Brain drain? Give value to Filipino workers!

I don't know why there was so much fuss about the swap deal between the City of Cebu and the Province of Cebu that didn't push through? The best deal one can make is when the buyer leaves the room, believing that he got lucky, while the seller is laughing for being able to make the sale. The elements of a swap is no different. So when one believes that he or she would not be satisfied with the arrangement, then there's no deal. So why are we making a big deal about this no deal? Let's move on to better deals!

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Do you know why until now, since the time of the late Pres. Ramon Magsaysay Sr., the Communist insurgency continues to plague the country? One major reason is that, the Communists have friends in the media. The other day's front-page story in the Inquirer entitled "Palparan honored for hurting Reds" is just one example. Why couldn't the writer simply say, "Palparan honored" period? This story is completely one-sided as it magnifies the alleged human rights abuses of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Star.

It is obvious that the writer wasn't happy that a Filipino soldier was awarded for keeping the insurgency in check. They talk about human rights abuses of soldiers, but whenever the Communists maim, kill or abduct our soldiers, they don't cry out complaining about human rights abuses. The reality on the ground is that, in times of war, human rights are always the first casualty, whether they're committed by soldiers or the communists, it doesn't really matter. What I hate is that, many in the media only talk about the human rights abuses of soldiers, while they depict the communists as poor innocent victims or worse, as saints!

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Today, the Cebu media was supposed to have a luncheon meeting with Philippine Airlines (PAL) President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime Bautista, but we were informed that this meeting has been cancelled. Perhaps Mr. Bautista couldn't find a pilot to fly his plane to Cebu. Kidding aside, finally the brain drain has also hit PAL. I guess this includes everyone in the Domestic Airline industry regarding the sudden disappearance of our experienced pilots to other countries, notably India and China.

We knew about this problem years ago. However when 9/11 struck, suddenly, there was a sudden reduction in airline fleets, with so many civilian aircraft mothballed in the deserts of Arizona. With fewer airliners flying at that time, many pilots were even laid off. But it seems that the travel industry has bounced back but then, many pilots have already been retired and it seems that their replacement was difficult to come by. What compounded the shortage is the entry of India and China into the travel world, thanks to their robust economies.

This is not only happening to the Airline Industry. The Philippine Air Force (PAF) also has their share of pilots defecting into the domestic airline industry where the pay is huge compared to their salaries as military pilots. Thankfully, we have an Air Force that's all air; that's why the PAF haven't gone on a panic mode unlike what's happening to the airline industry.

That Filipino workers are prized all over the world is mute testimony of the value of the Filipino worker to employers all over the world. Alas, it is only here at home that we want to keep our pilots, our nurses or our linemen, but we do not want to pay them better salaries or at least global scale salaries. We do not have many Airline Maintenance Facilities, because instead of investing huge sums of money to open such facilities here, these Airline Maintenance companies would rather lure our home grown airline mechanics, pay them handsomely and send them to where these facilities are located.

If you ask someone what would be an ideal situation for a Filipino, the answer would be that he would earn in dollars and spend in pesos! If we paid our nurses or doctors better, if we paid our linemen well, our aircraft mechanics or pilots, I'm sure that they would rather stay here in the Philippines and be with their families rather than go and live in a strange land away from your family and friends. A couple of weeks ago, there was a suggestion that a law ought to be passed so that pilots or nurses wouldn't be allowed to leave the country to work abroad unless they worked here for three years. If you ask me, if a Filipino gets a well-paying job abroad this is a blessing from God, so why should we enact a law to stop this person from getting a good job? That's sheer insanity! Call us lucky that we have become known all over the world as the employee of choice in so many countries. Now is the time to give value to our own Filipino professionals by paying them better salaries or wages. That's the answer to the problem of brain drain!