you that I am not corrupt and dishonest. Probably, I am the only Mayor in the Philippines that provides free college education to its constituents ( www.csllfi.org ). The IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) of my town being a 5th class Municipality is only seventeen (17) million pesos a year. Even if I steal the whole amount, it will not be sufficient to pay for the expenses in my school that provides free college education.
My statement was based on the last Barangay and SK (Samahan ng Kabataan) election. There was open vote buying which ranges from Five Hundred (500.00) pesos to Three Thousand Five Hundred (3,500.00) pesos. As long as you have the money, you can get elected even if a candidate is only a second grader, a gambler, and an alcoholic. The salary of a Barangay Chairman in our town is about Two Thousand (2, 000.00) pesos a month. However, the Barangay IRA is about Two Hundred Fifty Thousand (250,000.00) pesos to about Five Hundred (500,000.00) Thousand pesos depending on the size and population of the Barangay. You can do the math how the Barangay Chairman will recoup his cost of being elected.
With the SK Election, the voters who were fifteen (15) to eighteen (18) years old in the Barangay sold their votes to the highest bidder. It was easy for them to decide who to vote for. They just asked how much and what model of cell phone the candidate was willing to give.
After the election, our Parish Priest, made a comment that "we need to kill all the people from five years old above if we want to eliminate Graft and Corruption in the Philippines". He made this sweeping statement because of his disappointment and the feeling of hopelessness from what he has seen and experienced in the last election. Our national leaders have lost the moral ascendancy to govern, from the President down to the Senators and Congressmen, and now it has permeated even to the lowest level of governance - the SK (Samahan ng Kabataan) which is our youth who is supposedly the hope of our nation. They have lost their innocence and the hope to be the source of upright leaders of our nation.
The OFW/OF on the other hand is composed of highly skilled, highly trained, and highly educated segment of our society. They are born leaders who venture to the unknown. Trailblazers and pathfinders for the next generation of Filipinos who will work overseas. Risk takers and thrill seekers. These are the Doctors, Nurses, Engineers, and Teachers among others.
When the good teachers left to work as domestic helpers abroad, the quality of education suffered. Our graduates became less educated. The quality of teachers that we produced now in the Philippines is below par to the teachers that we used to have fifteen years ago. This was shown in the result of the English proficiency testing in the school year 2006-2007. There were only 60% of the Public Elementary school teachers who passed the test. What is worse is that only 20% of the Public High School Teachers passed the test.
The brain drain in the Philippines has affected not only the quality of education but also the quality of governance. A severe shortage of leadership has occurred in our country in the past few years. There has been a leadership vacuum that sucked in high school drop outs, actors, singers, and comedians to serve as Congressmen, Senators, and President of our nation. The acute shortage was felt by the religious groups when Eddie Villanueva ran for President in 2004 and Gov. Panlilio in 2007.
The political situation in our country is going from worse to dire. We need to change our leadership ASAP if we want to make a change for the better. The only hope and solution is for our OFW/OF to come home and be counted to take their role as leaders of our nation.
My statement was based on the last Barangay and SK (Samahan ng Kabataan) election. There was open vote buying which ranges from Five Hundred (500.00) pesos to Three Thousand Five Hundred (3,500.00) pesos. As long as you have the money, you can get elected even if a candidate is only a second grader, a gambler, and an alcoholic. The salary of a Barangay Chairman in our town is about Two Thousand (2, 000.00) pesos a month. However, the Barangay IRA is about Two Hundred Fifty Thousand (250,000.00) pesos to about Five Hundred (500,000.00) Thousand pesos depending on the size and population of the Barangay. You can do the math how the Barangay Chairman will recoup his cost of being elected.
With the SK Election, the voters who were fifteen (15) to eighteen (18) years old in the Barangay sold their votes to the highest bidder. It was easy for them to decide who to vote for. They just asked how much and what model of cell phone the candidate was willing to give.
After the election, our Parish Priest, made a comment that "we need to kill all the people from five years old above if we want to eliminate Graft and Corruption in the Philippines". He made this sweeping statement because of his disappointment and the feeling of hopelessness from what he has seen and experienced in the last election. Our national leaders have lost the moral ascendancy to govern, from the President down to the Senators and Congressmen, and now it has permeated even to the lowest level of governance - the SK (Samahan ng Kabataan) which is our youth who is supposedly the hope of our nation. They have lost their innocence and the hope to be the source of upright leaders of our nation.
The OFW/OF on the other hand is composed of highly skilled, highly trained, and highly educated segment of our society. They are born leaders who venture to the unknown. Trailblazers and pathfinders for the next generation of Filipinos who will work overseas. Risk takers and thrill seekers. These are the Doctors, Nurses, Engineers, and Teachers among others.
When the good teachers left to work as domestic helpers abroad, the quality of education suffered. Our graduates became less educated. The quality of teachers that we produced now in the Philippines is below par to the teachers that we used to have fifteen years ago. This was shown in the result of the English proficiency testing in the school year 2006-2007. There were only 60% of the Public Elementary school teachers who passed the test. What is worse is that only 20% of the Public High School Teachers passed the test.
The brain drain in the Philippines has affected not only the quality of education but also the quality of governance. A severe shortage of leadership has occurred in our country in the past few years. There has been a leadership vacuum that sucked in high school drop outs, actors, singers, and comedians to serve as Congressmen, Senators, and President of our nation. The acute shortage was felt by the religious groups when Eddie Villanueva ran for President in 2004 and Gov. Panlilio in 2007.
The political situation in our country is going from worse to dire. We need to change our leadership ASAP if we want to make a change for the better. The only hope and solution is for our OFW/OF to come home and be counted to take their role as leaders of our nation.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by jessica on -
i believe joining this group means starting a change in the ways of our government! as a student, i am bothered by the growing problems of the society. even students like us are being used in propagandas of the government. ofw's on the other hand, have this responsibility of feeding their familis kaya nga sila nagpunta sa ibang bansa e...maganda din sana kung uuwi sila, kaso lang what about their families? we also have to think about how they've gone through to the decision nila kung bakit sila umalis..simple...sawa na sila sa fobyerno natin..no matter who the elected president is, kung parepareho lang sila na ningas kugon, wala talagang mangyayari!! i suggest to have a mass boycott ng election sa 2010!!
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Permalink Reply by Gerry P. Brioso on -
Jess, hi!
Welcome to WFA!
The next election will be different. We will give you an option better than boycotting the election. We will ask you to vote for the OF(Overseas Filipino) candidates belonging to OF National Party that will emerge soon. If you have an immediate relative living and/or working overseas, convince him/her to join this party.
Cheer up young lady! Behind those dark clouds, there is a shining ray of light...
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Permalink Reply by jessica on
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sir gerry,
i am alarmed whenever i hear the issues in the society, that's why i can't help it to make a comment on the elections..i know it's not a good thing to boycott the elections, and it will never be an option because it can never happen.. anyway, thank you for the comment you gave me..
jessica
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Permalink Reply by Roger R ( the serious gold prospector) on -
Hi Jessica:
Being out in the high desert of California I’m not aware to the up to date political and economic situation in our motherland. I’m certainly elated in your participation of our dialogue. Thanks for giving us a heads-up.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion whether right or wrong we should respect it. Nevertheless, boycotting the election in 2010 will not entail as one of the solutions of the growing problem of the society. Should we can convince our folks at home to vote for the right individual as our political leaders only then we are closer to get our mission accomplish.
Take care.. the gold prospector
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Permalink Reply by jessica on
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sir roger,
you make filipinos like us even more proud!!! having a filipino out in other countries only shows how skillful filipinos are!! you make us all proud!!
good luck on your journey in california!!
jessica
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Permalink Reply by jessica on
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Do you know what doctor rusty, i always read this article of yours...and everytime i leave this page of the net, it makes me smile. I love the way you made this article, this is such a wonderful article i promise!!! if only all Filipinos could read this..i think this is one of my favorite articles in the forum!!! Honestly, I just love it...politics is a complicated thing but politicians are more difficult to deal with, well not all but the way they handle the government is a big question mark...
OFW are themodern Jose Rizal!! They make us proud, and they mske students like me, very very proud..and i look forward to be like them in the future!!
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Permalink Reply by Randee V. Magallon on -
The only thing I could hope for is that this massive exodus of OFWs would somehow help in the future by turning brain drain into brain gain when they will go back to the country and share their acquired skills, knowledge and expertise in their respective given fields......
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Permalink Reply by Jojo on -
Hi Rusty!
I actually read your "Wanted: A Few Good Men (and Women)" article at another blog prior to reading about it here and after reading it, my heart sure swelled with pride. I've had a web presence for a while now (albeit a trivial and whimsical one), but your article jolted me out of my oblivious ennui. It inspired me to create another blog where I've been "voicing-out" whatever thoughts there are within this sea of grey matter in my head (google - "jingoistic lamentations").
I am active in the Filipino community here (mentoring new immigrants, fund-raising for scholarships for poor but deserving students in the Philippines, VP of the UPAA here, etc..) and I hope you don't mind that I have articulated your vision of a united party of overseas Filipinos to a number of entities here and have cited your article. As I expected, I got some "shrugs".....but I sure damn well got some inspired "yays!!" as well!!!
Bravo to you Rusty! I am honored to have known you. Up to now, my heart is still bursting with pride for you...
Jojo
('am not quite sure if you'll remember me...)
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rusty Balderian on -
Hi Jojo,
What a pleasant surprise!!! I am very, very happy to know that you are also active in cyberspace and we share the same vision for our country.
Of course I still remember you, and will always be remembered for you have been a part of my family. I am honored that you have articulated my vision in your blogs. Maybe you can help me search for OF's who are planning to go back to the Philippines to run for an elective office in 2010. We need to be organized so we can have the political clout to achieve our common dream of good governance in the Philippines.
I need your help also to organize a support group made up of OF's who share our vision but can not go back yet to the Philippines to participate in the coming election. I'm sure there are people like you in cyberspace that will really work to help in one way or another to achieve our dream. My email address is: rustybalderian @ gmail.com please email me for faster communication.
Best regards,
Rusty
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Sison on -
Give me thursday when you are in Makati so I may interview you on our new TV program on destiny cable channel 3
Global News Network on thursdays at 6 to 7 pm
Adrian sison
www.adrian2020.wordpress.com
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rusty Balderian on
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Hi Adrian,
Congratulations to your new TV program!! More power to you! Yes, I will call you when I'm in Manila.
Thanks,
Rusty
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