A world without Filipinos is a world that would probably be on a standstill. This is what an article from Arab News that appeared on June 16, 2008 acknowledged in so far as Saudi Arabia is concerned. A cousin forwarded this article to me and coming from the point of view of a foreigner, this is quite heartwarming. It’s not so often that we Filipinos get recognized for our contributions to the world.
Here are some statistics noted by the author.
Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Filipino workers outside the Philippines — 1,019,577.
Filipinos make up around 20 percent of the world’s seafarers. There are 1.2 million Filipino sailors.
Filipino nurses comprise 23 percent of the world’s total number of nurses.
The author noted that Filipinos are competent workers, highly professional, technically skilled, and speaks very good English. Here’s a very interesting observation from the author:
So if Filipinos decided one day to stop working or go on strike for any reason, who would transport oil, food and heavy equipment across the world? We can only imagine the disaster that would happen.
How true indeed. If Filipino workers around the world decide to stop working, who would take care of their babies? Clean their homes? Take care of their patients? Educate their children? I just hope every employer sees the value of their Filipino workers and treat us with respect and commensurate our hard work with just compensation.
We have a joke that “In the end, China will win” because of their sheer number. Maybe we should start thinking that in the end, the Philippines will win because of the dependence of the world to our Filipino workers. We have a Filipino from the halls of the White House to the pantry of a British royalty. So don’t be surprised if someday you’ll hear a British speaking with a Visayan accent.
photo credit: Ikhlasul Amal
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If Filipinos decide to stop working, I doubt the world will come to a complete standstill but what I do know is that the effect on our economy will be catastrophic. God knows how much our economy depends on the OFW remittances.
ako gani glad.. kung samu-samuon lang ko sang akon amo, makabati gid sya sa akon:
“I care about my job sir… I care about you!”
ahehe…
kwans last blog post..amoy pa lang, ulam na
@Tikalon – Ouch! But then it’s true. You are always bringing me back to reality when I start to romanticize things. hehehe
@Kwan – Aha! Naglantaw ka Caregiver! Hahaha
yep read this one too. makes me think of jessica zafra’s plots of world domination.
dispatch – affect – conquer!
roxiegirls last blog post..I Can Only Imagine
basta akon, tudluan ko ang mga blond kids magsaut sang itaktak mo kag kagat labi… kag mamuyayaw sang linT* kag y*dip*ta…. hahaha… kag magkanta sang bahay kubo…
kwans last blog post..babay unang ngirit cast
Wow. Threaded comments.
OK lang na, there’s nothing wrong with romanticizing things. I’m guilty of doing so, too, most of the time. Sarcasm is hard to get through online, no?
Pero I agree. We will win. British-accented Bisaya? Try Italian-Ilonggo.
LOL! Read that one too dear. Come to think of it, if we really put our hearts and minds into it, it’s really possible. Haven’t you noticed the power of the yaya over your son? Hehehe
Araguy! Sakit ba but I welcome a different perspective. It’s a matter of looking at the glass half empty or half full.
Maybe someday when we become first world (if that day will ever come) maybe we can tell the Arabs or any other nationality for that matter, “You can shove it!” But unless the country can provide jobs for those millions of workers, they’ll continue to work there. The least we can expect from them is to treat our workers with respect, give them the right working conditions and compensate them well. And the government should ensure that they do.
Anybody else has an opinion? Feel free to post it here.