...the expat builders of the nation

Expat Pinoy engineers to come home to build Metro Manila Subway: DOTr

ABS-CBN  News | 3 October  2019

MANILA - Dozens of Filipino engineers who are currently working on rail projects abroad are willing to go back to the Philippines to help build railways, particularly the Metro Manila Subway, the country's transportation secretary said on Thursday.

More than 60 Filipino railway engineers and technicians currently employed in Bahrain, Qatar and Denmark agreed to work on rail projects in the Philippines, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade told senators. 

The engineers said that they want to help build infrastructure in the Philippines, as well as be closer to their families.

"Pumirma ho sila ng mga application form. Basta maumpisahan lang yung subway project, given a reasonable time, they are ready to come back," Tugade said during a Senate hearing on his Department's budget. 

(They signed application forms. When the subway project starts, and they are given a reasonable time, they are ready to come back.) 

The Metro Manila subway broke ground in February this year but actual drilling of the subway tunnels is not expected to begin until November or December this year.

The underground rail system, which is the country's first, is among the flagship projects under President Rodrigo Duterte's P8 trillion infrastructure program.

The 36-kilometer subway will stretch from Valenzuela on the capital's northern end to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, promising as fast as 30 minutes of travel time from end to end.

The government earlier said it hopes to open the first 3 stations in Valenzuela, Tandang Sora, and North Avenue before Duterte's term ends in 2022.

Kyodo News, however, reported that contractors and people familiar with the project said the government's target timeline may increase the total cost, while the acquisition of land for its stations could take longer than estimated

...the Taiwan literary awardee

Filipino factory worker to receive second literary award

Chen Cheng-wei and William YenFocus Taiwan

28 September 2019

Taipei, Sept. 28 (CNA) Filipino factory worker Melinda Babaran will collect her second award at the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants Sunday following her win at last year's awards.

Melinda Babaran / Photo courtesy of Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants

Babaran will be presented with the Choice Award at the 6th Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants award ceremony for a poem titled "Kapirasong Papel," which is written from a man's perspective about facing his wife who has been having an affair while working abroad.

The inspiration for "Kapirasong Papel" came about one day when she was in her dormitory and heard a woman scream at her husband on the telephone because he was having an affair while the woman was working abroad in Taiwan, Babaran said.

But when she started composing the article, she changed the story to the wife committing the affair while overseas, while the husband was at home looking after their family and children, Babaran said.

Babaran said she got the inspiration from her father, who did not betray the marriage and instead concentrated on taking care of the children while her mother was working overseas.

The part in "Kapirasong Papel" that touched her the most was that when the husband discovers his wife's affair, he is on the verge of losing control, but eventually calms down when he hears his child's voice, Babaran said.

Babaran, who lives in Taoyuan, works in a semiconductor factory and has been in Taiwan for 12 years.

Prior to this year's award, Babaran won the Jury Award at the 5th Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants in 2018 for an article titled "Latay sa Laman," in which she expresses her love for her father.

The award ceremony for the 6th Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants will be held Sunday at the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area in Chiayi County.

The awards saw a total of 680 submissions this year and had a total of eight prize winners in nine categories.

...the OFWs in UAE

OFWs boost UAE’s economy


William Depasupil
The Manila Times
21 September 2019


Eon Insight: Focus on the Filipino in the UAE, revealed highly skilled Filipinos are now represented across all industries contributing to the country’s economy, with 64 percent of Filipino workers being college graduates and 6.7 percent holding post-graduate degrees.

A large number of overseas Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are professionals and highly skilled workers, are employed in industries and economic activities that fuel the Emirates’ engine of growth and hub of economic activities, a recent study by a communications firm showed.

The study, released on Tuesday by EON Group, showed there are now more than 750,000 Filipino workers across the seven-state UAE, namely Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

Photo: filipinotimes.net

“We are very proud of our relationship with the UAE thus far and we continue to be optimistic that our people to people exchanges and our economic ties will even deepen as the years go on,” Paul Raymund Cortes, Philippine consul general in Dubai and Northern Emirates, said.

“Our ties with the UAE are one of our most strategic relationships, be it trade, cultural and human relationship,” he added.

The study, titled Eon Insight: Focus on the Filipino in the UAE, revealed highly skilled Filipinos are now represented across all industries contributing to the country’s economy, with 64 percent of Filipino workers being college graduates and 6.7 percent holding post-graduate degrees.

It is the first ever study into the contribution of the Filipino community in the UAE. The study sought to understand the size, scale and contribution of the UAE’s third largest expatriate demographic.

According to the study, 62 percent of Filipinos surveyed could be found in sectors that are seen to contribute to UAE’s economic diversification and expansion.

The top 5 sectors they work in are architecture, engineering and construction (17 percent); tourism and hospitality (16 percent); customer service (13 percent); health and medical fields (10 percent); and marketing and advertising (8 percent).

An increasing number of Filipino workers are further providing semi-skilled and highly skilled labor, shifting away from low-skilled work areas. In job positions, 46 percent of Filipinos were in associate, supervisory and mid-senior level manager roles, according to the survey.

It also showed 37 percent of Filipinos earn at least AED 8,000 a month or roughly P112,000, with 20 percent earning AED 13,000 a month or P182,000.

Aside from the high demand for their skills, Filipinos workers, with their big salaries, also help boost economic activities in terms of spending habits.

According to the study, Fillipinos are big spenders, with 48 percent going to malls at least once or twice a month; with 45 percent willing to spend up to AED 50 for one meal and 16 percent willing to spend more than AED 80.

It added that the Filipino community in UAE has a long-term commitment, with Filipinos increasingly looking to invest and build deeper interlinked roots in the country.

The survey showed that 41.3 percent of Filipinos have been living in the UAE for two to five years and 37 percent for more than six years, while 31.5 percent plan to stay for another three to five years.

Survey data showed that their home country’s culture plays a key role in shaping Filipinos’ activities in the UAE like spending their free time participating in church activities such as Bible studies and community service programs.

The Filipino weekly Mass, held every Friday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Dubai, sees an average weekly attendance of more than 2,000.

During the Christmas season, simbang gabi (midnight Mass), a Filipino tradition of daily masses over a nine-day period, has attendees between 30,000 and 35,000 per day.

Also, the social media connectivity and positive promotion of the UAE by the Filipino community there has contributed to the country being a top 10 destination for traveling compatriots.

It said Filipinos were an untapped force of marketing in the UAE as they are constantly connected online.

...the PH top grossing film of all time

How Hong Kong-set ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ became the Philippines’ top-grossing film of all time

• The film, which was also shot in the city, is the tale of a domestic worker and a playboy bartender, both Filipinos, who fall in love
• Experts and fans say it captures the lives of overseas Filipino workers, who finally feel seen after often being regarded as invisible in their daily jobs

Crystal Tai
South China Morning Post 
08 September 2019

Hello, Love, Goodbye is the hit film about the romance between a millennial

domestic worker

and a playboy bartender – and it’s now

the Philippines

’ top-grossing film of all time. Filmed and set in Hong Kong, the movie stars Kathryn Bernardo as Joy and Alden Richards as Ethan, a Filipino couple who inadvertently fall for each another while chasing their dreams and trying to make ends meet in the city.

‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ stars Kathryn Bernardo as Joy and Alden Richards as Ethan. Photo: YouTube

Since its July 31 release, the film has earned more than US$44.8 million worldwide. Besides the Philippines, Hello, Love, Goodbye has also become the

highest-grossing Philippine film

in Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

In the Southeast Asian nation, 10 million people – a tenth of the population – work abroad, searching for better pay and opportunities to support their families. These overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) send home up to US$31 billion every year, roughly 10 per cent of the nation’s GDP, according to a 2018 National Geographic report.

Toni Magsaysay, a Manila-based graphic designer in her 20s who did her bachelor’s thesis on the lives of OFWs, said many Filipinos would be able to relate to the film.

“Many families have relatives working overseas,” she said. “They know the sacrifices made by each end. But at the same time, they do not entirely share all of the hardships from both sides, as to not make both sides worry too much.

While many OFWs are nurses, engineers and ship workers, Magsaysay adds that the majority are domestic workers.

Hong Kong, which employs 213,000 Filipinos as domestic workers according to 2019 statistics, is one of the top destinations for OFWs. E.J.R. David, a Filipino-American professor who teaches cross-cultural psychology at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, said many Filipinos see more opportunities in the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore than they do at home.

“In addition to featuring the plight of overseas domestic workers, which many folks can relate with, [Hello, Love, Goodbye] also tackles issues that are more universal like love, family, individuality, responsibility, and how they are all intertwined,” he said.

“Many of us can relate to these universal themes, because many of us in the diaspora are constantly trying our best to navigate this delicately tangled web of in our lives.”

David said that while the film was popular among Filipinos because it gave them a glimpse of what their loved ones might be going through, OFWs themselves would also find it powerful because they would “finally feel seen and appreciated when they are often regarded as invisible in their daily work”.

Hello, Love, Goodbye also breaks down stereotypes surrounding OFWs, according to Eian John Pascua, a graphic designer and fan of the film who is based in the Philippines. He said OFWs are often assumed to be earning a significantly higher amount of money, and are therefore expected to foot the bill for their families when it comes to items like new cellphones or shoes.

“That was one of the issues discussed subtly in the movie, when Joy’s siblings were asking if she could buy them stuff that was a bit pricey,” Pascua said.

For graphic designer Magsaysay, the film was also realistic in its depiction of the more gritty aspects of being a domestic worker living in Hong Kong. She cites a scene in which the characters picnic in crowded Victoria Park on their day off. “I remember my sister, who once lived in Hong Kong for a teaching job, telling me, ‘How they sit on cardboard [in the park] is really real’ when we watched the movie together.”

Due to their sacrifices, OFWs are often regarded as modern day heroes by their families, said David, the academic. “The country recognizes that it is largely dependent on the money that overseas Filipino workers send back,” he said, adding that research suggests more than a third of the Philippines’ population receives money from relatives working abroad.

David also points out the problem with many Filipinos having to part from their families just to survive.

“It is unfortunate the Philippines as a country has become dependent on this sacrifice, [that its] largest export is its people [and] providing for their family means having to leave them behind,” he said. “It’s a sad life when you realize that in order for your family to survive, then you need to serve others.”