Whether or not to leave the Philippines

Reasons to LEAVE the Philippines

The chances of an economic miracle remain a long shot.

Lacking infrastructure. Projects are taking time to complete. By the time these projects are finished, they will already be insufficient. While these remain uncompleted, citizens will have to deal with poor standards of living and the government will keep incurring economic losses, further digging the country into poverty.

Exploding population. More and more people have to share limited resources. The gap between the rich and poor continues to widen. Any means of financial redistribution may no longer be enough. There are more people who get into poverty than those who get out of it. A step forward is countered by two or more steps back. An estimated of only around 2% of the population belong to the high-income class. Even if we distribute their riches to those in the lower income class — who comprise more than half of the population —it will be barely enough, not to mention that our definition of high income class is only roughly equivalent to middle class of developed nations.

Premature government. People from political dynasties, entertainment, and those who are popular for some reason continue to dominate local and national positions. This will likely continue. There are no incentives for our lawmakers to create policies that will be a disadvantage to them. Keeping the voters poor and ignorant has always been a winning formula for politicians. It has been decades since democracy was restored and yet we are still far from realizing its promises. Something in our system is definitely flawed, but we don’t want to change it because of the scars of the past. The situation is almost an impasse.

Lacking industries. The country puts a lot of hype in its BPO industry. What most don’t realize is that the jobs made available to us are often those at the bottom end of the value chain and, sooner or later, will be replaced with automation. These jobs rarely offer true opportunities for growth and blinds us with short term achievements . There is also too much dependence on the tourism industry, another industry that is far from sustainable. Tourists don’t really care. Once our environment has been destroyed, they will look for another place, and we will be left with a wasteland. We need to aim higher.

Other countries have to stay on top. It may not serve the interest of other countries if the Philippines would rise up and beat them in their own game — unless we discover some scarce resource other countries that will allow us dictate the terms.

It is very much practical.

There is more to life than constantly struggling to think how to make ends meet, settling to poor standards of living, and being just a sickness away to poverty. If an opportunity presents itself not to be in this situation, there is no reason not to grab it.

Citizenship is only a social contract. We don’t need to be tied to it. If it prevents us from self-actualization, then it is more than wise to cut ties with it. Staying in a country just because it is where you were born may not be worth one’s lifetime. Anyway, should the Philippines attain economic prosperity, technically, we can still take advantage of it later on.

Sometimes, to save oneself is necessary. Helping others, let alone your country, is very difficult when you, yourself, is also drowning. To live in a country where mediocrity triumphs competitiveness and people think like crabs can be a waste of skill, talent, and potential. To help the country may not be everyone’s true calling. There are other ways to help the country that are even better than just staying.

Leaving may help the country by capturing the value abroad and sending it home.

Leaving may help the country by capturing the value abroad and sending it home. This could be in the form of remittances or knowledge spillovers. Remittances from OFWs take contributes around a tenth of the GDP. It is the second largest source of foreign reserves, and it is an amount significant enough not the be disregarded.

Knowledge spillovers are skills and experiences that when brought home can be used for building industries of our own. This is to take advantage of the knowledge that other nations took time and investments to acquire.

Reasons to STAY in the Philippines

There are already more than enough Filipinos abroad.

Close to a tenth of the population lives abroad, and most of them are OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers). If everyone leaves, especially those with the skills and talents our country needs to build itself, then who will help the country? This further decreases our chances of growth and prosperity. Why do we have to let other countries take advantage of our already lacking human resource investments?

There are a lot of opportunities in the Philippines.

Even foreigners come to the Philippines because they see opportunity, why can’t it be us who take advantage of it. The country has markets and industries that are yet to be tapped. Why do we let foreigners again exploit us? Haven’t we learned from out past?

And isn’t it a dream to be home with your family, enjoying the nice weather, beautiful beaches, and a more relaxed pace of life. Probably, we have to appreciate more what we have and work on its flaws rather than finding a way to escape.

We need to be more critical and wary of the narratives instilled upon us. Maybe, it’s just all in our heads — that we live in a poor and hopeless society. We are always of our own making, and therefore have the power to change things.

Not everyone can leave the Philippines.

Immigration has limits and quotas, and not all countries accept immigrants. Those that accept immigrants — of course — have ulterior motives — probably they need people who would do jobs their own citizens refuse to do or they need need the skills and talents to develop their industries — all for a minimum cost and disposable when no longer needed. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

While some have the advantage or the resources to immigrate, how about those who don’t have the capacity to do so? Isn’t it better if we focus our energy and resources in creating an environment that we would like to live in instead of trying to save ourself by hoping some other country would accept us? We may not reap the benefits now, but we owe our children a better future. We also have to give respect to our forefathers that enabled our present — it is not perfect, but it is arguably better.

Why go somewhere else when you have your own home?

The grass is always greener on the other side. In reality, however, other countries also have their problems. And when things come to worst, they would prioritize their own people. We have seen this a lot based on how governments are responding to the pandemic. Moreover, it is not uncommon to be treated and feel like as second class citizens abroad — even after acquiring citizenship. We have been dealing the issue of racism, perhaps for already more than a millennia, the situation is less likely to improve; if it does, it will take just take a different from.

Sometimes, I wonder why do we keep on pushing ourselves to countries that don’t want us or would just exploit us; why don’t we strive to create a nation that we would want to be in, to turn the tables around and make things better for those who have less? It is never less than noble to dedicate one’s life in building a nation worth living.