Why Is Labor So Cheap in the Philippines?

       All of us want to improve our quality of life. It is our right to utilize our resources to achieve this. But what can we do if these resources are controlled by an influential few?

      My daughter who came home recently from a bridging program in Australia told me that she was asked by a female Australian nurse on why do Filipino professionals go to foreign countries to work. Her answer was straight and simple: “Our salary in our country is low compared to your country. A nurse in the Philippines earns only P9,000.00 to P10,000.00 or around $200.00 per month”.  Maybe you immediately got the idea that there are already too many registered nurses in the Philippines that is why their salaries are cheap. This is a case of supply and demand in Economics (when the supply is high and the demand is low, employers could command a salary that they can easily maintain and still have a profit). This is true but one should also look into the other factors why this increase in nurses happened. 
     For me, this happened because it is possible that the government especially the Department of Education, state universities and the private schools did not have a comprehensive market study where there is an acceptable projection of supply and demand in their short and long term plans( if there is any). They should also have considered the matching of courses to be taken by students to future job availability and job skills requirement considering various global economic aspects. As a result, the temporary boom in the demand of nurses created an opportunity for universities and colleges to put up their nursing schools. When the demand for nurses did not catch up with the existing number of registered nurses, the government found it hard to just close these schools without encountering certain economic or political repercussion.  There was also a further increase in the number of un-employed nurses because just like in a gold rush, the parents or families saw that if their student(s) would take up a nursing course and thinking that upon graduation they will have the opportunity to work abroad, they can finally upgrade their quality of life.

       It only shows that low quality of life of the people and poverty are also factors to be considered why labor in the Philippines is so cheap. To break the vicious cycle of poverty, families have to work so hard to send their children to school in the hope that this will alleviate their living condition. Perhaps they believe in the saying that: “Give a man a fish and he will survive for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will survive for a lifetime”. But in the case of the Philippines, you can ask: where is the “fish”? There are many high school and college graduates whose skills and technological know-how does not match the qualifications of available jobs. Most of the time though, there are not enough jobs for able citizens that are very much willing to work for any type of job.

     Other intriguing questions are: Why are many Filipinos classified as poor despite the natural resources that abound in the country? Why do shanties proliferate in cities where the people are squatters and living like rats? Why are people forced to work in slave jobs?  Does the government really lack funds for housing and poverty alleviation? It seems that these questions have easy answers but they really do not have easy answers. I was reminded of a story told when I was still in community development:  A development expert is talking to a farmer who is lying down relaxed with no other care.

        Expert:  Sir, don’t you know that if you will be diligent in following my development plan you will have a bigger harvest and you will have more food at the table, you can sell your excess harvest and you will have extra money so you can buy what you want and you can send your child to school. If you have much money in the bank, you can just relax.

        The farmer stared at the expert with an inquisitive look and as if very confident of what he will say and curtly asked the expert.

      Farmer: Mr. Expert why should I burden myself to go through all your development plans when I am now relaxed and enjoying life?

       It is ironical but it is a fact that other people are “poor” by choice. Other people are simply ignorant and are easily tricked or oppressed by the governing party with power and money. This is evident during election of government officials who bribe them with small amount of money, food and drinks.

       The disparity between the rich and poor is getting bigger. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer and the resources allocation is always tipping to the rich. Labor laws seem to favor the corporations in terms of salaries and wages. The price of staple food is getting higher and living condition is getting worse. Sources of livelihood are getting scarce despite the effort of the government to provide livelihood and development programs resulting to more foreign debt that controls the priority actions of the government. The World Bank and the IMF has poured their funds into infrastructure and agricultural projects but seemingly ignoring the need for institutional development especially in transparency and good governance or was it expected that these projects would fail to establish more control in the global market?

       Now, why is labor so cheap in the Philippines? Maybe, the billions of pesos lost to corruption every year will also answer the question.

        However, there is always hope that things would go or is going for the better.

The "Cancer" of Society

       Every Christian and Non-Christian alike should be involved in shaping their nation in a peaceful manner no matter how small their contribution  even in their own communities. Our Christian community whose members are mostly businessmen and professionals   adheres to the virtue of honesty. Everyone is urged to fight or prevent corruption in their own appropriate way(s). This is my way of creating awareness and I believe that this will subsequently result to change of the current situation in the right time and place.     

         

          Greetings of peace to everyone!

         There is again a growing fervor today among concerned citizens and groups to be involved in critical issues in the government and also in their various communities. The revitalized trend is to be active change agents (not just passive observers) who envision the need to implement positive change that would eventually lead to socio-economic development. As they say, "nothing is new under the sun", this was the same clamor for change when I entered the field of community development many years ago. Many brilliant and noble minds worked together to plan and implement numerous programs and formulated applicable strategies like the Integrated Approach and Sustainable Development but the same old problem is still there. Even in my retirement, I am still puzzled by these questions: Why does graft and corruption still flourish in our midst despite the tremendous effort and significant amount of funding poured into such development projects/programs in the past? What motivates people to nonchalantly engage themselves in corrupt activities complete with arrogant grin on their faces? Do these people still value integrity and dignity or do they have a chilling motto of - "nakakain ba 'yan o uso pa ba 'yan"("can it be eaten or is it still practiced today")? I do not want to discourage those who are novices in community development in one way or another but it is really a difficult task to be catalysts of change when the culture of graft and corruption is involved. Especially when we are part of the system and our professions or businesses as well as our families and friends are also on the line.
       

       There are so many questions and intricate aspects regarding this issue and it is very difficult to dissect the factors leading to its root cause; but I thought that it is just fitting for me to get out of my comfort zone and try to share to you what is in my mind. In the first place, why do people become corrupt in their transactions or dealings? In my opinion, the following are the possible reasons:

1.  Financial problem. The poverty situation in our country drives other people to corrupt practices that are against their will. This is most likely to happen in times of emergency and survival circumstances;

2.     Fear of poverty. Some people due to their trauma of poverty or deprivation in their family or community during childhood have developed unhealthy fears that they become too materialistic to the point of being corrupt just to meet their demand for a good quality of life;

3.    Social pressure. Other people would do everything to the best of their abilities just to “keep up with the Joneses or the Ayalas in the Philippines”(maintain their position in society) even if this results to unscrupulous activities;

4.    Vanity and sloth. Nowadays, people are so used to instant and quick fixes that they are willing to pay for it to the extent of corrupting other people. Others are more cunning to use the latest technology including the art of deception to get dirty money and pamper themselves with comfort and luxury, and also to be famous  to satisfy their egotistical desire;

5.  Greed. Among the possible reasons that I have mentioned, this is for me the most contributing since the persons involved here already have power, influence, high position, right connections and machinery, state of the art technology and financial / material wealth and yet they want more so they muddle the truth to justify their wrong-doings. What is gruesome is that this has a “domino or trickle-down effect” which affects all down to the ordinary people in the community.

       I have presented the reasons and probably you will ask what will we do next? How do we prevent, stop or “cure” graft and corruption in the government and communities if this is possible at all? Before I answer such daunting question, allow me to share with you some lessons I learned from the pocketbook written by Joshua Loth Liebman given to me by my uncle a long time ago. The title is Peace of Mind. In his article, Mr. Liebman wrote about a time in his life when he is still a student dreaming of a prosperous and successful life. Being young and ambitious at that time, he was encouraged to make an inventory of the things that would make him successful and the most striking are: fame, power, fortune and of course the material amenities of life. He made time to review, carefully evaluate the list and being contented with what he prepared, he went to his rabbi (a Jewish religious teacher) and proudly presented to him the fruit of his endeavor. He is very excited and anticipating that the list would gain approval, but his excitement turned to sheer frustration when he saw his teacher crossed out all the items in the list. All he can do is to stare at his teacher and ask why he instantly ruined his aspiration in life. He watched again as his teacher wrote below the crossed out items the words that will touch and forever change his life _ PEACE OF MIND. The realization of the wisdom of those words flashed in his mind as he experienced a paradigm shift. He realized that all the things he thought as important priorities in life are useless without the necessary “ingredient” that would bring lasting happiness and fulfilment in his life.

       The meaning of the words is clear but what must we do and how can we achieve peace of mind?

       Life is a process we have to undergo and many lessons should be studied, experienced and learned until we reach a certain level of maturity. Among these lessons in life are:

1.    Self-Awareness. We should always be aware of what we do to ourselves and to others. We should know the good or bad effect(s) of our actions to ourselves, to other people in our family or community, and also to our environment and act accordingly. We should also be aware of our strengths and weaknesses;

2.     Self-Acceptance. It is true that we should accept ourselves for what we are and also accept others for what they are. We should stop comparing ourselves to others for we will only become bitter. If we have learned to acknowledge the good in us, we should also acknowledge our bad traits and limitations as well. Most importantly, we should acknowledge that we have a huge potential to overcome our weaknesses and convert them to strengths;

3.   Proper love of self. Someone said that before you squander any love to others, you must learn to properly love yourself first. It may sound selfish but there is wisdom in those words for how can we properly love other people if we have not learned to love ourselves properly. We should not spoil or be harsh to ourselves for what we do to ourselves we are prone to do to others too and we should always give proper care for our body and mind by seeking and following the advice of experts or professionals. Proper love of self means that we should uphold the principles of humility, honesty, empathy and tolerance and we should also strive hard to reach our full potential to achieve Total Human Development (mind, body and spirit).

       When total awareness, acceptance and proper love of the self have been achieved, then we are at peace with ourselves, our neighbor and our environment. Respect for each other will prevail and all that we do will be for the common good of all.

       However, this does not mean that it is wrong to do our best to become rich and famous and enjoy the comforts of life as long as we are fully aware that we are not sacrificing our integrity and dignity, including our health, and we are also aware and caring for the dignity and right to live of other people in our community regardless of their social status. This is the only way to diminishing if not eradicating graft and corruption that thrive among us. But if we continue to ignore such solution, then we will be in a constant, callous and meaningless “rat race”!

       I hope it is clear now that change of character of an individual comes from within the self and the importance of self-development to community development cannot be disregarded. That no amount of will power can change us if we do not stop, reflect in silence and look for solutions in the right place with the right tools. I know that creating awareness and change in our community is a tall order, cannot be seen immediately and need qualitative assessment more than quantitative, but there is always hope that someday, in God’s time, we will awake to do our transactions and dealings with all truthfulness.

       I remain.