Articles and essays which have no systematic evidence and are purely based on anecdotal cases allege that the migration of parents creates emotional displacements among children left behind. Many of the newspaper writing about the OFW families assert that the children are prone to delinquency and declining moral values. Church authorities, social workers and teachers/counselors who equate good parenting to physical presence of both spouses can have biased perceptions on the students with migrant parents.
The problem is when one journalist who may not have an OFW member in the family writes about his negative opinion based on his observation on one family; another picks it up and bloggers may write and discuss about the issue like it is the TRUTH that should be accepted, the perceptions are erroneously validated.
But did they ever look at the studies conducted? Nah. Sabi nga ano ba talaga pare ang katotohanan?
In my opinion, it seems that there is a gap between perceptions and findings on social costs of Pinoy Workers Migration.
First we have the motivations of the OFWs. It is true that workers are economically motivated but it is interesting to note what children say about it.
Most of the articles published in the newspapers point to the “escape from poverty” as a main reason for the labor migration when in fact, not all who migrated are necessarily poor.
From the studies conducted, most of the children responded that the fathers decide to migrate either to provide for the families or to seek career advancement.
As to the mothers, findings are on agreement that women migrate because there are no labor opportunities in the Philippines especially if you have no college degrees or you have already reached the age limit of employability.
Escaping poverty may be true for single parents for the reason that they were abandoned by the husbands or are unfortunately married to irresponsible-drunkard-no-good-womanizer head of the family.
First let us take a look at the study conducted in 1987 where a few researches were made to find out whether the perceptions on children of migrants are valid and true.
Cruz, Victoria Paz (1987). Seasonal Orphans and Solo Parents: The Impact of Overseas Migration. Scalabrini Migration Center and CBCP Commission on Migration and Tourism.
This is one of the earliest researches on children of migrant workers. The findings showed that there was no significant difference between children of migrant and non-migrant workers as to students’ performance. Majority received good ratings in terms of conduct and discipline in class from the teachers (78% children migrants, and 81% children of non-migrants).
After almost ten years another study pointed out to the same findings.
Battistela, Graziano and Conaco, Ma. Cecilia G. (1996). “Impact of Migration on the Children Left Behind” in the Asian Migrant, Volume 9 Issue No. 3
This extensive research in 1996 when cell phones were still not popular means of communication between migrants and children, the findings showed that the parental absence creates a sense of loneliness and abandonment.
However, it did not become a reason for laziness and unruliness for the children of migrant parents except for a few. For others, it made them, more self-reliant and responsible.
Although some felt confusion and anger, the overall findings of the studies revealed that the absence of the parents did not have a decisive negative impact on spiritual and motal formation of the children. “. This can be attributed to the regular communication of parents (particularly the mothers) with their children where they continue to monitor and guide their children thru letters and long distance calls.
The research paper argued that “family separation does not necessarily lead to extreme cases of emotional disturbance and delinquency among children.
Ten years after, another study belied the negative perceptions on the children.
Asis, Maruja M.B. (2006). “Living with Migration: Experiences of Left-Behind
The key findings here were:
(1) On average, children of migrants are better off financially than children of non-migrants.
(2) Children of migrants are more likely to attend expensive private schools than children of non-migrants, so children of migrants receive higher quality of education.
(3) Children of migrants reported the same levels of happiness as children of non-migrants, with the exception that children whose mothers had migrated reported slightly lower scores than other groups.
In-between these ten-year gaps, there were studies like 1) Nagasaka, 1998; 2)Anoneuvo 2002; and 3) Parrenas, 2005 which showed evidences that children of migrants being lonely,materialist, selfish, anxious, and resentful–
however, many children of non-migrants in the Philippines also face difficult lives and experience social and psychological problems
With the technological advancement on communication, a different level of intimacy strengthens the bonding among children and migrant parents.
The Filipino parents who are used to not demonstrating their care and love for children personally become less shy of expressing I love yous to their children by means of letters, texts and video conferencing.
What do you think made the phone cards very in demand?
Whether labor export is a good development policy or not, I believe that it is here to stay because the seed has been planted. These children of migrant parents will themselves migrate in the future whether because their career choices are what are in demand abroad or because the parents have opened the doors to the global labor markets.
Pag nagkaroon ng isang Pilipino sa isang isla, asahang maraming Pilipino pa ang darating.
Now let’s rumble by sharing OFW experiences and parenting.
Contributing Writer: Cathy
She blogs at Now What, Cat?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Thanks for the contribution Cathy, I was wondering, if there are any links online to the studies that you have cited..
Are there studies that have some conclusions as to labor export and it’s overall impact on economy? I ask only because you haven’t cited a study to that affect..
And, are there any studies, that have predicted the outflow of migrant workers, and if so, is there a point when this will level off? Or would it be too hard to predict such?
Lastly, you counter the negative aspects of the migrant worker’s children by stating that the children of non-migrant workers also have problems.. But the key question in my mind is — if the percentage on both sides of these two classes of children are equivalent or not. I am not sure, if these studies can provide such data…
Again, I know, a lot of questions, but your article seems to have sparked these questions, and now my mind is intrigued by the possible numbers and conclusions that have been made by studies that should be read, especially, by writers, columnists, and maybe even the FV writers themselves..
Cath,
Just like Nick, I’d like to ask: behind these studies, specifically with respect to “social and psychological problems”, are they:
a) The same? Are the social/psychological problems experienced by OFW children the same as or very similar to the social/psychological problems experienced by non-OFW children?
b) Do they have the same root causes? Are the social/psychological problems experienced by OFW and non-OFW children caused by the same things (e.g., puberty, peer pressure, identity crises, sexual exploration, other issues normally associated with teenagers?) or are they different, or more specifically, are any of them related to the absolute absence/presence of the parents in a child’s life?
c) How about the active role parents take in their childrens’ life? Does the “same problems” occur in both children whose parents are active participants in their lives, as opposed to those parents who may be present but are only taking a passive role in parenthood?
I’d love to hear more about those points.
Trouble with statistics and the people that devote a sizable chunk of their minds into tunneling through these is that they get in the way of real insight and real-deal lateral thinking.
As I said before, armies of MBAs and economists, equipped with their spreadsheet models, their “econometrics”, and their Gaussian hypothesis testing theorems all but consistently fail to foresee market corrections AND have been directly linked to creation of unsustainable asset valuation bubbles.
And many of these are even Nobel laureates who are cited ad infinitum in the most scholarly of “studies”. Mary Meeker, for example, the lady who played a huge role in talking up the Dot Com bubble in the late 90′s was, at the height of her credibility, frequently cited for her “analysis” and “forecasts” in the most illustrious of business journals.
Even as an entire generation of suckers bought Pet.com and Webvan stocks, the “experts” (save for a handful) either remained silent or played ball and joined the bandwagon.
Same thing as latter day companies loaded up on mortgage-backed securities. Where were the “experts” to tell us how foolish this was? They were there building the very spreadsheeet models that were to mislead hundreds of thousands of investors and misrepresent hundreds of corporate balance sheets.
All because of a bunch of three-letter acronyms that they earned (or rather paid for) the “right” to add at the end of their names.
If the mere presence of such acronyms guaranteed world-class thinking in their holders, then the Philippines SHOULD by now have been a world-class society.
This kind of research needs secondary data rather than primary to illustrate the effect to the economy.
Who would be the respondents? The migrant families? But then, let me research for that kind of studies.
I just focused on the social impact because that is the favorite of the people who are against the OFW deployment.
The C at is at her best at this kind of reporting. However, no one is his or her right mind is against OFW deployment. The disagreement is whether or not this is the right path to development; exporting people instead of exporting goods. There is bound to be an effect on society. These are intangibles that a study would be hard to pin down.
For example this:
Asis, Maruja M.B. (2006). “Living with Migration: Experiences of Left-Behind
The key findings here were:
(1) On average, children of migrants are better off financially than children of non-migrants.
(2) Children of migrants are more likely to attend expensive private schools than children of non-migrants, so children of migrants receive higher quality of education.
(3) Children of migrants reported the same levels of happiness as children of non-migrants, with the exception that children whose mothers had migrated reported slightly lower scores than other groups.
1) and 2) are Duh. However, 3), level of happiness, how do you measure that?
Suggestions: are children of OFWs more prone to anti-social behavior as compared to non-OFW families of similar income bracket? Are they more prone to depression? Etc. Of course these also have their ‘How do you measure that?’ limitations especially in the Philippine setting, but I leave those to the experts.
In the World Geographic Union Congress in Brisbane in 2005 there was a whole plenary and a session devoted to the topic of migration. The jury is still out on the long term effects of migration on families. The multiregional nuclear family was discussed. The non significance of the findings cited in Cat’s post may be due to the fact that cyberspace has indeed provided different modes of parental presence.
So take a caveat Cat, you are just citing school performance as a metric and this is affected by other factors some have no relation to migration at all.
The social scientist in me would look into how these kids of migrant parents view their situation.
Nick, here are some of the sources of my article.
I did not include them because the first time, I put them as my sources, they were omitted.
Among the studies mentioned were about the economic impact on these children. I was about to put them in a separate article because I want to focus more on the social concerns.
Other links were lost.
The Children of Migrants from Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines: Review of Evidences and Policies
The other face of migration, Children of Migrant Parents Left Behind
Abstract from Existing Studies on the Impact of Migration on Filipino Children Left Behind
As indicated in the title, this is a comparative study between children of migrant parents and children of single parents.
The questionnaires were designed to get the response
between the two group of respondents.
The purpose was to see if there is significant difference between the performance of the children of migrants and non-migrants.
Take note, that is only one study. Read the finding of the other studies.
Cite what they are please. I will be happy to respond.
Level of happiness on non migrant children depends on parenting,environment and the economic situation of a family.
Many economists say that money cannot buy you happiness. It may be true for US, Europe and the Great Britain because they find it less important. Other economists also say that extra income makes an individual happier. The latter will have a greater effect in poorer countries like ours. There is a scientific finding that poorer countries can be happier as a whole when majority of its individuals get richer. This is very relevant to government policy, its role to serve the common interest and promote happiness
as its political agenda. It is so much easier to raise the happiness of unhappy people than to those who are already happy people. Common sense really. :)
another great blog better than non- MBA’s :)
To be able with valid findings, the instrument or the questionnaire must have cited the same problems, otherwise, the researcher can not make such a conclusion.
blockquote>If the mere presence of such acronyms guaranteed world-class thinking in their holders, then the Philippines SHOULD by now have been a world-class society.
And by now you should have contributed to the solution of poverty in the PHilippines with your framework.
Btw, it is not the MBAs who conducted the studies.
Don’t you even know how to differentiate the degrees?
There are issues which opinions are enough and there are issues which required hard data.
Thank you for your opinion but what we need is information.–The Ca t
This can be answered in the sampling of the study.
The study obviously did not use random sampling. They had specific target respondents. There is one common denominator among the respondents–absence of a parent.
Jeg,
There is something not quite right about describing our OFWs as “exported labor”. They are not like rice or wiring harnesses for cars because they are not in fact “consumed”. Although much of OFW repatrtiation by necessity must be consumed, their principal long term contribution to society is directly injected capital formation on a small but wide scale, in the form of investments in education, housing, transportation, small scale retailing inventories, repair shops and other small businesses. When the banking system gets around to organizing this $15 billion annual “local” direct investment (generated from abroad) we will have a better appreciation of the OFWs than those deriding this unstoppable income stream of the foreseeable future.
(Once more Cathy has made a solid contribution with useful information and observations, instead of the logical fiddlesticks and formulaic tautologies on offer elsewhere.)
Are you out of the loop? There are several who consider exporting labor as exporting commodities.
There are commenters in this forum who expressed their strong opinion against OFW deployment.
They are when you consider that their most productive years are pissed away elsewhere, Professor.
The difference between exporting labour and exporting the output of said labour is analogous to the difference between exporting logs and exporting furniture products. It is also the difference between making a quick buck by selling your car instead of making a long-term living by converting it into a cab.
In the earlier, you deplete the capital. In the latter you employ the capital sustainably and derive income from it over the capital item’s lifespan.
It’s like spending the principle of your savings (therefore progressively depleting it) instead of living off the interest it generates.
It’s simple, Professor, really.
To be fair, you are probably beholden to her “expertise” and just another sad victim of the predisposition to credentialism that resides in the very DNA of da Pinoy.
Birds of the same feather.. :D
Cat,
The wealth of the world nowadays is mainly tied up in the commerce of intellectual properties, goods and services.
Observe that in all countries the greatest financial rewards typically go to those individuals and corporations whose goods and services have the highest “information content” — doctors, engineers, business wizards. This is true even for entertainers. And it is true for OFWs, whose assimilability and acceptability are due mainly to English proficiency.
Thus although we lack the local infrastructure and even the demand and affordability for our own doctors and nurses, our labor force has the know-how, training and expertise that is apparently in short supply in many other countries. By working overseas, Filipinos not only make a living, they can save, educate their kids and invest in the future.
In a way, what the whole OFW experience does is to blow up the old conventional national development model (“exporting goods”) and developing our own unique way forward. That way leads to a model that ends in “trickle down” economics. The OFWs are creating private capital directly for their families.
Perhaps, at first, simply to rescue them from a desperate situation. And this is where all those stories have come from of “broken families” and “abandoned children.”
What the lachrymose fail to note is that on the whole families that are making it economically, even if it involves the hardship of annual commutes to and from some far off work place, are going to be better off socially and psychologically and personally than families living in abject poverty or penury. The latter are much more likely to turn to lives of drug dependency, crime, and mendicancy.
And it gets even better from there. Families that have a source of support eventually can afford basic communications (cellphones, internet), pay for schooling, housing, food, shelter and clothing. And even start small businesses like cabs, trikes, sari sari stores, etc.
This is not off topic. Promise. Because these concerned sea-based migrants, the sailors and the navymen.
I am watching right now a marathon of NCIS. For those who have not seen an episode of NCIS, this not a copycat of CSI since it deals only with Navy personnel’s crimes, espionage and terrorism.
This episode which dates back 2006 is about a Filipino terrorist that goes by the name of Pinpin Pula. When asked what it means, the forensic pathologist Dr “Ducky” Mallard (of the NCIS team),said that the name Pinpin Pula is supposedly Tagalog for “rice paddy dike”! hahaha
While the team was investigating them, someone suggested that they talk to all the Filipino sailors. Agent McGee pointed out that there are over 250,000 Filipino sailors!
I do not know if he is referring to navy or to the seamen.
Moral of the story is, it is just like in comment boxes, if you have no reference, do not specify numbers.
Very illuminating.
Listen, really listen:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8JoIN1DnwyQ
About the post, I agree, journalists’s interpretation on OFW family is highly political.
Problem I see in the future is this trend in sexual behavior. This liberated sexuality spells trouble for couples planning the OFW lifestyle.
a lot to read for me but this article sure is a good read…
if i may add:
accessed through http://www.smc.org.ph/Home.htm
—–
it’s also worth digging up studies mentioned by United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef)-New York’s deputy director for programs Vanessa Tobin:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/09/25/08/six-million-filipino-children-left-behind-ofw-parents
—–
i may be (left) behind in my reading but may i request further article specific to “feminization of migration” (i.e., if not yet tackled here in FV). TIA.
pardon me but i took the liberty of supplying the working links:
The other face of migration, Children of Migrant Parents Left Behind
http://www.international.metropolis.net/events/8th_vienna_conf_2003/en/WS5.4Baggio.pdf
Abstract from Existing Studies on the Impact of Migration on Filipino Children Left Behind
http://www.gfmd2008.org/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,55/task,doc_download/gid,11/
baycas, great links on impact study but the result point out to the lack of government support on education.
“Family Values’ courses in school do not mention such families, but instead textbooks insist on normalizing the nuclear family with a father and mother and children living together,”
“The Philippines faces the challenge of adjusting to its changing family forms and accordingly recognize the experiences and welfare of kids with migrant parents, so they do not feel like the ‘oddball’ in society.”
Education cannot up with Trend. The Results of the Study will be placed in a drawer and will be done later- Like Juan Tamad”
“Governments and civil society groups are increasingly aware and active on these problems, but much REMAINS TO BE DONE,” the DFA secretary pointed out.
Additional insult to injury:
“BEIRUT: Filipino migrant workers are being smuggled to Lebanon with the help of CORRUPT IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS in Manila who work alongside illegal employment syndicates, senior politicians in the Philippines have warned.”
A government that cannot create employment is like an individual who cannot afford to raise a family. Increasing employment and sustainable income within the country will prevent migration of many pinoys overseas.
The trouble with people who miss the point as comprehensively as you do, Dean, is that the very fact that you consistently miss the point indicates a fundamental lack of ability to get the point in the first place.
Nevertheless, it has to be pointed out that the whole basis of your argument is how OFW’s contribute to the immediate and pressing needs of their families (the right here, right now stuff) as well as serves as the short-term economic stopgap measure de rigeur of the Philippine economy.
The common denominator is its nature as a temporary solution that’s become institutionalised. See the pattern now?
The Philippines is an immense patchwork of institutionalised temporary solutions.
This habit can be seen with every aspect of our society that in their own respective rights have become untenable socio-economic problems:
:D Jeepneys
:D Ocho-ocho “revolutions”
and yes;
:D OFW-ism
Everything is temporary and pwede na yan. And people such as you who encourage these and even elevate these to create a perception that these are such “noble” undertakings and artifacts of our society are part of the problem. Expert damage in every sense of the word.
So if I were to complete Ca_t‘s statement below, it would go like this:
… and themselves become OFWs.
Anybody else wanna join this love in of “experts” that DJB and Ca_t have started?
Get a load of all that and begin to understand why the Philippines continues to be a pathetically impoverished society in the hands of people bristling with “credentials”. :D
Sweet cheeks still at it.
Looking at the tally sheet kept by the BSP which monitors the so called income (Cash) flows annually of the country in what is more popularly known as the Balance of payments.
Annuals inflows are grouped together under what is known as the Current Account. Trade, remittances, aid and grants. That number is in surplus due mainly to OFW income flows.
Then we have the Capital Account. Foreign investment fund flows – (short term and long term), cash from loans and income from investments abroad by locals minus income earned outflow. (Capital and profit repatriation and principal and debt payments.) This is where the crux of the problem lies. We are essentially kiting our accrued obligations forward. It is also know as spinning our wheels in one place
We need to continue borrowing and depending on foreign investments to pay for our huge accrual of obligations under the capital account. All foreign investments and loans have to paid back with profit and interest.
The limited investments in micro enterprises are in so many words all part of growth of the informal sector when job opportunities in the domestic market are unavailable because of moribund system and structure of an economy that still cannot produce a surplus. (Broad term surplus.) You start surplus from a food surplus that makes workers pay packets lighter and creates the disposable income to buy other stuff.
My favorite sweet cheeks professora should learn that human sexuality and finance are analogous.
Human sexuality is more imagination that physical. Unless you see yourself as a bitch/dog.
Finance – your modern version of money – credit is also more imagination than it is physical.
If you do not know how the modern system of banking works – which is the credit system built around leverage and a fractional reserve system – (more imagination than real) how can you talk about benefits.
I have heard it said somewhere that in the original language of Jesus the word sin is the same as debt.
Banks are intermediaries for the settlement of contracts and repositories for savings.
To pay for goods or services contracted there are numerous products to facilitate settlement of contracts.
LC’s, Standby LC’s with or without a Red Clause, Bank Guarantees – Standby LC’s for more than a year with or without Red Clause.
Foreign buyers can access these products from their bankers using their line of credit and depending on the contract specifications can guarantee credit for their supplier with the suppliers own bank or their own bank.
Emphasis on the word credit. Now when for whatever reason the banking system itself suffers loses that threatens its very existence naturally the very foundation for trade and savings are threatened.
Entire economies will seize up just like a heart attack when blood stops flowing freely in the circulatory system. Businesses start to slow down and shutdown throwing people out of work. Then the feedback loop starts to work creating a climate of fear of losing ones job and more cutbacks.
That is when sweet cheeks might have don her stilettos and make sure her bikini wax is fresh.
Hence the OFW system of simply satisfying current consumption and insuring an economy of peddlers and tricycle drivers keep increasing the population of the 5/6 operators in the country.
That has led to the other business in the government of facilitating human smuggling into the Philippines of men from Punjab while we have mules who smuggle our people into other countries to keep the cycle going.
OFWs as a collectivity – is the new expanding middle class in our social strata.
A recent study revealed that children of OFWs perform better in school – statistically.
There is a dichotomy made. Children of mother-OFWs tend to perform better in school owing to the central role played by mothers when they are present. The study explains that the children are sort of forced to tend to themselves, hence the said statistical trend.
alot of people seem to be off topic. the question Cat raised is the effect on kids. The answer seems to be that, migration by parents seem to be not as bad as one might fear. thanks Cat! good summary…
to remind ourselves of the importance of this question, we note that one of the complaints against ofw’s is whether it begets a generation of kids that grow up with the handicap of not having good home lives. a bad childhood affects educational choices, career choices and incomes, etc… [there is a lot of research that shows childhood interventions having a huge effect on the lives of two otherwise identical children]
the social scientist in me wants to study migration on OFW children once they finished school. are they prone to be OFWs too (at the same level of ? that isn’t clear (DESPITE what benign0 says…)
Having said that, this is just ONE aspect of the OFW issue. as jeg (in Jeg on December 23rd, 2008 7:00 pm) said, there are others.
@Benign0
this research should inform your spiel against OFWism. don’t DISMISS it [as in here:benign0 on December 23rd, 2008 6:34 pm], unless you’ve got legitimate complaints against its methodology.
if you dismiss research just coz it doesnt’ agree with your worldview, you become an ideologue.
While some legislators and government officials in the Philippines have called for restrictions on the maritime recruiting market, the idea has received little support.
Despite Wave of Piracy, Filipinos Crave Work as Sailors- NYT
The real issue is unemployment. Yes there are advantages and disadvantages. I have questions for nobody :)
1.Why many filipinos are against ChaCha and yet make OFW acceptable to our society.
2.Which policy will provide safety and may alleviate some of the long term social costs of OFW deployment, FDI to employ our people here ?( Chacha), or finding employers overseas?
3. Which policy is advantageous for pinoy in terms of political or territorial advantage in the event of policy breach? ChacHa or Going Abroad? (In sports, home court advantage)
Yup it has become a generational fixture dependent on labor migration. OFW’s begetting a new generation of OFW’s.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/23/sports/migrants.php?page=2
“Their contribution is also appreciated by their government. Migrants’ remittances, valued by the World Bank at $17 billion last year, are credited for keeping the fragile Philippine economy afloat. In recognition of their value, the government has stepped up vocational training and other programs to enhance Filipino workers’ attractiveness on the global market. Concerns have been voiced over how the current financial crisis could affect overseas employment.”
“But questions are increasingly being raised about the social costs of this heavy dependence on absent workers, especially now that the majority are women, most of whom are mothers who have left their children behind.”
“According to several recent studies, the “feminization of migration” is exacting a steep toll.”
“Filipino men have long gone abroad for jobs, mainly in construction and seafaring. But in the past two decades the ever-rising demand in the developed world for English-speaking caretakers – nurses, nannies and domestic servants – has opened the door wide for Filipino women. They are now found in great numbers in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and other parts of Southeast Asia, notably Hong Kong and Singapore.”
“They are increasingly less likely to be found back home in the Philippines, caring for their own families. An estimated six million Philippine children are growing up now with at least one parent absent because of migration.”
“That the absent parent is now usually the mother has resulted in “displacement, disruptions and changes in care-giving arrangements,” Vanessa Tobin, deputy director for programs at Unicef, said at a conference on migration in Manila in September.”
“Adolescents seem especially hard hit. A study released this year by the non-profit Asia-Pacific Policy Center in Manila indicated that children between 13 and 16 are the most affected, with many dropping out of school, experimenting with drugs or getting pregnant.” Carlos Conde IHT
It is so very easy for the technocracy simply to add the material benefits in maintaining healthy consumption figures. Hence the almost entire machinery of the government is geared to sustaining the model.
How to measure the long term effects on the human psyche?
Who provides the basis for family and community values? Wow-wow-wee? The Beauty Contests? Tito, Vic and Joey… Just look at the movie star culture of instant gratification.
You have a dumbing of entire generations. Just look at sweet cheeks.
The generation of baby boomers were privileged compared to the subsequent generations.
The Vietnamese suffered a horrendous war. Nilalampaso ang Pilipinas ngayon. On the most basic issue of food self-reliance alone..
That kinda follows the same lifecycle as the depletion of other resources. When the premium stuff has been depleted, we start harvesting the next tier. I’m not saying women are sub-premium to men, but the REALITY is that they play a bigger role in child rearing and therefore present a potentially bigger impact on the next generation of Pinoys — the kids that are supposed to be the replenishment of this resource being depleted.
What’s next when we’ve depleted the next tier? Children?
Expending the principle rather than just skimming off the interest is UNSUSTAINABLE. If we prefer to quibble about the inconclusiveness of studies on its impact on young people, we are just copping out to extreme analysisism rather than regard the commonsense reality that we are sinking into a pwede na yan stupor that our society is destined to be an absentee-parented society in the foreseeable future.
Pwede na yan, right GabbyD?
You can retreat to the comfy world of citing these studies that make the whole thing “debatable” but if it comes to YOU, of having a CHOICE between raising your children with a full family or with just one with the other doing so by mail and SMS out somewhere in Rome, which one would you choose.
DJB and Ca_t here seem to suggest that the pwede na yan option is ok simply because some “studies” find the impact of OFW-ism “inconclusive”. Well, that’s da Pinoy for you.
Don’t confuse proof of absence of evidence of negative effect as proof that said negative effect does not exist.
C at: There are commenters in this forum who expressed their strong opinion against OFW deployment.
As the right path to development, yes. You must have missed that part. As I have said in the comment:
The disagreement is whether or not this is the right path to development; exporting people instead of exporting goods.
What was supposed to be a short-term solution became some sort of development goal: export more people. Break families up if you must, but export more people. What kind of long-term goal is that? The fact that it has sustained us for 30 or so years is irrelevant. It is not supposed to be a long-term development goal.
“I’m not saying women are sub-premium to men” benigno
thank you very much, puede na yan :)
It’s pretty obvious, if you ask me. Its give-and-take in this life. Therefore, something just gotta give. That’s why its called ‘social costs’ in exchange for the ‘economic/financial benefits’ of the Filipino worker diaspora.
Taking off from the arguments above and from the International Herald Tribune article, the next generation would be somewhat better-educated, with higher disposable income, consumption-driven, but probably with dysfunctional relationships with their mothers, and closer to their titas and lolas.
Now, you weigh the costs and benefits.
Oh, it may be off-topic, but I think it would be useful to give this advice to all of you out there:
Never trust a statement that begins with “Studies show…”. Investigate. That’s what your brain is for. We’ve handed over control of our lives to experts for so long and look where it got us. The orthodoxy (whether religious or economic or scientific or whatever) needs to be re-examined.
Merry Christmas.
Understanding the technocracy first that determines why Filipinos must leave the country to survive materially. We fill our global role in the scheme of things as purveyors simply of cheap labor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122101443.html
Sweet cheeks was trained simply in her narrow field to simply count. The longer term effects be damned. Instant gratification is all we can afford.
When the technocrats stumble like they have been stumbling since the 30′s most people are clueless since they are educated along the same ways to repeat the mistakes. The whole series of repeating crisis have been ongoing since that seminal event in the 30′s. The French and Germans got together after the war to guarantee that they would not resort to warfare once again. They shout at each other across the table.
Most businessman have been told since the 80′s that the old ways of the heirarchal system of division of labor has all but collapsed in the face of information technologies. Entire societies were built along those lines.
Obama used the new media (with very limited resources) to organize a critical mass that helped him win the Presidency. But he was fortunate that history and his message resonated with many…
The advanced Western countries are now desperately grappling with those realities. No one and no corporation is guaranteed to survive.
What happens to a country that is more known for beauty queens than anything else?
How can you re-program a culture that has been brainwashed to simply consume and not to save for a rainy day?
GMA has to have been the most stupid leader of all time. She should have taken the bull by the horns and declared a revolutionary government when she had the support and confidence of the critical mass after Edsa II.
She wasted all that political capital simply because the process of labor migration taken together with the rise of massive amounts of global funding gave her good waves to surf on.
How reactionary is that? Now global conditions have turned on a dime and my dear sweet cheeks professora would like to talk on the abstracts of the benefits to future generations. Meanwhile the physical and human infrastructure continues to deteriorate.
Finance is nothing but imagination based on faith. Faith in ones counter-parties. Institutions of civil society are put in place to support that faith based system.
When that faith breaks down amongst private counter-parties you require a functioning state to fill the gap until a semblance of trust can be restored.
The Philippines has been a broken state for so long no one knows what a functioning state is all about.
Then we sit here to argue the benefits or pitfalls of labor exports.
After almost 40 years of it our neighbors are all passing us by in material terms.
Even lowly Myanmar…
Thank you baycas. I have also provided the links as requested by nick.
jeg @ 10:43am, filipinos may have handed control of their lives to “experts” but they always lay the blame on “the most stupid leader”, gma, for every wrong that happens to them. it is as if gma, all by herself, has the power to make them prosperous, happy, successful, and self-sufficient and to prevent them from being poor, miserable failures that they are. we have a very spoiled, developmentally-challenged citizenry who always needs a crutch to get around and survive.
in the philippines, a president, any president, is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t exercise political will to pursue an unpopular policy. how does one measure a good leader? since, as a society, we always have serious problems, politically, economically, socially, which no president has ever overcome, did we ever have a “good” leader?
Now that is another no-brainer comparison Benigno.
If you will compare people to inanimate objects as logs and finished product as furniture,
you are talking about young children (unprocessed) and experienced adult (processed).
Wear your thinking cap again benigno, selling the car can not be likened to deploying OFWs abroad. The first gives you one time cash while OFWS send cash every month.
Try again. Do it right this time. At least compare apples and oranges. They are both fruits.
I’m not absolutely certain, but i asked Cat about her opinion on the issue on investment in a past post, and i believe she knows that this is a big problem (for development, long-run issues). I’m not sure about DJB’s stand but in his comment of [DJB on December 23rd, 2008 7:55 pm], i think he is implicitly saying its a problem currently.
I think there is less disagreement about this among people.
This is a multi-faceted problem, and as Jeg repeated [Jeg on December 24th, 2008 10:30 am], there are other issues.
@ Benign0
as for your:
“Don’t confuse proof of absence of evidence of negative effect as proof that said negative effect does not exist.”
i’ll assume that means you DO NOT believe the studies of increased educational attainment. thats fine. weird, but fine.
note that these studies didn’t say that the psychological pain of living apart doesn’t exist. they do say it is painful. in fact, EVERYONE says its painful. What the studies DO say is that this migration MAY NOT a hindrance to further oneself by working hard, education, etc.
also note, that studying this issue MUST be a continuing enterprise. the latter studies tend to be more pessimistic than earlier. (not sure, but i think this is because when poorer women migrate, the income gain is less and there’s less of a reliable support group available)
here is a link from unicef, a summary of more recent studies…
http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/inside_pages/events/20080918_icgmd/paper_unicef.pdf
the policy recommendation from this is clear: institutions must grow to help families in need. extended family, support groups from similarly situated families should step in. this is kinda like what prof parreñas says in the IHT article J_ag linked to.
Thank you gabby. That was specifically my response to nick when he asked about the economic impact of OFWs I want to focus on the social concerns that’s why my last statement was an invitation to brainstorm about parenting and OFWs experiences.
Benigno was once an OFW but he refuses to share. M
The best they could have done is to come up with studies of the same nature arguing the findings of what I presented.
What I get are Current Account something something which could have been an apt comment if I start talking about GNP and GDP.
Read the title, PERCEPTIONS VERSUS FINDINGS.
The perceptions refer to the opinions of people without scientific evidence…taxi drivers think, militant people think, church people think, journalists think and bloggers think.
They all stink because they are just anecdotals.
The responses are direct from the children who are left behind.
Statistical analyses were used to validate the findings.
These aren’t just ordinary surveys with unstructured questionnaire and unstratified sampling.
Ca_t, you still haven’t answered my question:
What makes you think I am or was an OFW?
Given that you are fond of digging up “studies” to prove your point (since you are unable to rely on our own logical faculties), I find it interesting that you are unable to come up with an answer to that simple question.
GabbyD,
That’s not what I mean. I meant it in the broader aspect. You do not need “studies” to understand the benefit of educational attainment. Overall there are costs to OFW-ism, as Phil said: “the next generation would be somewhat better-educated, with higher disposable income, consumption-driven, but probably with dysfunctional relationships with their mothers, and closer to their titas and lolas.”
As another commenter mentioned, you, Ca_t and DJB seem to gloss over the fact that most of those who are arguing against you are those who take issue with the idea that OFW-ism is now a permanent part of the Philippine economy and a permanent solution to our society’s challenges with employment.
Ask this of yourself if you had kids, GabbyD:
Would you prefer your kids to (a) grow up in a single parent household or a household headed by a guardian, or (b) would you prefer them to grow up in the company of both of their real parents?
Choose between A and B, GabbyD.
Some people do not realize that there is more bonding between migrant parents and their children left behind.
If this is not true, the business of cell phones, phone cards would not have grown by leaps and bounds in the past years.
The children are just a phone call away. With chats, video chats, the families are only separated by the oceans between the continents.
Another finding in the study is the role that the extended family play in this separation.
Grandparents, aunts, uncles and elder children take the role of the absentee parents.
Although the overall findings negate the theory that children of migrant parents become juvenile, lazy and lonely, the studies point to the fact that there is a difference on the impact between gender of the migrant parents.
Children who bonded more with mothers tend to feel more abandoned than children in the family whose fathers become the migrant workers.
Maybe because the fathers take more passive role in parenting whether they are abroad or are in the Philippines.
So if I may ask the fathers in this forum, do you even hug your children and say I love you? Do you even help them in their homework?
If not, then a migrant father who does not forget to send texts to his children to assure them that he is always available when needed is better off than a non-migrant father who leaves teaching children of their assignments to the wife because he’s tired.
Goes to show Ca_t that though you are able to dish out jargon, you really do not understand the difference between the concepts of depleting the principal and living on interest income.
When you employ people to produce goods and services and then sell those goods and services, your income is derived from the product of human capital. Advanced countries are able to employ capital (including human capital) productively.
Unhealthy economic entities sell the capital for an immediate cash windfall rather than invest in developing said capital into an asset that generates recurring income.
Sure, OFW’s send back their remittances. But they are overseas adding value to the enterprises and societies they deliver their services to which contributes to the expansion of the capital base of those societies. The remittances they send back to the Philippines, meanwhile get spent, as DJB cited, on tricycles, jeepneys, and sari-sari stores.
Ca_t, you still haven’t answered my question:
What makes you think I am or was an OFW?
So why are you in OZ?
Oh so now you are saying that the kind of bonding that Internet Chats, overseas calls, and celphone SMS’s facilitate are comparable to actual physical parental presence. You are implying that such a telecoms-facilitated relationship is “ok”?
Looks like you are scraping the bottom of your barrel of arguments Ca_t. :D
To me, it simply comes across as pwede na yan thinking.
You find the OFWs faced with a less than ideal situation, and you sell it across as an acceptable circumstance. Nothing can’t be more typically Pinoy.