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Filipinos Leaving the PH
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Why move away from the Philippines when it’s beautiful, cheap, and familiar?
janezian
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Why move away from the Philippines when it’s beautiful, cheap, and familiar?
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It is only cheap by western standards. Let’s put this pretty blunt, I have two retired neighbors that were doctors. One was a dentist in private practice and she at the height of her practice made P40,000 a month ($800 USD) and her husband was a surgeon who after 20 years on the job made P35,000 ($700 USD). They have only recently retired. (They have a 29 year old daughter who is a nurse anaesthetist working in Modesto, CA and she makes $15,000 USD per month.) While a small, but brand new house in a nice sub division might only cost $60,000 USD that is not cheap when you have an average household income of only $420 USD. Flip that around and my wife’s cousin makes between $2400 and $3000 a month in wages and tips as a cocktail waitress on a cruise ship, but her high school education here meant she would have been doing good to earn $3.00 – $4.00 a day working the same sort of job here, assuming she could get a job doing that as the people who own most of the hospitality industry put college degree requirements on even scut jobs to keep poor people who can’t afford college from ever climbing the economic ladder here at home.
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If your source of income is coming from the Philippines as well, living there (especially in Metro Manila) isn’t cheap. Of course you can always say ‘live within your means’, but even so, the purchasing power is significantly lessened compared to working overseas. Let’s take me for example, your typical Overseas Filipino Worker. Here in Singapore I probably earn at least triple what I can earn in the Philippines (I’m considered in the low end for my field). Although the cost of living here is significantly higher, I can do my ‘living within my means’ on almost a daily basis, save, and then spend it in the ‘beautiful’ Philippines when I come back to visit. One significant thing I noticed is how cheap for me taking Grab is. If I were earning Philippine money (and rate), each Grab ride on the average cost me about 8 to 12 Singapore dollars (350 to 500 pesos) per ride. If I were still working in the Philippines earning the average income for my field, this would be very costly for me. But since I’m earning Singapore dollars, the 8 to 12 dollar ride is considered cheap (based on convenience, jam and difficulty to commute in Metro Manila) comparatively. I don’t take Grab here in Singapore because it’s basically unnecessary. This alone is already good example I just recently realized why most people prefer to move away and try to earn more abroad. I’m still single and don’t have kids yet, but imagine someone who has more responsibilities and financial load? Working overseas is a no-brainer, but you have to weigh in hard on the fact that you would be living away from your family missing out on important events most of the time. It’s a sacrifice a lot of people like me has made so we can ensure we keep a life where we enjoy the beautiful, cheap and familiar Philippines (at least when we come home).