February 27, 2003 - First of a series

It's the teachers turn

The series at a glance: 1 - It's the teachers turn 2 - Doctors bailing out 3 - Arthur's tale 4 - U.S. nursing shortage 5 - Nurses and recruiters 6 - Aries speaks up 7 - A price to pay C - The real war (and other views)

     I got a telephone call from a high-school classmate late last year. She was calling from El Paso.

     I thought for a moment how could that be possible. El Paso closed its doors four years or so ago. That trendy, western-themed bar/restaurant along Diversion Road that served steaks, Jack Daniel's, and folk music. A carriage wheel on one side, cowboy boots and ropes on the counter, and cow skulls on the wall completed the cowboy motif. Horses were seen occasionally, conspicuously tied near the entrance, if they had Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach, you got yourself a set for the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If you have no idea what the movie is about or you don't recognize one or two of the actors, you can always replace them with consultants.

     I actually liked the place because of its music, two or three-member bands playing folk, western, and country songs, no loud drums, no ear-piercing lead guitars. But the death of the restaurant became imminent when one night a patron requested the band to play the country/western song "El Paso", and the band replied they didn't know. If your restaurant is named El Paso, masquerading a folk band who doesn't know the song El Paso, that's your death sentence right there.

     I could tell my classmate was thinking I didn't make any sense. Well, I haven't since high school.

     As it turned out, my high-school classmate was calling from the real El Paso - out in the West Texas town of El Paso..., as the song goes.

"Millions of Filipinos remain unconvinced that the country is worth the long-term sacrifice of staying. Their one-time dreams of democracy and prosperity have faded before the dreary reality of a persistently weak economy, some of the world's worst pollution, rampant urban crime and corruption at every level of government."

     She related she's in the U.S. on a working visa and plans to stay for good. Her husband and two children will soon follow her. She said she's very thankful at the opportunity of earning more, stated the obvious fact that "we will never have a better life if I chose to stay in the Philippines."

     My high-school classmate is not a nurse, or a doctor, or a computer programmer. She is a high-school teacher. One of a few high-school teachers who passed a certain examination and were offered jobs in the underserved areas of Texas and other parts of the continental United States. This was a rare opportunity, especially for a teacher like her, so the decision to accept it was not hard at all. You have to have an I.Q. of a ladybug to refuse such.

     My classmate is smart and intelligent who majored in Math. She started teaching at a far-flung barangay high school and got transferred to a national high school (our alma mater) where she taught for a few years before she took the examination that would change her life. Only a few teachers in the Philippines though have opportunities like her. Underappreciated and underpaid, majority of them do the extra mile to augment their income - sell tocino or undergarments in school, and in the worst of cases, go to Hongkong to be domestic helpers.

     Reports of "excellent" teachers going abroad, tempted by offers of high-paying jobs, have not escaped the Department of Education. On top of admitting that the department could do nothing to stop the exodus, Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that "the most vulnerable to this kind of piracy would obviously be the most experienced teachers in the best public and private schools." And he foresees "continued pressure" on the teachers to accept the offers.

     "The reports are of attractive offers being made to Filipino teachers in private and public schools," De Jesus said. "I don't know how many have signed contracts, and how many have actually left the service." He said the department was in no position to "motivate the best ones" to stay. "We cannot fight the opportunities if they present themselves."

     It is easy for critics to label these teachers as "unpatriotic", preferring to teach in other countries over their own. But these same critics, if given the opportunity and a U.S. visa, will be the first to abandon ship and throw patriotism out the window.

     The problem here are not the teachers, it is the way they are treated. The salaries and benefits of public school teachers are so scandalously meager, to blame them for working for a better pay elsewhere is an aberration. My parents were public school teachers for many, many years. They loved their profession, showed me that teaching is not really all about money, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Besides, they did not have the opportunities that the teachers, albeit only a few, now have.

     I have always believed that teaching is the most noble of profession. My parents, now in their early sixties, are still known to most people as Ma'am and Sir. They are treated by their former students with the utmost respect I will never get in my lifetime. To be respected is one, to be appreciated is another. And to be appreciated means teachers pay should be raised before we start lamenting about their exodus abroad. To show and convince them that teaching is not really about money is like telling them you can fly a spaceship using a lawnmower engine. It is all hot air.

     "Teachers, particularly those in public school, are not appreciated, they are derided." wrote Inquirer's Conrado de Quiros. "When we were kids, teachers were pillars of the community. They were not rich (teaching will never be conducive to that) but they were looked up to in the neighborhood. Today, they are still not rich (they are infinitely poorer) but they do not have the adulation of the community to compensate for it. Teachers today are not raised up in pedestals, they are put down in sitcoms. Teaching has become even lower than working as a Japayuki. "Buti pa," as parents tell kids who can't hack it, "magturo ka na lang" (If you can't hack it, you might as well teach)."

     The observation is absolutely true and it is a shame. This was overheard from a typical Filipino family of five, the father talking to his children - "Ikaw iya 'Day kay ka-mangu' man sa imo, maestra ka na lang. Si Junior 'ya, kay masyado ka-alam, ma-pari." If you are dumb, you should be a teacher, if you are smart, you should be a priest. The in-betweens can be doctors or lawyers. Should this be the other way around? The best and brightest should be teachers? No disrespect meant for his Eminence here, I am just making a point on how we have disregarded the value of our teachers.

     So how did the reputation get this low? It's simple - teachers earn less, the more you earn the more respect you get. This is a scary thought but politicians who do nothing actually get more respect than teachers, get higher pays for doing just that - nothing!

     It is not a wonder anymore that teachers leave, especially to the U.S. when given the chance. They receive at least $30,000 a year - several times over what they get for teaching in the Philippines. A lot of states are even more generous in giving salaries based on teaching experience and benefits allowing them to bring in their families, providing housing or rent discounts, and other perks.

     Estimates show that the U.S. need around two million new teachers in the next ten years, and that 15 percent of this two million would be recruited from other countries. This would lead to the best and brightest leaving the country, especially so that Filipinos have very good reputation in the teaching community here.

     Teachers are just part of the equation. In a survey by Pulse Asia late last year 3 out of every 5 Filipinos wanted to leave the country for a better life elsewhere. We cannot and should not blame the teachers. We simply cannot deprive them of a better life. The same is true for doctors, nurses and other professionals who chose to work elsewhere. In the succeeding parts of this series, we will go into the minds of a few doctors (including yours truly) who chose to migrate to the U.S. whether as doctors, surgical assistants, or BSN's (Bana sang Nurse) driving SUV's.

     I had the opportunity to leave and migrate to the U.S. so I did. I have sacrificed a few things, and others may have a different opinion, but I still maintain it was the right decision. The exodus of Filipinos abroad is nothing new, the whole world knows about it. Filipinos have long been wanderers. Our ability to speak English and our Western-tinged outlook after years of Spanish and American colonization help make the Philippines the world's second-largest exporter of labor, after Mexico. About five million Filipinos live abroad, according to the Labor Department. Non-governmental organizations in Manila put the figure as high as 7.5 million. Most work in the Middle East, with the United States the second-most-popular destination, followed by other countries in Asia.

     "Filipinos packing up" may not be the headline to catch your attention. It's been going on for years, there is nothing to be excited about. On second thought, maybe, there is. The brightest teachers are now leaving, doctors are now taking up nursing courses, and more and more doctors are sacrificing their practices to live and work in the U.S. We already know the general reason for this, but I'll try to write about the stories and experiences from individual sources, including mine.

     In April of last year, an interesting article appeared in the The New York Times. The same article, written by NY Times reporter Jane Perlez, was on the front page of the International Herald Tribune. The headline could not be more true, "Educated Filipinos, Disillusioned at Home, Look Abroad for a Better Life".

     The article started with the story of Criselda Lomerio, "a wisp of a woman with a gentle smile". "Mrs. Lomerio," continued the article, "would appear to be an exemplary Philippine citizen. She is an elementary school teacher and loves her profession, one that is badly needed in this poorly educated nation (I have to disagree on the choice of "poorly" here. The Philippines has one of the highest literacy rate in the world - RG). She and her husband, Americo, scraped together enough to build their own home. Their three children give every promise of becoming upstanding citizens, also. But here was Mrs. Lomerio clutching a plump manila envelope at the entrance to the Canadian Embassy, ready to file the family's application for immigration."

     Mrs. Lomerio also told the author that after long and careful thought they reach the conclusion that despite hard work and a desire to contribute to their country, they know they will never be assured a perch in a middle class that may emerge one day, but not any time soon. They are convinced, she said, that their children will be doomed to struggle amid poverty when they become adults in 10 to 15 years.

     "Sometimes you think you want to stay," said Mrs. Lomerio, "but then in the long run you think that in a family like ours you can't stay." Only the "high-profile families" - her term for people with inherited wealth and position or long-established businesses - can afford to stay, she told the Times. Her husband, an architectural draftsman, has worked in Saudi Arabia for the last six years and regularly sends most of his paycheck home. Even so, their modest new house remains unfinished - it lacks a proper kitchen - and she sees little chance of it being completed. With their children ages 15, 13 and 11, now was the time to go and to be together, she said.

     The article noted that fifteen years after the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was brought down by the power of people who took to the streets, millions of Filipinos remain unconvinced that the country is worth the long-term sacrifice of staying. Their one-time dreams of democracy and prosperity have faded before the dreary reality of a persistently weak economy, some of the world's worst pollution, rampant urban crime and corruption at every level of government.

     What's disconcerting about this is before the Marcos downfall, blue-collar workers sought work around the world, mainly as seamen and construction workers. But since then, it is the better educated who have been leaving, despite the promises of successive governments to improve the economy. Educated families and young professionals - nurses, doctors, computer analysts - continue to leave the Philippines in droves.

     For every math teacher in El Paso, or a doctor turned programmer/frustrated writer in Chicago, there are thousands more of you out there who chose to leave the Philippines hoping for a better life. I encourage you to write so I can share your story too in future parts of this series. You may choose to remain anonymous if you want. You can write in any language or dialect you're comfortable with, but remember that I can only understand English, Tagalog, or Ilonggo.

     Sheila Coronel, the director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Reporting was quoted by the NY Times as saying, "For those who have lost faith, the answer is going overseas. You don't join a political organization, you line up at an embassy."

     Did you? Would you?

     Here's an e-mail from a reader on the mothballed medical malpractice bill:

     "The population's respect for doctors is unquestionable, when we are sick we pray to God above all else, second, we entrust our health and lives to doctors. It is understandable, your distress over this Bill 4955, the fact of it is, what are you all so afraid of is if you can prove your innocence. This may sound of a simple mind to you but it really all boils down to what steps need to be taken to prevent that accidental needle stick when doing an IV insertion, for example, which probably could be so easily explained to the patient. The Philippines may be booming with new technology and all but when you get down to the nitty-gritty doctors still cater to a population that is sorely lacking in funds and medical knowhow to be able to say, "Hey,Doc, I'm suing you for sticking me with a needle accidentally, I have a right under Bill 4955, saying I can do so." I mean, how many fisherman, farmers, market vendors, drivers, lotto ticket vendors even students is going to tell you that?! If I hadn't been browsing around the internet, I myself wouldn't have known about this Bill. It is just very disappointing that there is such a negative or reluctant acceptance of what is supposed to be done in the first place."

     IV insertion is a skill that you don't acquire by practicing on a dummy, it's by doing it frequently over a span of time on real patients. You become good at it not because you graduated at the top of your class, it's simply because you have done a lot of it on a regular basis. The same is true for other procedures, whether minor or major as in surgical or obstretric cases (in procedures where a simple rookie mistake can mean life or death, newbies are always accompanied by seasoned veterans). Hitting a muscle instead of a vein is always possible if you are just starting and new to it. I would not even call it "practicing" because you have to start somewhere and beginners usually mess it up more than the veterans. Of course, there are other factors to why interns or doctors may not do it right the first time - like obese patients, collapsed veins (severe dehydration, Rolling Stones' Keith Richards) or simply, human error (sleep-deprived, too much caffeine). Having worked in a government hospital, I can say that most, if not all, patients understand that accidents or complications could occur, and without sounding impartial, doctors usually do a good job in explaining it to them. The problem here is when lawyers, legislators and insurance companies start "educating" the patients themselves that these are not just "accidents" but "negligence" that doctors should pay for with money and prison time. The government as well as the medical community may have failed in adequately educating the patient but that doesn't mean other sectors of society should take advantage of it.

     This week's FINAL WORD comes from Gwafa:

     "I find your article (A matter of ethics - RG) very interesting 'coz I really want to have a silicon implant and I've been busy looking for a very good doctor in Manila. Pls. give me a few information if you know a very good plastic surgeon in Manila or Cebu and where I can reach them."

     You seem like a very nice, young lady to be a subject of such a cruel and inhumane treatment.

Comments regarding this week's column are welcome. Please fill up the fields below and click Send to Author. Suggestions for future column topics are also encouraged. Your comments may be quoted in future columns.

     The author's e-mail address is at drgarcia@wvsumedaa.com

     Views expressed on this column and any other by-lined articles on this site are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or its members. For comments, please e-mail the author.