I have been following a thread in a forum about OFWs. The title has something like that OFWs and immigrants are stupid and failures. The good thing about having my own blog is I can put what I feel. I’m really passionate when it comes to the Philippines and if I hold this deep inside I might not be able to contain it. So I’m gonna rant a little bit.

Lets start of by stating what OFWs had sacrificed and endured just to earn money for their family. (Bullshit) They endured hardship and homesickness and be far away from their family. Bullshit. They endured being in an unknown country and making your name there. What else? What’s in it for me? Tumatakas lang sila sa hirap dito sa Pinas.

Lets not be hypocrite and lets state the main reason ofw left the Philippines… To make money. Being practical is always a lot better and are more accepted way of thinking than being patriotic and ideal. Enduring hardships and homesickness is the consequences of your actions… Let’s not include that sissy whinning as every decision you choose has an equal consequences. I am not saying I’m an idealist and i will still choose free vs paid. I’m just saying that when it comes to a more bigger problem like a poor country needing the help of its citizens. Leaving the country to work abroad is something that is just plain selfish. “Tumatakas lang sila sa hirap” - quote from a friend. There’s nothing “Heroic” about going to another country and make your family rich. Then when got kidnapped by terrorists goes whine to the government to save his ass. The same corrupt government that he tried to escape.

I have a friend that is an immigrant and I understand how he feels. I know not everybody is the general OFW - “I WANNA WORK ABROAD TO EARN MONIES”. Both me and my friend studied in the same school. The same upbringing that taught us how to love our country. If given the chance to comeback here I know he would.

Social Responsibility is one of those virtues of an engineer that is embeded into our hearts. No matter how much salary we get here. We must not leave the Philippines, because our country needs us. I still remember my professor who got an award in Japan. His thesis got an award. His works got an award. Offered a job abroad with millions of pesos per month as salary. But still choose to stay here with merely 20k salary. He always tells us that story and he always answer calmly, “Mahal ko Pilipinas, nandito ang laban naten. Responsibilidad ko kayo na susunod na magtataguyod ng bansa.” You might say that that person is stupid. That nowadays you can’t eat virtues and feed your family with it. That being practical is the most important thing to survive. Yeah maybe. But maybe that is what this country needs. The kind of change that ofws and all Filipino want and need.

After that subject with our bald professor is a subject about Engineering Materials Science… It is a tough subject and I might have not learned anything from it but one thing I’m sure of, is that our professor wants us to take care of this country. After each exam, most of us gets low grades. When the time of questioning why do we get such low grades, the funny part comes in. I still remember clearly this conversation:

Prof:”Ikaw, bakit ka nagengineer?”.
Student: “Para po malaki ang kita.”
Prof: “Akin na lang tuition fee mo dito at ieenroll kita as domestic helper. Mas malaki kita don. Or nurse. Wala ka mapapala sa engineering 6k lang kita mo per month.”

Then the student having his pride hurt started to ask:

Student: “Eh kayo sir, bat kayo nagengineer… Bakit di na lang kayo nag domestic helper?”
Prof: “Hindi ako nag-aral ng 5 taon ng engineering para maghugas ng pwet ng ibang tao.”

Then he will tell us the story of planet biyo. A Dr. Josette Biyo, Filipino teacher whose ability in teaching won her an award. Offered to teach in different countries around the world but still choose to teach his own countrymen. Because of this, one planet was named after her.

Social responsibility is your sense of responsibility to your society. What composes as society is a family. So is that social responsibility? I admire your lack of understanding. But no. Society is a collection of families. And family is just a small part of it. If you’re working for just your own family its just a plain selfish motive.

I have a sister who just passed the board exam this June. It is a popular culture for these new nurses to want to get out of the country. Having studied in an engineering school and dated some nurses during my college days, its a pretty popular goal it makes me sick. Are all nurses like this? Nasan na yung sagot ng mga bata pag tinanong mo sila bat gusto nila magnurse? “Eh para po makatulong ako sa mga may sakeeeet… Para po matulungan ko yung mga mahihiraaaaap…” Sana hindi na lang lumaki ang mga munting nurse.

If you’re still reading this and you are outraged by it because you know a friend, a relative, your father or mother or you yourself is an OFW or immigrant, I tell you this, I am not against you or your decision to leave the Philippines. Go work abroad if you really want to. No one really care nor gonna judge you.

You are a failure in a sense that you failed to see the opportunities this country brings. Why Americans go here to do business and Filipinos goes to America to work is not really that much of a mystery if you put a little thought into it. And you are stupid. Stupid enough to escape your responsibility. I am not commenting on the person itself as a whole, of being a failure and stupid… But the mindset of having no hope and opportunity in this country that made you end up working on another country. For all we know you might be a good person, a good son/daughter, a good husband or wife. Change your thinking and you will see the opportunities in this country. Just like others who made it successful here. You are still a Filipino.

“It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.”

- José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Not too long ago, I made a post about 10 Ways to Fail at Life. That post has been like a sarcastic point of view on how some people view at life without knowing that they are destroying the possibilities for them to be successful. Now to explain a bit better. Here is a perfect clip from the film Rocky where he teaches his son a thing or too about life.

You might not believe this. But you… used to fit right here. I’ll hold you up and says to your mother… This kid will gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid will gonna be better than anybody knew. And you grew up good and wonderful.. And it was great watching everyday it was like a priviledge.

Then when time comes for you to be your own man, and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started to look for something to blame. Like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world aint no sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place. And I don’t care how tough you are. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit us hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. THAT’S HOW WINNING IS DONE.

Now, if you know what’s your worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But you’ve got to be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers and say, you aint what you want to be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that aint you. You are better than that.

Unless you start to believe in yourself… You will aint got a life.

This is the article by Tsao Chip or To Kit in real life. The great Tsao Chip who called the Philippines as the Nation of Servants. Read below for full details.

The War at Home by Tsao Chip

“The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

“But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

“As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

“Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

“Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout ‘China, Madam/Sir’ loudly whenever they hear the word ‘Spratly.’ They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, ‘Long live Chairman Mao!’ at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.”