Philippinos... is it really that bad?

Dear Willie,

While not all of us are in dire needs, a lot of my kababayans are willing to take an AED2000 salary. Why? In the Philippines, the minimum salary is PHP382 per day (counting the recent PHP20 wage hike), amounting to roughly AED800 a month. Armed with a better education and a better personality, a start-up wage is roughly AED1100.

There are a lot like me who have good paying jobs and better opportunities in our home country alone but went to Dubai for the sake of a change of environment, a much higher wage for the same job profile and just to see what is there for us. Filipinos in Dubai is not all made up of your hired help. A significant number are competent and competitive professionals . Yet a larger part of the Filipinos in Dubai are the ones who are competing with the large number of unemployed back home. Don't get it wrong, there are a lot of job opportunities back home, there are just too many of us.

Visualize the following too:

Manila

MINIMUM Salary AED800

Less: Tax, medical and Social Security shares

Rising transport and food expenses

Increasing house rent and electricity bills

Family's needs + children's education

Dubai/UAE

Salary AED2000

Less: Personal Needs

Money to send back home for family needs and children's education

- usually transport and accommodation and sometimes even food and medical expense are already provided

By all means, most of Filipinos in Dubai will be earning more than they ever will in the Philippines. A little self-sacrifice is a small price to pay for the sake of loved ones.

On a sad part, there are also people who are being duped into believing a good job and wage awaits for them in Dubai, only to find themselves jobless, penniless and debt-ridden. Rather than returning home with the shame and debt, they will swallow their pride so as to repay the debts and for the sake of the family who depends on them. My heart goes out to these folks. You just can't call them stupid of naive. It just happens.

And yes there are also a lot of Filipinos who feel Dubai is not the place for them and so after numerous visa runs, they just give up and go back home.

To go back to your original question, they say the economy is going good. I, as an OFW, am feeling the devaluation of my earnings if I were to send them back home. My compatriots who have opted to stay at home likewise complains that they do not feel the rising economy at all... Maybe it is, but we are yet to "feel" it.

--

edit:

Yes it is although it doesn't apply to all. Most of the workers who go abroad are the ones who are really in need of uplifting their family status. Shouldering family expenses and education of younger siblings is mostly the primary reason they go abroad. In my case where my parents are both financially stable and my younger brother is already having a job of his own, sending part of money is not an obligation rather a small token of gratitude for the sacrifices of my parents to give me whatever I had needed. We have a family-oriented culture where extending help to one's family is often a higher priority before your own needs.

You are a veteran vis-a-vis this site and know more about Dubai and Filipinos more than anybody else (or is it my assumption?).

Still, if you need the reply, I'm gonna tell you what I feel and know about them, though the same (Q) has been replied and discussed umpteen time here in this section.

A Filipino or a frequent contributor here Filipina (with face hidden in hair) would give you the apt reply, still I can dish out my prognosis.

Literacy rate in Philippines is far higher as compared to other neighbouring countries, but subsequent jobs etc are not enough to accommodate teeming graduates every year, so the whole of graduate class shifts to Dubai every year as temperamentally and otherwise Filipinos suit and fit in Dubai market like anything be it some travel agency, catering or some other job.

They are affable, less quarrelsome fun and music loving nation and Dubai provides them all what they need like money and other paraphernalia.

Like Keralites suit the Dubai market as they are educated (again as compared to other communities within their country), same is true with Filipinos. So they are out to make some bucks here as has been the case with many expats, that's it.

I hope i'm able to put my message across.

yes... the economy is really that bad. rich people getting more richer. the poor ones, eventhough how hard they do they 're still poor.

Filipinos are hardworking people. I admire their perseverance. They will do what's best for their family.

we have to face the truth that some aren't lucky enough to get something what they want but chose to swallow their prides and sacrifice in other countries like dubai just to earn .

what kind of choices do they have?

there are no rooms(i mean good chances) for them in the phils. even if they do, not that much like what they're receiving right now.

i'd rather suggest they stay in dubai and sacrifice staying with others which i know they think it's more like in heaven

rather than staying in their own country and get nothing.

My trip before last, I stayed in the Marco Polo at Dubai, and found a lot of Filipinos working for the hotel.

If staying in a good hotel, with good food and excellent rooms is a sacrifice, I say they're making a good time of it.

Make it clear! Which is bad ... the Filipino or the Philippine Economy? Filipino are the people and Philippines is the country. Nothing wrong of sacrificing yourself for the good of your country and to your family. I hope, it is also inculcated on your mind. Other countries need the technical know how from others, for maybe they are short of it or lack of manpower and capability. The benefit is mutual, you gained the said target of progress by using foriegn manpower and the workers are compensated . Be thankful that there are still heroes that sacrifices not only for themselve but to your country as well.

The national economy of the Philippines, like many of its Asian neighbors, is steadily improving. The World Bank has identified Asia as the region which will witness the highest growth rates and these are already reflected by the boom in economies of countries such as China, India and Thailand.

I'm not a Filipino but I'm well acquainted with the pathetic living conditions that Filipino nationals are forced into, especially in countries of the Arabian Gulf.

You mentioned six persons sharing a room. Worse..I've seen as many as 12 Filipina women, working as restaurant crew for a prestigious international fast food chain, sharing a room because their company wants to cut down accommodation expenses. The same holds true for large supermarkets and department stores who hire Filipino staff for cheap wages, house them in conditions that can best be described as sub-human and feed them on near-expiry foodstuffs.

A salary of AED 2000 per month is no longer attractive for Filipinos and most other Asian nationals. The reason is simple: The falling rate of the US$ means they can get fewer Pisos, Rupees, Taka, Baht or Rupiah for their hard earned money to support their families back home. Few Filipinos draw a monthly salary of AED 2000. Most of them get almost half that amount only.

The Middle East Economic Digest: http://www.meed.com/ regularly highlights the double digit inflation in two GCC states- the UAE and Qatar. This amply reveals that the cost of living in the UAE is on the rise.

Remitting US$300 to US$400 per month might ensure some level of decent living for their loved ones back home but let me assure you, this doesnt always happen.

Filipinos are prone to splurging their earnings and lots of malls and boutiques in the Arabian Gulf region thrive on Filipino customers. The dazzle of shopping malls and the goods on display is so great that few Filipinos are strong enough to resist their temptation to spend- often more than what is prudent.

(It's a myth to believe that Western expatriates spend more. They dont. Simply because they need more AEDs to make a single GBP or EUR.)

Some Filipinos also end up with affairs despite having a family back home and hence, are forced to spend in the UAE or where they live for their girlfriend while cutting down on the amount they remit back home. A top Philippines diplomat serving in a Gulf state had confided that most Filipinos in jail in these countries are for what is broadly categorized as "love" cases. Thus, sacrifice for the family is not always the case, as it could originally have been intended. Of course, there are plenty of Filipinos who genuinely work for the betterment of their families, without being tempted off their track.

In my humble opinion, most Filipinos venture out to countries such as UAE with good intentions: To secure a good life for their families. But somewhere down the line, these good intentions become obscured by the need to self preservation and harsh realities of living lonely in an Arabian country. They continue to remain in these countries despite all odds simply because they can afford a lifestyle that would seem distant back home. And of course, the glamor attached back home to those working abroad, who are hailed in the Philippines as New Heroes. Add to that, the family pressures: It is better to get a smaller remittance from abroad, rather than none at all.

the economy in the Philippines is really bad that they sacrifice their well beings and swallow their prides just to work abroad. the compensation is better than working in the philippines.