MANILA, Philippines - Manila doesn’t offer enough diversity!†That was one of my chief complaints upon moving back here from New York four years ago. Fast forward to 2014 and the scenery is changing — slowly, but still. Back in the day, most of the AFAMs (A Foreigner Around Manila) you’d see were graying butandings and their mutualist island souvenirs from places like Angeles City, Pampanga. It seemed to me that the only foreigners who would flock to Manila were older males looking for servile lotus blossom babies to take as wives.
These days, however, the flux has changed. The continuous emigration of other nationals to the Philippines is less gendered and less old. Both non-native guys and girls are setting up shop here, and they aren’t of the shady variety. Still, the males outnumber the females. My guess would be a 4:1 ratio as compared to the old standard of seeing four foreign guys, zero foreign girls.
It’s just a fact that Europe is a sh*t show right now. With everything that’s going on in that continent, their young professionals are lured by the flourishing economy of the Philippines. What does that bring us here? Viable men and women of different ethnic persuasions! Observing this recent phenomenon, a French friend of mine who moved here six years ago continuously marvels at the throngs of Western women he sees around the city and how migration is less patriarchal. “This is amazing,†he observed. “There were only men coming here in 2008 and now women are moving to Manila, too!†Case in point, I have an attractive Danish friend who left Copenhagen for her “dream job with a fantastic salary†in Manila. Needless to say, she’s the boss.
Blame the recession overseas (except America, I can name a million reasons as to why it’s hard to find a decent American here and why the accomplished types don’t relocate to our country), but Manila is slowly becoming less homogenous. We are slowly inching our way into becoming a global city with each executive AFAM arrival. The new kids in town are well educated, better looking, and haven’t hit the senior citizen mark.
Open any society rag or visit any upscale bar in the metropolis and you’ll find Eurotrash arrivistes latching onto members of high society like briny barnacles. Interracial couples have been undergoing de-stigmatization for some time now. “Having a foreign partner is a chic accessory even,†muses online magazine editor Paolo Lorenzana. So ladies, listen up: Your family is more likely to be accepting of you dating an AFAM. On the same grain, what I would really like to see is more foreign women dating local — and I’m not talking about international school-bred, overseas-educated Third Culture individuals — Filipino men to further lessen the gender bias.