OFW is NY Times mag’s ‘cover girl’

On the cover of last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine is a Filipina. Not Lea Salonga who is making waves in Broadway, or President Arroyo. On the cover is a Pinay nurse in Abu Dhabi earning $2,000 a month, and her claim to fame is how she has become the typical Third World family’s poster girl for success.

In an article by Jason DeParle entitled "A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves," Rosalie Comodas Villanueva tells her story of leaving home in order to have a home to come back to.

What’s that again? Leaving home in order to have a home to come back to?

An oxymoron indeed, but that is what nearly five million Filipinos who send some $15 billion in remittances yearly, go through. If they themselves do not come home for good, the home will be for their families and extended families.

In Metro Manila’s middle-class subdivisions, you will usually see concrete homes built by saltwater, that is, the sweat of seafarers, distinguished by anchor designs on the gate. In Batangas, there are several "little Italys," built by Filipina domestic workers who have found good jobs and kind employers in Rome and Milan. The Greek word for maid is allegedly, Filipineza.

"The Philippines," writes DeParle, "which received $15 billion in formal remittances in 2006, ranked fourth among developing countries behind India ($25 billion), China ($24 billion) and Mexico ($24 billion) — all of which are much larger. In no other sizable country do remittances loom as large as a share of the economy. Remittances make up three percent of the GDP in Mexico, but 14 percent in the Philippines."

By increasing reserves of foreign exchange, DeParle pointed out in the article, "remittances reduce government borrowing costs, saving the Philippines about half a billion dollars in interest each year."

Nearly every family I know has a relative who is either an immigrant or an OFW. And this includes all families in the social spectrum. Nearly all those who have left have found a better life, and in nearly all those who have left have given their families and extended families a better life back home.

This is not to say that those who leave don’t ever want to go back. Several have saved up for retirement homes in the provinces, and several ritzy condominium buildings in Metro Manila have been sold like hotcakes to immigrants, nurses and OFWs who want to retire in the Philippines at the end of the day. You see a lot of middle and upper-class migrants are sick of scrubbing bathroom floors in their beautiful homes abroad, and want to go where maids are dwindling but still available. And that’s in the Philippines.

* * *

There are social costs to leaving one’s family behind, especially when it is the mother who leaves for greener pastures abroad. The heart-rending story of Flor Contemplacion easily drove home that point.

But don’t cry for all the children of OFWs. According to the NY Times article, the World Bank said foreign remittances have raised education levels in the Philippines. Being private, the money is less susceptible to corruption than foreign aid. Children of OFWs are also said to be taller and bigger, probably due to a better diet from their parents’ remittances.

A study cited by the article found children of migrants "doing as well as or better than children whose parents stayed home."

The most recent study from the Scalabrini Migrations Center in Manila showed that migrants’ kids "did better in school, had better physical health, experienced less anxiety and were more likely to attend church."

Modern technology has also made it possible to ease the grief, the homesickness and the loneliness between today’s OFWs and their families, compared to even just a decade ago. Thank God for SMS and SKYPE.

* * *

The lengthy article ends by describing how much Rosalie is appreciated in the family compound in Silang, Cavite. In her parents’ home is a little shrine to her. "Off the sala is a guest bedroom with a large framed photograph of Rosalie, taken on her wedding day. The woman in that picture shows no trace of a birthright of poverty. She turns to the camera wearing an enormous gown and a confident face. Two generations of labor migration have given her more education, more money and more power and prestige than her mother could have dreamed of on her own wedding day. (Rosalie’s) daughter Precious Lara rarely plays in that room and hardly knows the face, much less the sacrifices her mother has made for the blessings of a migrant’s wage."

5 hours & $153 million

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud was in the country recently for only five hours, yet it was enough for him to formalize a joint partnership with property leader Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) for Kingdom Hotel-Makati.

Prince Alwaleed, said to be the world’s 13th-richest man according to Forbes magazine, is the founder and chairman of Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) and owns majority of its shareholding. KHI, a world-leading hotel and resort acquisition and development company, is focused on the first-class market segments in international high-growth markets like the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

The $153-million hotel complex that will rise in Makati’s central business district, brings together two of the world’s biggest luxury hotel brands, Fairmont and Raffles Hotels. The upscale project also marks the start of Ayala Center’s grand make-over into a world-class business destination.

Elite travelers can certainly live it up at this multimillion dollar complex that combines elegant architecture, first-class amenities and the highest standards of hotel service under the Fairmont and Raffles banner.

The visit of Prince Alwaleed was part of his Asian itinerary to scout new properties for KHI, which enjoys strategic partnerships with leading global hotel operators, including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Raffles Hotels and Resorts and Movenpick Hotels and Resorts.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])