Determined Filipinos in Singapore

During my several days stay in Singapore, I met lots of Filipinos who were trying to look for jobs. Most of them were graduates from the different prestigious colleges and universities in the Philippines but some are college undergraduates. They came from different walks of life, severals were Philippine registered nurses, call center agents, others were managers in one of the popular food chains in the Philippines and there was also one who just filed his vacation leave and went to Singapore both for pleasure and employment.

As we discussed the reasons why they are trying to hunt for their luck in a foreign country, most of them conveyed that their previous earnings/incomes were not sufficient to shoulder their personal and family expenses. For them, the only way to have a decent living is to gain higher income and that may only be possible if they could seek employment opportunities abroad. Singapore is one of the easiest country to penetrate and all you need to do is to secure your passport and money for your fare, board and lodging. This fact is peculiar though because they were staying in such a high- cost- living city for almost a month and their spouses and families send undetermined amount of money for their sustenance. Majority of them stay in dorms and it was there where I met them. On the otherhand, by the time these brave and determined Filipinos be employed, they could earn as much as S$1,500-S$3,000 (Php 50,000- 99,000) or even more.

I could take a wild guess where these Filipinos get employment, I think in hotels and entertainment centers like parks. You know why? In areas always visited by foreigners or the so called tourist spots, Filipinos are made the front liners. I verified this when I strolled around the city together with my wife, many pinoys greeted us in several hotels and parks.

Do you know that they could not converse in Filipino "Tagalog" with their fellow pinoys? I don't have any idea at all why. At any rate, I got this idea when I returned back the politeness one pinoy extended to us, we opted to greet him in Filipino "Tagalog" but he still conversed in English to us. One time in one of the hotels we visited, a Filipino front desk personnel whispered to me that they are only allowed to speak in English and It was so sad that I never had the chance to ask why.

These people would do everything under their ability to seek greener pasture in a land unfamiliar to them just to provide the finest standard of living to their love ones. For that I salute you! I give you five stars, he he he.