[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Come home, Filipino’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
Sunday, February 5, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
ONE OF THE biggest news of the week was US President Donald Trump’s executive order that barred citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia from entering the United States.
This executive order shocked many throughout the world mainly because the Western world, and the United States in particular, has built up a reputation of being open to immigration and refugees.
However, what many pro-immigration groups seem to forget is that the United States, like all countries in the world, was founded by a particular ethnic group that also created a constitution that explicitly seeks to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” What this basically means is that the United States has the sovereignty to exclude any and even all immigrants from its shores just as the Philippines has the right to exclude all foreigners from entering our territories.
Moreover, it’s also important to remember that Trump’s recent executive order is nothing special. In fact, it’s quite milquetoast compared to other policies practiced by other countries such as Saudi Arabia’s “Saudization” policy for example. As a sovereign nation-state, the Philippines has this right as well, and that would be the end of that.
For many Filipinos, however, the immigration situation in the United States is a bitter one, and this is because millions of Filipinos live or want to live in the US.
According to the latest statistics, around 10 million Filipinos reside or work abroad. That’s about 11percent of all Filipinos in the world, and about a third of that resides in the United States with the rest more or less distributed across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. For Filipinos, therefore, immigration is a matter of self-interest.
The trouble, though, is that for the countries that are inundated with immigrants and refugees, keeping them out is also a matter of self-interest, which helps to explain why many Western countries are in the process of closing their borders. They are being demographically flooded by foreigners, something I wouldn’t want to happen to the Philippines either.
Now, whether you agree or disagree with Trump is not important. What is important is that the days of easy immigration is probably coming to an end; and sooner or later, the Philippines will have to face a reality where the world no longer wants Filipino immigrants or workers.
When this new reality comes, the country needs to be ready to absorb the labor that in the past we exported to other countries. This ultimately means more jobs, better social security and a stable alignment of academic qualifications and employment opportunities
Perhaps, in the future, new countries will open their borders to Filipino migrant-workers, or perhaps not. Either way, it’s not important, and the reason why it’s not important is because it’s in the country’s best interest not to rely on foreign countries to provide quality employment to Filipinos. The fact that the country sends out millions of Filipinos every year is a sign that the Philippines is not self-sufficient in this regard. It’s also the reason why Fil-Ams are now scared of Trump. It shouldn’t be this way. The country should not rely on foreign nations to provide Filipinos jobs.
So going back to Trump’s immigration ban, it is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s very likely that more and more Western countries will close their borders to immigration in the near future, whereas opportunities for overseas employment in other parts of the world will start to go down. When this happens, Filipinos need to be prepared to come home./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full][av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading tag=’h3′ padding=’10’ heading=’Durogista gintiro sang Pulis’ color=” style=’blockquote modern-quote’ custom_font=” size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ custom_class=”]
Ni Ime Sornito
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
[todaysdate]
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
Syudad sang ILOILO – Patay ang isa sa duha ka high-value targets sa pagduso sang ilegal nga droga kag subjects sa warrant of arrest para sa kaso nga two counts of murder sa operasyon sang Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 6 sa Barangay Ticud, La Paz alas-3:34 sang hapon kahapon. Gindeklarar nga dead-on-arrival sa West Visayas Medical Center si Aslani Ansari alyas Boy nga nakaagom sang pilas sa lawas. Na-aresto naman ang upod sini nga si Alex Mapandi alyas Angari/Agie, 31. Sandig sa report halin kay Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, hepe sang CIDG-6, upod ang mga katapo sang Special Weapons And Tactics kag Iloilo City Police Office, plano nila nga i-serbe ang warrant of arrest para sa kaso nga two counts of murder kontra sa duha sang nagluntad ang insidente. Ginapasuni nga nagbatu si Ansari paagi sa pagtiro sa isa sa mga katapo sang CIDG-6 rason nga na-puersa ang mga otoridad nga magbalos kabangdanan sang iya kamatayon. Narekober naman sa paghinakop sang duha ang duha ka mga pusil kag pila ka plastic sachets sang ginapatihan shabu. Sa interbyu naman sang mga katapo sang media kay Senior Insp. Rey Sumagaysay, hepe sang La Paz PNP, sanday Ansari kag Mapandi ang ginatudlo mga suspek sa pagpatay paagi sa pagsunog sa isa ka Muslim nga nasapwan nga naputos sa plastic sa circumferential road sa Brgy. Balabago, Jaro sang tinalikdan nga bulan./H
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
