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Difficulty of PH Life
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Is it true that life is hard in the Philippines? Why are so many Filipinos leaving the country?
verbotentraveler
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Yes life is hard in the Philippines. I was forced by my family to take nursing in college so i can work in the US. Living in the Philippines is hard. The minimum wage in Metro Manila is P537 for 8 hours of work, meaning 1 hour of work is P67 or $1.34. The healthcare and education system in the country is also bad. Another thing that makes living in the Philippines hard is traffic and poor transport system. Going to work will take 1–2 hours. Same with going home from work. Below is a photo of a very long queue at a train station in Metro Manila. In 2006, my parents forced me to take up nursing in college. They want me to work as a nurse in America. During that time, the demand for nurses in the US were so high. Nurses in the US can earn $30–40 per hour, compared to $1.34 here in the Philippines. According to statistics, there are approximately 150,000 Filipino nurses in the US. Unfortunately, after my graduation in 2010, applying for an American Visa became difficult because most Filipinos use their tourist visas to look for jobs and overstay. I cant blame the Filipinos if they want to leave the country because living in the Philippines is very difficult. Thanks for reading my answer. Dont forget to upvote and follow me on Quora! -Paolo August 11, 2020 Update: Saw this online and it made me very angry! Nurses getting paid so littlr during thr covid pandemic. P3000 or $60 for 2 weeks 9hour duty?!
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I’m one of those people who left the country and is currently living in another. I’ve done it a few times and have lived and worked in three other countries apart from the Philippines. Let’s not sugarcoat it, life is hard in the Philippines. Even if you’re super rich living in the poshest subdivision in Manila, you will still be subjected to the constant flooding of the main thoroughfares, ash fall from volcanoes, and the regular lashing of typhoons. Even if you live in a bubble, at some point, you and your family will be affected by political upheavals and various social uprisings. The Philippines main enemies are its people and nature. It’s a love and hate relationship. Even if I left the country to work and for other reasons, I still miss it. Even being squashed in the MRT in peak hours. It’s taken me a long time, but working in international companies and with different nationalities has allowed me to shed off some “Filipino-ness” in the work culture. I still have that undying need to please people, but now, I’ve learned to work with my colleagues as equals (not “sir” and “maam” them just because they’re older). I’ve learned to assert myself and be more confident. I’ve become less afraid to put forward ideas and execute them. I’ve learned to be proactive and not wait to be told what to do. And what I do, I do it well. I was already in my 30s when I started doing this, but people from the West, would act like this even when they’re 15. I had to do so much unlearning to thrive. And I realized that for other Filipinos to succeed, you have to skip the unlearning part and just learn the right things in the first place. Western kids are taught confidence at a young age. They’re taught to be assertive and idea-driven. They’re taught movement and skills that promotes logic and rational thinking, even decision-making. Filipinos equivalent of this is PE and religion classes where we are taught to be subservient. I’ve been thinking for a while now of going back to teach. To set up classes for underprivileged students where they can cultivate skills like languages, coding, and art. They can be taught yoga, dance and improving reading comprehension. Be more aware of global issues and cultures, world cuisine and later on, what a global company/setting is like, the work culture and such. Practical things that in the Philippines, only rich kids have access to. Which is why we have rich kids succeeding better in academics and in general, life. This is just my hope. I miss the Philippines and I go home whenever I can. Not everyone who leaves, leave forever.