No Room for Dreams at Home
I wrote this a few weeks back and posted it on my Facebook.
I realized that I’ve been neglecting my blog, and so I thought of reposting and sharing this with you here. I hope it challenges you as it does me.
M
Monday, September 15, 2008 at 12:18pm
hi Y’all,
mar here
i know its been some time since ive written and likewise since ive responded to your messages…pasensyahan niyo na lang ako.
the other night i went to a despedida dinner for 2 old friends, Gene and Weng, whose papers for NZ came through.
they were excited about it and we talked long into the night about old times (you only remember the good) and the new adventure they were undertaking.
bittersweet.
im happy for them; theyve escaped their default destiny had they stayed.
im sad too - for us. our country didnt have room for people like them. college educated, hard workers, relatively successful in their chosen fileds, good income, some built up savings and capital, large network of friends …. and yet…they did everything by the book, they followed the recipe, the instructions , and yet …
they could see that they could only build a viable future in another country. they applied to both canada and NZ and took the one whise approval came through first.i dont blame them; they did what they could for themselves and their 4 kids.
this pisses me off - that good, decent, right thinking, rule following people cant make a go of it in our country.
things have got to change.
food for thought for you all
M
About the Author ‘Mr. Palengke’ is Senator Mar Roxas, the son of the illustrious Senator Gerry Roxas, and the grandson of the venerable President Manuel Roxas whose public service careers have greatly benefited the country.Elected to the Senate in 2004 with a staggering 20 million votes, the largest ever obtained by a candidate in any Philippine election, Mar Roxas has made it his business to champion the people’s agenda on quality education, livelihood opportunities through small and medium enterprises, information technology, consumer welfare and good governance. 
onga sen, sa totoo lang, nakakagalit! i had a friend/officemate who just left for qatar last sunday. nakakalungkot, kasi kitang-kita naman na, on some level, ayaw niya rin, at hindi siya talaga sigurado sa pag-alis, pero pakiramdam niya kailangan.
she’d actually been putting going abroad off for years now. see, she’s a single mother of 2 kids - one eight and the other only three years old. ayaw niyang iwan mga anak niya dahil bukod sa mahal na mahal talaga niya, baka matapos niyang paghirapang palakihin, baka kunin lang ng p*$#^&@ asawa niya.
naisip din niya na baka ma-estrange sa kanya yung mga bata pagkabalik niya, lalo na yung 3 years old, pero nanghihinayang daw siya sa opportunity. everytime she passed it up in the past, nagsisisi daw siya, kaya ngayon, in spite of her doubts, sumabak parin siya.
sana nga magbago na ‘to…
P.S. is this really your personal blog, sen!? cool!
what then should be changed in this country… economy? politics? values? mindset?
very true, what was said… i am no longer based in the philippines, though had i been given better opportunities i’d have stayed. i know i owe it to the country to work there, what with being one of the “iskolar ng bayan”, and for the time that i could afford to, i did. i worked for the government for seven years receiving meager pay and working my ass off for the university, for community immersion projects, the pahinungod, doing my best for students, para sa baya, ika nga– it felt good. it was so fulfilling and rewarding in a very non-tangible way. but i am now having a baby and things change. my husband and i could never give our son a decent life if we stayed employed within the acedeme of our country…. we still do our old work here and we enjoy it (but honestly, i’d like t more if i was doing it at home), and we can ensure a brighter future for our son… leaving just had to be done… bittersweet as it is.
Sadly, this has become a common occurrence. Family members and friends have left in search of greener pastures. What makes it worse for me is that they seem to have lost hope for our country, that’s why they are leaving. What do you think you can do to change this?
I am very disappointed Mr Senator that you have the guts to write “m happy for them; theyve escaped their default destiny had they stayed.”. given the fact that you are eying for the highest post in the land and you are here posting that your friend escaped their default destiny. You should be the one telling your friends that there is still hope in our country. Why do you also think that our country is like an island jail like Alcatraz?
Mr Sen, dont be like ABS-CBN, they only broadcast negative news well in fact, everytime I go to the philippines for business, i can see a lot of hope. ABS-CBN should not be allowed to broadcast. They are destroying our country and they are using their power for their own benefit. If we think that Philippines is our mother land, then why do they always talk trash to our Mother. That is not even close to the known pilipino culture. Let us be positive and work hard and help the our country.
How can OFW can help our country. several suggestions.
1. continue to send money to love ones.
2. when we go home, avoid bringing in balik bayan box. spend your money in our country. that will help our economy. Imagine, if there are 50 balik bayan per airplane from the US. that is 100 balikbayan boxes. if each box , you spend $200, that is $20,000 per plane per day. 3 planes per day $60,000 x 30 = $1.8 M per month. or P81M. Imagine if these people will spend their $400 in Philippines to buy corned beef, towels, chiz curls (typical contents of balik bayan box), that is how much our economy is loosing. So Mr. Sen, create a law that will incent OFW to spend their money in our country like tax rebate if you are balikbayan. rebate the VAT if they spend money. rebate it at the airport like GST rebate program of Singapore.
3. talk positive about our country. Promote our country.
4. Be proud to be pilipino. The problem with pilipinos is they dont want to be called pilipino. They want to show off their Australian or US passports. Get real.
So Mr Senator, I think you can help to make our country a better place to live. Be positive, give hope to people.
The EQ Post 2008 “Pinoy of The Year”
We have been greatly inspired by TIME’s Person of the Year tradition.We will conduct a poll till December 2008 to search for the “Pinoy of The Year” based on our readers’ choices.
The poll will be limited to 10 personalities ,”who for better or worse,has done the , most to influence the events of the year in the Philippines”.
http://mav-equalizer.blogspot.com/