American Exceptionalism

Though we have heard it often enough, the term itself does not lend easily to definition.  Speakers from different eras have co-opted the term for their own agenda and purposes.  Commencing from a more localized comparison between the US and other Western civilizations in Europe, it has morphed loosely to encompass the entire world.

But historically, one is hard-pressed to find any credible basis to affirm the modern connotation of the term.  In at least one instance it is shown to be unrelated to what is claimed.  Some credit the old historian Alexis de Tocqueville for its initial reference.  Then Stalin supposedly coined the term.  In current context, US presidents like Kennedy and Reagan made use of such term.  Reagan even went further, citing the country as a “shining city on a hill”.

Whatever it definitively connotes in the current milieu, it still loosely means that Americans possess unique defining qualities that distinguish them from the rest of the world, making them in a manner of speaking, tower above the rest.  I suppose then it includes any and all qualities that make them stand out and become the envy of the rest.  Like as the sole world super power?  The biggest and richest economy?  The strongest and mightiest military?  The destination most of the immigrants of the world desire to move or relocate to?  Etc.

Anyway, every time I hear mention of this unique quality as a defining eminence in American society, it has always been as an outsider in awe and wonder looking in.  Because every time I heard it expounded, it had always come out of the confident mouths of well-spoken and highly-placed individuals in American society, whether in government and media.

So two things have always come into my mind.  How exactly is this exceptionalism manifested in everyday life?   And who are these people who exhibit such manifest destiny?   Many images race around in the mind.  Countenances of renowned scientists discovering new stuff, or pioneering ways of doing things.  Of superior world-class athletes in different fields of sports.  Of well-spoken politicians who can hold in mesmerizing awe the rapt attention of many.  Of many more exceptional individuals and ways in whatever fields of activity and endeavor  we may find in the rest of the world.

But what about lowly immigrants desiring to partake of the American dream?  Can they be part of the exceptionalism that is talked about.  Is it opened only to the upper echelons?  In the puny universes of the new immigrant minorities are there still definitive signs of glimmer and glint to suggest exceptionalism in what they are doing?

We sure wanted to find out for ourselves. This deep longing had formed as part of the lifeblood of my desire and the rest of my family to migrate to the US in the 80’s. And that we did.  And forty years later?

I and the wife are back in the old homeland, taking up where we left off and picking up our lives in the self-same way.  But all our kids and their families are still in the US.

The question we ask ourselves at times relates to the families left behind.  Are my kids and their families not only living the American dream, but more significantly are they practicing and partaking of the vaunted exceptionalism of the place?

I have no ready answer, except to trace what we had done and from there to search for if any, any snippet of wisdom that could reveal the answer for us.

First it starts with me.  For a quarter of century, I continued my role in the new environment as breadwinner of the family, but this time ably aided by the wife, who also had to work.   Quite exceptional I’d say, for both parents working while raising 4 under-age kids in a new and strange place and cobbled by very limited resources.  But that we had to endure for years on end almost singlehandedly, making sure all the kids got their basic education and fit enough to support themselves to a certain extent.  Which they all superbly cooperated with.

Like diligent worker bees, both I and the wife dug our laden heels and pressed our noses to the grind, making sure not to miss any day of work, and even signing up for extra work when the opportunities popped up. And surprise of surprises, our respective employers found all these exceptional!  Saying so not only in words, but also in the form of generous financial rewards.  Expressed, for example, this way.  I got extra vacation time for not missing any day of work, and for signing up for extra shifts. Such vacation time was commutative, that is, one could convert the hours to cash payments.

Many of our peers also found it exceptional that we were able to provide for our own housing within a few years of work, and relieved ourselves early from the burdens of being renters.  And what’s more, even provided additional housing so the kids could go to better schools.

And after years of hard work, in positions considered bread-and-butter though better than entry-level ones, we were able to provide ample retirement funds to survive in our remaining years.   In this day and age that would be considered quite exceptional even in the good ole’ US of A.

Inculcated with these same cherished values we had brought from the old homeland, it seemed no big surprise that our kids would also exhibit them in the self-same manner and at times even more intensely.  And these they did, and even at times in more stressful and hazardous situations, because of the nature of their employment.  Their longevity and progress in their endeavors could be rated as clear enough testimonies to some form of exceptionalism. And this had been exhibited by a segment of society that in practice needed more showing and proving its worth and value than the rest or majority of the native community.

So signs of American exceptionalism?  Sort of?  Because our natural affection as parents would incline us so, we reply in the affirmative.



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True, that American exceptionalism could be equal opportunity but what is showing us in this present crisis is how vulnerable the country is with regard to the financial health of its citizenry.

This pandemic with the concomitant effect of drastic and unwelcomed business stoppages has shown how ill-prepared a good chunk of the citizenry had always been.  Many of those out of work could not survive the loss of payroll even for just a short time.  Typical families are missing the necessary financial back-up like savings or other forms of liquid assets to tide them over, without immediate government assistance.

This lack being attributable to the lifestyle attitude inculcated and developed through the years by monetary policies initiated by banks and government, and compliantly welcomed by the citizenry.  The borrow and spend attitude, rather than the save before you spend mantra so startlingly shown by a previous generation. And which past generation was responsible for the remarkable progress of the country.  The instant gratification paradigm has been developed to the detriment of the country.  Rather than actually being prosperous, it was sold to many that it would be sufficient to feel prosperous when one is able for example, to acquire assets on credit with very little or no personal estate offered in exchange.  So we had houses being owned missing any considerable DP or other attendant costs of acquisition.  But left the owners drowning in debt from it and other accoutrements of prosperous living like vehicle and credit card debt. Remember this ended in the housing bust and the sub-prime mess some years back.

All this has shown us that the exceptionalism shown by many new immigrants in hard work and thriftiness could help steer the country back to its roots of real prosperity and wealth.

Michelle Malkin Profile

Michelle gets another good profile from the Baltimore Sun.


Michelle Malkin has worked for Fox News for eight years and has two popular blogs that get 15.1 million page views per month. (Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor / March 3, 2008)

Michelle Malkin may seem like any mild-mannered blogger in her Baltimore-area home, but she's reviled by liberals like almost no one else online

By Jonathan Pitts | Sun reporter March 9, 2008

The shingle-style house straddles a hillside, its windows offering sunny views in three directions. Games, books and DVDs topple from living-room shelves. In the kitchen, a young mom helps her 7-year-old daughter feed fabric through a sewing machine.

The place seems more all-American home than hideout, but fewer than 20 people know that Michelle Malkin, mother of two young children, loyal wife of 15 years -- oh, and scourge and sometime nightmare of liberals in her newspaper columns, TV spots, books and writings on the Web -- moved to this place in the Baltimore area a year and a half ago.

If you're seeking a living symbol of America's rancorous political divide, look no further than Malkin, one of the most popular and provocative voices on the modern right. The only daughter of first-generation immigrants from the Philippines, Malkin, 37, began blogging on politics nine years ago after a successful run as a newspaper columnist and has become a menace out of proportion to her Size 0 frame.

Two years ago, in the midst of an Internet contretemps over military recruiting on college campuses, left-leaning activists posted her home address and phone number -- and photos of her house and neighborhood -- online. They apparently were trying to exact revenge because she had published information they felt she shouldn't have.

The Malkins found a new home. For now, only a few friends know exactly where to find them.

"Sadly enough, it comes with the territory," says Malkin, whose most recent book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, argues that the political left, far more than the right, suffers the presence of "moonbats" -- Malkin-speak for those fated to play out life's hand with a less-than-full deck. "I'm used to it. But when you have kids, you have to be cautious."

As she makes snacks for her daughter and 4-year-old son, helps her husband, Jesse, get ready for a run and steals glances at an open laptop on the dining-room table, it's hard to conjure the right-wing menace who inspires hundreds of venomous e-mails a week. "[You] ought to be shot between those Viet Cong eyes," reads one. "How does it feel to be a paid prostitute for the Republicans?" says another. "Go get some collagen injected in your lips, it makes you look more the part."

"Stirring arguments, aren't they?" says Malkin with a roll of her eyes. "That's what you resort to when you're losing the debate -- name-calling and ad hominem attacks."

A snippet of news flashes across her Mac. "Excuse me a minute, I need to check this," she says, her brow furrowing. She sits down for a few minutes' work.

Read the entire write-up.

USA: Land Of Immigrants, truly

As of November 2007, culled from the best data available and most reliable extrapolation possible, there are now 40.5 million immigrants in the US which has a current total population of 301 million. These figures take cognizance of possible undercounts, survey misses, and other special categories like those living in group quarters.

That number includes both legal and illegal immigrants. And immigrants are those who are foreign-born and not citizens of the US at birth.

50% of illegal immigrants are Mexicans and from Central America. While those from South America registered one-third.

Again based on the numbers, illegal immigration contributed 50% of the total current increases in the immigrant population. But as a percentage of total immigrants, their number of 12.4 (adjusted) million constitutes 32.6 %

It should be noted that prior to the 1970s, illegal immigration was quite minimal. And in the intervening years up to the present, at least 4.1 million illegal aliens had their status legalized and received green cards from a couple of amnesty programs in the past.

10.3 million of these immigrants arrived from 2000 to the present, registering the highest number of immigrants in any 7-year period throughout history.

Being the most populous state in the Union, California registered the highest increases in immigrants, giving it almost 10 million immigrants residing within its borders. The state has a total extrapolated population of 36 million. Thus, California alone contributed 27% to the total immigrant population.

As a share of total population, immigrants contribute 12.6%, overhauled only by the years from 1900 to 1920 when total US population was not that much compared to today.

One undeniable fact stands out in all these phenomenal numbers. New immigration is the biggest single factor responsible for all this. And if this trend continues unabated, in 2060 the country will be adding 3.3 million residents to the total population from both immigrants and natives. Right now, the immigrants add about 1 million people each year.

Some pertinent data relating to the old homeland, the Philippines. In a top field of 25 countries of birth of immigrants, the Philippines garnered 4th place with 1.6 million, overtaken by much more populous countries such as Mexico, China, and India. It also showed among the highest for those who elected US citizenship, 60.3%.

On the poverty and near-poverty table, the Philippines placed last in the top field of 25 countries, registering only 4.2%. Doing even better compared to first-world country immigrants from UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, etc.

On educational attainment, Ages 25 to 64, the Philippines again placed better for all the top-25 countries, except for Germany, UK, Canada, and Japan.


All the data above were extracted from a report of the Center For Immigration Studies, which in turn was based largely on the most recent Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Census Bureau.


Credit
Some critical areas of serious concern which cry for our attention.

A good majority of the new immigrants are not only unskilled but have very limited education. This translates in reality to lower incomes and thus more likely for them to avail of government assistance programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and even IRS credits such as in earned income and additional children. And a surprise revelation that even minus valid SS numbers, IRS has ruled that immigrants can still claim the additional children tax credit.

And given the new numbers, it may simply be not right to claim outright that these new immigrants do the jobs that natives do not want. From among a similar group of natives, those with limited skills and education, there are potentially enough of them unemployed and unutilized to take care of all the jobs that these new immigrants are doing at the present time. Maybe it simply requires for them to be incentivized and/or given the proper opportunity and information. Over the years, the numbers of employed coming from this group have been declining.

Talks about giving amnesty and a path to citizenship for the 12 million illegals already here may be a compassionate move to make, but at least our eyes should be opened to the onerous repercussions this is going to have on the economy and the government assistance programs. Given that most of these immigrants are unskilled and with limited education, and thus most likely to tax even more the government programs. Poverty rates will still be high, with many new citizens paying no federal taxes while availing of more government services.

The report from CIS concludes with a very ominous statement:

Setting aside the lower socio-economic status of immigrants, no nation has ever attempted to incorporate nearly 38 million (adjusted: 40m) newcomers into its society.

Indeed.

The Ties That Bind

Let’s start with the grandfather’s generation, a native of Michigan, from a small town named Baroda. As a very young man and after having lost a leg caused by a freakish accident, he decides to embark on a long and fateful journey to the faraway Philippine archipelago right after the end of the First World War. Feeling confident and reassured by his acquired skills in accounting even at a very tender age, this young man is bent on trying his luck in a fledgling mining industry in a disparate group of islands then owned and governed as a commonwealth under US tutelage. In due time, he marries a Filipino woman with whom he has a good number of children, and included there is my wife’s mother. And before long, these grown children go their own separate ways laden with their own families. And inevitably their numbers grow. The old man dies and slowly his offspring, registered at birth as natural-born US citizens, start migrating to the US with their own extended families. And that is a short rendition of how my own family found itself carted away to mainland USA.

Our little hometown in Northern Mindanao can be deferred to as an apt microcosm and rationale for this all too familiar phenomenon. A score of US military veterans and civilians came during the last WW and decided to intermarry and resettle in that part of Mindanao. Over time, their families grew. Now many of their descendants, either having retained or elected US citizenship, migrated to the US and resettled with their own growing families in the land of their parents/grandparents. Some decided to stake their future with the land of their birth and are still left out there, earning their living and/or overseeing investments or inherited properties for themselves and their relocated siblings.

What is succinctly described above is not a unique situation for the Philippines but rather common in practically all parts of the well-dispersed country. And it can summarily be explained in this way.

At the turn of the previous century when the United States acquired the entire Philippine archipelago, the uninterrupted inward flow of US citizens to the islands commenced, and has extended way beyond after the US relinquished the islands giving them independence in 1946. With the constant flow left unabated, US citizens have come here for a variety of reasons. More common are either to intermarry and stake their new family lives in the tropical isles many consider very edenic. Or in the past to work for US companies doing business in the former US commonwealth and many had simply decided to stay on.

For their part native-born Filipinos initially during the 40-odd years that the US held on to the islands as a commonwealth, prodded and enticed by the tempting allures of the good life, had migrated to the US mainland and Hawaii in several waves, in the process establishing a firm foothold in American society which continues to thrive and flourish to this day. Again, this exodus too continues unabated limited only by the legal constraints imposed by the accepting country.

So much so that I will stick to an earlier claim that the number of US residents/citizens who are of Filipino descent totals well over 3 million and closer to 4 million, comprising of those who have elected US citizenship, and those who continue to hold on to their permanent resident status; and those possessing visas either for work or as investor, and even those who are technically classified as illegal aliens, possessing expired visitor’s visas.

Over time, a very intricate and at times, unwieldy, network of relationships by blood and/or affinity has developed between the two countries, which alliances transcend beyond the political, social, and even military arrangements carried on by the governments of both independent countries. Though at times, one may be inclined to think after a cursory reading of local media that the Philippines is still attached to a stubborn umbilical cord emanating from the US.

A human network that I believe is impressively more involved and intertwined when compared with the ones developed with the other former colonizer, Spain, which in unforgettable hindsight accumulated almost 400 years of occupation of the islands. One does not have need the results from formal studies to realize the lack of depth and superficiality in the former colony’s ties with Mother Spain, which pales greatly in comparison with the hardy ties developed with the other former colonizer who held on to the islands for less than half a century.

This less known aspect of the US-RP relationship is one not visited much by the current generation of Filipinos, most especially those in media and academia. That undeniably these ties are not only very extensive, but very deep, securely anchored down to the level of the family unit. And thus more meaningful and significant in the long haul.

While it is common knowledge that 60-65% of the current total inward foreign exchange remittances to the Philippines are originated from the US, what is not known is which families are sending these remittances. It cannot possibly be attributable largely to the new “OFWs” (Overseas Filipino Workers) who are in the US primarily as imported pre-arranged workers? There has to be a lot of US-resident families who have extended family members in both countries, thus the remittances simply reveal how income and/or estate are regularly allocated.

This blog entry cannot hope to completely and exhaustively expound on this far-reaching issue. But anecdotal evidences can be applied to sufficiently lay out a firm foundation that when built upon and fleshed out may invariably point to this conclusion.

As first generation US immigrant with over a quarter century of residency, our own immediate family has grown exponentially. Our own kids have intermarried and raised their own kids, with undeniable ethnic and emotional ties to both countries.

And this obviously unstoppable development will continue on, as long as families continue to be regarded universally as the basic social unit.

Because these are the real ties that bind, and which can ably withstand the tests and rigors of time and history.

An MSM Profile of Michelle Malkin – finally

Maybe the glare has become too bright to be ignored. So finally, the arguably liberally-biased MSM have to acknowledge the public shining light of a Michelle Malkin, with this article in the Washington Post.

One needs to read the entire article to derive a sense of how significant the lady’s courage, strengths, and accomplishments are in the new adopted country that her parents brought her into.

Captain Ed at Captains Quarters was among the first to weigh in with this added tribute.

And over at always scholarly, dependable, and respectable PowerLine comes this little reaction, among other things humbly acknowledging Michelle's real journalistic background.

From the suddenly popular blog cum video site Hot Air, where Michelle regularly displays her video media persona, comes this little friendly defense and support for her, laced by and augmented with a lot of readers' varied commentaries, giving one a good well-rounded glimpse of the person.

Of course liberal sites, like Wonkette, also waste no time trying to muddy the waters, even taking snipes at the WaPo writer, H. Kurtz, most likely because he wasn't sufficiently negatively predisposed toward the subject and what she does.

And fellow liberal blogger, Atrios, had this to say as his version of his racist comment mentioned in the article.

I did not have time to visit and read all the reactions to the WaPo article, but do visit and see who was moved either to comment to, or write for or against, this article from Memeorandum.

To the Maglalang family, congratulations on a job well done.

Unsung Manongs In The USA

We still remember from dog-eared history lessons the “waves” of Filipino worker migrants or sacadas wrenched from their hardy homelands and transported to continental USA to work in its agricultural fields. An agricultural industry that was perpetually in need of more field workers as the awakening voracious appetites of its burgeoning economy commenced to flex and make known its intractable demands for more products.

Thus, many of our ancestral compatriots, trained in and culled from the harsher environments of the still primitive agricultural and almost pastoral economy of a dislocated country, willingly extricated themselves from close familial traditions and idyllic rural areas to cast their lot in a strange land 7,000 miles away.

Since this happened during the currency of the American colonization of the Philippine archipelago which ended in 1946, many of these early immigrants have passed on, mostly unremembered and the remaining few living obscurely in their adopted homelands. Many unable to “return” to their homeland of origin because of financial constraints or because having been gone for a long, long time any nostalgic remembrances of the past have been consigned as simply hazy and detached figment of some distant best-forgotten past.

Thus, regardless of how life in the new land dealt with them, many stayed on, carved new lives and relationships for themselves, and ultimately in a manner of speaking, fertilized the same land they came from afar to make productive and in the process assist them eke out lives for themselves.

I choose today to spotlight two of these unheralded persons, both Ilonggos (coming from the Visayas islands of either Iloilo or Negros), whose own lives touched ours in the same arena where we too as a family had decided to cast our fortunes in.

One of them died a couple of years ago, at the ripe old age of 93 years. The other one is still alive, living in a new for-seniors high-rise smacked in the middle of Daly City. However, apart from both being Ilonggos, no two people could come from very different beginnings and present circumstances.

The first one was Sammy, formally christened as Simplicio M. Pedregosa. I and the wife had spent countless hours with him during a period of at least two decades. The association first came because he and his German wife, Frieda, were clients of the wife in the bank that she worked. Later on, I started doing his taxes. Since they married very late in life, they had no children and when Frieda died, Sam lived by himself in the same house they shared.

Here’s a little backgrounder, written by a very grateful and youthful family member already born in the US, during his 90th birthday celebration in 2001: (Sammy had been very instrumental in bringing almost his entire family to the US, though he had returned to the old homeland only once after he had initially left.)

The strength of a family lies in its roots. Strong roots enable the family tree to grow, develop its branches, and bear fruits. From a distant land many miles away, the seed of our tree came, and took root in American soil. Our family tree stands strong and proud because of its roots and the way its seed was planted, with hardship and sacrifice.

Our tree started as a seed in Iloilo, a province of the Philippines. It was in this rural town that Simplicio Pedregosa was born on July 24, 1911. At the age of 16, even before he could establish his own roots, he decided to travel to new soil. It was clear to him that he must move in order to perpetuate his existing family, as the soil of his homeland was not rich enough to allow him to grow.

In sending him to America, his family made a great sacrifice. Pawning the farm, their source of livelihood, was the only means of raising money for his fare. Realizing that sacrifice is important for his growth, they made the deal and sent Simplicio on a boat to America in May 1929 with a hundred dollars in his pocket. It took 30 days of life on the sea before he could touch American soil.

From the port of San Francisco, Simplicio went immediately to work on the celery fields of Lodi, CA. Although diminutive in stature compared to his American counterparts, he persevered physically on the field. For every hour of his labor, he earned 10 cents. Despite his meager wages, he saved his earnings for two months to send to his family back home, as restitution for his family’s initial sacrifice. His sacrifice allowed his family to grow in his native soil, fostering better living conditions for his parents and his younger brother and three sisters. After months of hard labor, he resigned his job at the farm to obtain an education.

And so Sammy spent his remaining youth in pursuit of his dreams. He had served in the armed services of the US and later worked for the Post Office, where he met his future wife, who was also a first generation immigrant from Germany. And success for Sammy was all we hope for and more. Two very valuable RE properties close to the SF Zoo, very adequate pensions from his employer and SS, a nice and quiet family life, and a life laced with altruistic endeavors for both family and good causes.

Let me just summarize as his unofficial accountant that Sammy when he died was worth several million dollars, mostly liquid assets. What most of us would hanker for and may not be able to acquire.

But for me personally there was one aspect of his life few may remember including his intimate family members, and maybe even Sammy himself. This I initially gathered when we started discussing about his stint in the US Navy.

For when WWII broke out, Sammy enlisted in the armed forces of his new adopted country. And as was customary during those early unenlightened times, only certain low-ranking positions were opened to immigrant enlistees or draftees. In short, Sammy became a cabin assistant of an admiral in one of the ships of the US Navy.

Turned out, it was no ordinary ship. It was the USS Missouri, led by the commander of the fleet, Adm. William F. Halsey. The same ship that cautiously sailed into Tokyo Bay when Japan sent out surrender feelers. And where Gen. MacArthur and his aides would board to sign the surrender terms with his Japanese counterparts.


Recalling his own unique eyewitness account of the entire proceedings, Sammy in his usual dispassionate almost dismissive way, told us about where he was and how he felt, and how his admiral’s demeanor was. With full convoy streaming into Tokyo Bay, the admiral did not really know what awaited them as they approached land – Japanese land. He had probably thought that the Japanese could not be trusted. Pearl Harbor was a stark reminder. Thus, the stiff standing order for the entire fleet was: Battle stations! - with all armament ready for any hostile move.

But fortunately for the world, things as planned all fell into place. Japan was reconstructed and is now the economic power second only to its primary benefactor, the US.

The other Ilonggo is still alive and will continue to remain anonymous, other than the initials, L.M, to protect his and his family’s privacy.

Anyway, L.M. came to the US post-war. He started his young life as a personal chauffeur for one of the patriarchs of the few financially powerful families in the Philippines, the Lopez family which is deeply involved in media. L.M. recollected the start of his employ with the late Eugenio Lopez, Sr. as his personal chauffeur in the Visayas and then Manila. He was particularly struck and impressed by the unaffected simplicity, gentleness, and egalitarian personal traits of his employer. L.M. was even surprised that he got his job given his very limited educational attainment and his very humble origins. And the old man trusted him very much that when he moved to the US for an extended stay, L.M. also trudged along as his chauffeur.

Since, I know next to no one about the Lopez family, other than that they had a huge estate along Dewey Boulevard, close to Manila’s boundary with Pasay, I had asked L.M. about it. He confirmed that fact and added that many stately affairs were held in that place for local and visiting dignitaries.

Anyway, after his employ with the Lopez family ended here in San Francisco, L.M. was left to fend for himself. He continues to have family members left in the old country which he yearns to visit. However, at present L.M. only has sufficient resources to keep him here, which sources would be cut off once he leaves the country. When we were still residing in Daly City, I and the wife used to go see him and at times he would walk to our house which was nearby for a visit. Again, our association with him started because he was a client of the wife. And we have always valued it since then.

A Face Of The Filipino Diaspora

In the least likely, though unavoidably accessible, medium, one can actually get a good glimpse of the ever growing Filipino Diaspora. While on vacation home and enjoying and taking things lightly. For engaging in such things is inextricably Filipino. Too eager to leave the old homeland, but cannot stay out long enough without taking a vacation back to “home”. An outbound trip short enough and a return visit frequently enough to be able to safeguard all of one’s Filipino-ness – in speech, closeness to extended families , acquired taste for local cuisine, and all the other good stuff central to being Filipino.

The Filipinos have been streaming out, both steaming and flying out, of their country in large numbers for many years now, sufficiently enough to now count the outsiders as maybe over 10% of the total population of the country. And with obvious though tacit government blessings and prodding, large expectant numbers wait in the wings to continue to feed the exodus to any and all places where work opportunities are available, and/or where they are allowed to go, either as contract workers or migrants. And many even feeling deaf to the second option. Thus war-torn countries like Iraq and Lebanon, destinations where the government frowns on their citizens going, count a considerable number of Filipinos working among their populations.

And yet while the numbers of ex-pats continue to burgeon, other Filipinos and the rest of the globe are quite in the dark at composing a good picture of who these people are, beyond just trickling numbers being added to a total. The local government itself, maybe reticent or embarrassed enough to extol or admit this mass exodus of its own citizens, is quite content to limit its exposure in the effort by limiting its participation to lip service, calling them the new “heroes” of the republic. Coupled with the not too subtle reminder to them to keep the flow of their precious earned dollars back to their left-behind loved ones, since inward remittances now amount to about 10% of total GNP. A nice enough boon to help keep a fledgling or floundering economy afloat and capitally infused.

So where can one catch a glimpse of those transplanted Filipinos, or as they are called, OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers)?


On one of two cable channels owned and operated by Filipinos, but beamed to many corners of the globe, especially where outbound Filipinos may find themselves lumped in considerable numbers. The two channels are The Filipino Channel (or TFC) and the newcomer, GMA, which in the US, for a little over $20 per month, can be added to a subscribers’ viewing pleasure. Yes, $20 or 1000 pesos which is about a third of what many unskilled workers in the Philippines gross each month.

And the one particular TV program that yours truly is familiar with – is the daily game show, cum soap opera, and charity bazaar, and fulsome comedy skit show, named WoWoWee on TFC, which is most likely a play on the name of its irrepressible main host, Mr. Willie Revillame.

It is indescribably simple as to make futile my many attempt to try and categorize it, especially amidst the almost screechy hysterical and ear-splitting cacophony of dialogue delivered by its hosts and participants, giving it characteristically the quality of being almost one big shout and scream session from beginning to end. But it does effectively deliver its message or messages to its intended audiences – global Filipinos scattered throughout the four winds.

But as an integral anchor to what I perceive is the program’s overall purpose and presentation is the use of visiting Filipinos working or living abroad, enjoying a vacation or trip to the old homeland. Using them both as audience participants and benefactors. Thus, visibly arrayed and prominently ensconced on the front tiers of a huge studio set that resembles somewhat the physical format of the ubiquitous cockpits in the country, are maybe a hundred or two of these beaming and excited visitor Filipinos, interspersed with ethnically different companions, and aptly described as TFC subscribers, thus non-local Filipinos subscribing to the channel’s outlets abroad. Complete with the flashing and waving of dollar bills in their hands, though not to bet on a cockfight but as a visible signal of their generosity and good-heartedness.

For these dollar bills will be collected by the different hosts and used as additional prizes to the different contests common in most game shows; but for this show, the main participants are picked from among the lowliest and most destitute among the metropolitan citizenry - Unemployeds, tricycle drivers, itinerant vendors, and from numerous dispossessed groups which abound in a country known for its decidedly pervasive poverty-stricken population.

But looking past the initial patent display by the fortunate Filipinos from abroad of their new-found prosperity but now somehow translated as their show of generosity, the overall mood of both live audience and TV viewers appears to be that some good is being done for these poor selected people. Some kind of unsanctioned redistribution of resources from those who have and those who do not have. And the many prizes shouldered by the programs’ sponsors are by no means puny or cheap, especially taken into account the general penury of the participants. Thus, at the end of each show, all parties appear justified and satisfied, all the better relieved of any insipient guilt feelings and without diminishing any personal worldly pleasures.

A fresh batch of these ex-pats are hauled in daily, coming from an almost unflagging number of new arrivals, cavalcaded and highlighted at times to the point of ennui by the different hosts planted in the different places where these prospered Filipinos may be seated or standing, shouting, waving their dollar bills, and intoning on mike a ceaseless litany of names of loved ones left behind in the old country or in their now adopted countries.

In this continually unfolding vista then a regular follower of the program, both local and foreign, can’t help but be witness to these “new” Filipinos, as they call out their new origins, names and places from all corners of the globe – Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, UAE, London, Belgium, Japan, etc., and of course, cities in the US, where invariably many are coming from. After all, at last count where over four million Filipinos are now either permanent residents, citizens, contract employees, or even undocumented aliens.

Over time, one cannot help but be able to form a rather decent picture of the typical Filipino in Diaspora, many of them now entwined with other cultures through intermarriages, and long residences in their new surroundings.

In closing, who can then say how in the coming future this group will look, feel, and maybe, regard the old country that gave them birth or from where their ancestors originated from?