The Filipino flair for hyperbole

Two mahjong den kibitzers were arguing. One finally asked the other which of the "Private" and the "PFC" military ranks is higher and better. Without batting an eyelash, the latter replied: "PFC" is higher, but "Private" is better. And he justified his choice: "You see, "PFC" or private first class simply means in Cebuano: "Ikaw ang kina-minusan, kina-makaluluoy, uyamot ug numero uno gyud nga pagka-private."

Taking cue from such off-kilter syllogism, what's the connotative difference between just plain "maid" and the "supermaid"? Or, viewed literally, what is the essence of GMA's bright idea to "export" the OFWs main dollar earners as "supermaids"?

Filipinos just love hyperbolic terms, using adjectives and adverbs in the superlative degree. Note this fondness for the "super", or "mega", or "ultra" modifiers, as in, megastar, superstar, star for all seasons, Asia's queen of songs, or the king, for showbiz personae; or astrodome, megadome, the ultra, super highway, and super market for certain structures; or mega/super regions, plus cyber corridor, of GMA's political gimmickry to promote Cha-Cha, among others.

Psychologists may diagnose this grandiose and fantabulous flair as sort of compensatory self-defense for our culture of mediocrity, of insecurity and inferiority, and to hide our smallness as a nation and as a people. Thus, we fancy ourselves as "giants", claiming as the best even in trivia, as in: "The longest line of children brushing their teeth". Or, that try to unfurl the "largest flag", torn and aborted by strong winds. How inanely pathetic!

In the frantic beeline of OFWs for repatriation from Lebanon, GMA toyed with upgrading domestic helpers into "supermaids". The rationale is to train the exodus of ordinary DHs as individual "Miss know-all", to command higher pay.

The average DH receives $150 to $200 a month, or just P7,500 to P10,000 monthly. Since many OFWs have high EQ as college graduates, such pay is low, vis-a-vis the costly education and, the capital in going abroad, plus the unquantifiable rigors and servitude under some cruel employers.

Is there any assurance that "supermaids" - skilled in, say, first aid, culinary arts, care-giving or as "yayas", or basic plumbing or carpentry, or as know-all tinkering, or as masseuse, etc. - would get higher pay?

Hopefully, the present plan of the POEA to work out with their counterparts abroad to raise the standard pay to $400 or P20,000 per month, will be realized. But then, with such fair pay proposed, so-called "supermaids" have to compete with the OFWs who are undocumented and willing to receive much lower rate. In Lebanon, for instance, the POEA figure of 14,970 documented OFWs, pales from the 30,000 to 34,000 actual stats because of the undocumented ones.

Assuming the "supermaid" concept to be plausible and, given the aforesaid "PFC" skewed logic, would this not further downgrade the perception of nations abroad about Filipinos as the "exporters" of maids, whether ordinary DHs or the hyperbolic "supermaids"?

Or, would the "supermaid" qualifier merely "enrich" the connotation of the word "Filipino/Filipina", long finding its way into the modern lexicon, as any domestic or menial worker with additional skills for "export" to earn more dollars? Or, is the Philippines that low in the world totem pole as to depend its economic survival on the sweat and tears of our OFWs?

The answers are of no moment... But the painful reality is that the government has utterly flunked in providing job opportunities to the poor who are forced to take any odd jobs abroad... The "supermaids" plan is but a melted icing on the stale cake.

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