by Sisig

The term ‘expatriate’ is not something I hear on an everyday conversation even though it is a social reality– and it is true for the people that we know, that people travel abroad and live somewhere there if they could. We have always known them as ‘nag-abroad’, ‘nasa abroad’, or the ‘OFWs’. In this paper that we read, they are identified to be expatriates which I don’t hear a lot, but it connotes a more negative term as it is literally synonymous to banishment. It is intriguing that the know connotation of these terms are on polar opposites.

In the Philippines, if someone is known to be working and living abroad people seem to automatically think that they are living better lives, as well as providing more avenues to better the lives of their families. However there is a slight but important difference between the 2 groups of ‘expatriates’ in the Philippines. Firstly, there are the ones who migrate and live abroad in the hopes of becoming a full-pledged citizen together with their families, these are the ones mostly traveling specifically to the United States of America or in Canada and live their life as a citizen– spending their resources their, giving labor to the country, and accruing the benefits of the country. Essentially these are the ones who want to start a life there, build their families, and thrive in their field. It is their way of having better lives than what they have in the Philippines, and passing on that standard of life to their future children. The second form of expatriates are the OFWs. They are the newly recognized Filipino heroes of this generation. Unlike the Filipinos who migrate abroad and turn themselves into a citizen of another country, the OFWs leave their families here in the Philippines. They are still a Filipino and identify as Filipinos. Their way of providing better lives for their family is by sending remittances and balikbayan boxes for the family to spend here in the Philippines. This is usually the set-up for OFWs because most of them only work abroad for a certain period of time to earn enough and come back in the Philippines, and build a better livelihood from the money they saved up abroad, some OFWs are not legal in the country start with. Although some OFWs who do not have kids tend to stay in their chosen country and build a life their as well, which they had deemed to be better.

This phenomenon is understood to be the Filipino Diaspora. Inquirer (2011) says that it was during the administration of Marcos that lead to the widespread Filipino diaspora. It was the severe economic depression, lack of job opportunities and political oppression– Filipinos desperately sought after better lives for their families and took risks and bravely went to strange countries, immersed in different cultures, to take whatever job was available. American expatriates, show that Westerners have an individualistic perspective and culture as they travel and live elsewhere to grow and widen their horizons and better themselves in totality. While the Filipino, having a family-oriented value and a collectivist perspective and culture, shows that they would want to be building their lives here with their families and friends, if they only had the bare minimum opportunities to build the life that they want to.