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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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The politics and economics of brain drain
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NEW YORK --- First it was nurses. Now teachers are coming to the U.S. to help fill a void in American classrooms. For the past three years, school systems with growing student populations or thinning teaching ranks, including districts in New York, California, Texas, Florida, Virginia and Maryland have turned to foreign labor to keep classrooms staffed.
In Las Vegas, 35 teachers arrived Sunday, July 31 to help meet a shortage of teachers in the Clark County School District. This batch of teachers was the first of 51 Filipinos recruited from the Philippines under an international recruitment program that will be assigned to secondary school level and in special education classes.
And there's no stopping this trend. The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, said the U.S. will need 2.4 million new teachers over the next decade. Of this number, 200,000 Filipino teachers of math, science, and English are expected to be tapped from the Philippines. This is in addition to those that have arrived here since 2000.
With baby-boomer teachers retiring and low salaries by U.S. standards – estimated at 50,000 a year by the Department of Education – this shortage is inevitable. It is no surprise then that about 10,000 foreign teachers are recruited annually to fill a gaping demand for teachers.
While teachers from our motherland are lured to come to America or elsewhere for a better pay, our schools back home are having a severe shortage of teachers of their own. According to Carl Marc Ramota of Bulatlat magazine, a weekly on-line publication, "this year alone, the country lacked some 38,535 teachers. And the figure is projected to reach 49,699 in the coming school year."
Ramota adds: "This makes the education sector one of the major professions severely hit by the decades-old brain drain in the country. Reports show that of the current crop of teachers, the best and brightest are now teaching abroad. Many of them are leaving to work as domestics in other countries."
Sad and unfortunate you may say. But that's the stark reality of what's going on. Even doctors are going back to school to become nurses instead to go abroad. Every skilled professional such as lawyers, doctors, nurses, physical therapists and now teachers are skipping town. Actors and entertainers are joining them too.
And yet, we often hear appeals from consular offices that are directed to engage overseas Filipinos into supporting government projects such as the "Poverty Alleviation" and "Adopt-A-Classroom."
In New York alone, the consul general reports that "as of 24 February 2005, donations to the project have reached $41,340. The amount of $28,000, collected in 2004 were personally turned over by Consul General Cecilia B. Rebong to Adopt-A-Classroom project Management Office at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) last December 12 in Manila."
The announcement further says: "Towards the end of 2004 and the start of 2005, the Consulate General received more pledges and commitments."
According to the same news release, the cost of building a school is $4,000 and "total donations can build nine schools" in various parts of the country. You will note that the word used was "can" instead of "built" or "building" to indicate that action has been done. In other words, does the announcement mean that donated funds are still in a "suspense account"?
I must admit that we still have our ties to our country of birth. And whatever happens there affects us -- overseas Filipinos. I cannot understand, however, why consular offices are being pushed to raise funds for programs or projects which the government should be undertaking as its basic responsibility.
Shouldn't the government provide schools and teachers for its citizenry? Shouldn't it ensure that funds are appropriately allocated for them in the national budget? If funds amounting to millions of pesos can be provided for charter change, couldn't our national leaders do the same for our schools and teachers?
What use are donated funds for if there were no teachers to hold classes? And perhaps the basic question is: Will the schools be built at all? Is there a guideline yet on how these schools are to be built? How will contractors be selected?
With stories we read about people lining up their pockets or enriching themselves at every opportunity, I find my hard-earned money at risk. And it may not be just me; there could be thousand others who feel the same way that I do and are hesitant to respond to such calls for donation.
I am more encouraged to help out if plans were concretely implemented and if officials themselves lead by example, which Deputy Consul General Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek has shown. I understand she wrote a $1,000 check for Gawad-Kalinga.
It's not that I don't favor professionals to pursue their dream of a better future elsewhere. That's a right every human being should hold. But if there were no reasons to leave their homeland and not contribute to brain-drain, would they?
The reasons, I suppose, are more about economics and politics.
Send comments to rickyxpres@aol.com or visit Website at PinoyOnBoard.com.
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Letter Writers: “Yes to remittance but no to juntas”
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ON A slow news day, opinion writers, like myself, usually draw ideas on the topics of their columns from letters they receive.
A reader from Burlingame, California wrote:
“Mr. Lariosa:
“This is the first time ever in my whole life that I express my opinion by writing about somebody’s opinion. Upon reading your column, my inner- self was ranting.
“On the July 14th publication of PINOY TODAY (one of Filipino American publications, carrying my weekly column), you averred that another way of demanding the President’s resignation is your so-called “purse power”. Well, why don’t you just go ahead, organize as much OFs as you can, gather them all, except me.....let’s see what terrible famine you are gonna bring to the OF’s beneficiaries including yours. Before you sacrifice something for your cause, think twice, think about the ‘mouths’ you feed!
“(Sgd.) Henry E.
“Burlingame, CA”
“Mr. Henry” thank you for your letter. Your letter attests that somebody else, other than myself, is reading my column after all.
My column dealt with my proposal to Overseas Filipinos to put pressure on their relatives in the Philippines receiving money from their remittances to tell their respective congressmen to conduct an honest-to-goodness investigation on the cheating of President Arroyo in the 2004 presidential elections if she does not make the supreme sacrifice to resign.
If their relatives would ignore the request of the OF’s, the OF’s should withhold sending them money.
True, withholding the money remittance can bring about “terrible famine.” But this legal method of bringing about change is no different from labor strikes, which bring about inconvenience to both employees and employers and the public in general.
Besides, what the OF’s are asking their relatives to do is not illegal but a legitimate grievance designed to bring about good government.
It is no different from “carrot-and-stick” diplomacy institutionalized by the U.S. government, when the U.S. would withhold “aid,” if other countries would not toe its line.
And remember this: if “famine” descends on the relatives, it is not the fault of the OF’s but it is President Arroyo’s undoing.
And if the OF’s will not do anything this drastic, it will only send the message that Arroyo has done nothing wrong and therefore she has their approval.
I hope there would be no more need for the OF’s to take the drastic action of seeking the behavior modification of Mrs. Arroyo if only Mrs. Arroyo would recover her sense of propriety and take that “supreme sacrifice” without any prodding from anybody.
Dear Joseph:
ON GMA’s SONA JULY 25, 2004
Like a high school girl delivering an elocution piece, Gloria’s SONA, spoke of a dream world detached from reality. She avoided addressing the real problems of the nation. Inferentially she sent a message that changing the Constitution from presidential to parliamentary form of government (and unitary to federal system) was the silver bullet that will end the malaise afflicting the country today, yesterday and tomorrow.
“In PDP Laban, we have since 1982 been advocating the adoption of the federal system and the parliamentary form of government. But we are wary of proposing Constitution change that is designed to prolong Gloria’s stint as president. She is a disaster already born and doing great damage to the country by staying on as president.
“Having lost her credibility, there is not much that people can expect of her by way of reforms.
“My proposal remains the same: Gloria and Noli should resign. The Senate President calls for elections in 45 days. A new leader is elected by the nation whoever he or she might be - around whom we could rally behind and support for the good of the nation.
“Resignation is a constitutional method of resolving the issue. It is Found also in the Constitution. It is easier to do than holding an impeachment trial. And can take place in a shorter period than the latter.
“Friends and political foes alike do not like my saying this but I say it nevertheless because I believe in it: no to coups. No to juntas. No to revolutions. No to violence.”
“Fraternally,
“NENE PIMENTEL”
Amen.
Email writer at lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net
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Can relatives petition family members for Labor Certification?
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Dear Atty Gurfinkel:
My American Citizen sister would like to petition me, but it would take many, many years to get a green card through a family petition. She also has a very successful business and would like to petition me as her employee through an employment based petition.
Is there anything wrong or illegal for a relative to petition a family member for a green card through labor certification?
Very truly yours,
SF
Dear SF:
There is nothing wrong or illegal about one family member petitioning another family member for a green card through labor certification as long as:- The employer is financially able to pay the alien the "prevailing wage" for the job;
- The alien is qualified for the job , based on college education or previous experience;
- The employer first makes a good faith effort to recruit qualified American workers for the job, but is unable to find any American worker who is ready, willing and able to perform the job;
- The job must be real . The job opening must be a true, legitimate, bona fide job opportunity. Under no circumstance can it be fixed, fake, fraudulent, or merely a "favor"; and
- The alien must actually work for the employer when legally able to do so.
In fact, even the laws concerning affidavits of support for employment based petitions specify that family members are allowed to petition relatives, including husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, or brothers or sisters. The law states that if such a relative has a "significant ownership interest" in the petitioning company (i.e. owns more than 5% of the company) then that relative needs to submit an affidavit of support in connection with the employment based petition. Think about it: if it were "illegal" for relatives to petition family members, then why would there be a law on the books, specifically allowing it, and merely requiring that the relative also submit an affidavit of support?
There are also cases from the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA), allowing family members to petition relatives for labor certification. In one case, BALCA stated that a close family relationship between the employer and employee does not, standing alone, establish that the job is not bona fide or available to US workers.
While a close family relationship certainly increases the level of scrutiny (or suspicion), family relationship between the employer and employee is only one factor to be considered. If the employing relative genuinely needs an employee with the alien's qualifications, the job has not been tailored (or customized) to the alien so that it appears to be a "job of convenience", and the employer has not been able to find a qualified US worker after good faith recruitment efforts, then a family relationship does not, per se (or automatically), require that labor certification be denied.
As stated by BALCA: "We did not hold nor did we mean to imply. . . that a close family relationship between the alien and the person having hiring authority, standing alone, establishes, that the job opportunity is not bona fide or available to U.S. workers. Such a relationship does require that this aspect of the application be given greater attention. But, in the final analysis, it is only one factor to be considered. Assuming that there is still a genuine need for an employee with the alien's qualifications, the job has not been specifically tailored for the alien, the Employer has undertaken recruitment in good faith and the same has not produced applicants who are qualified, the relationship, per se, does not require denial of certification".
In your situation, as long as you and your relative play by the book, follow all the rules, and are not creating a "job of convenience", then it is permissible for a relative to petition a family member for labor certification, bearing in mind that the case will be intensely scrutinized and investigated by the government to make sure it is real. But if it is a real job, then the law allows it.
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