Global Filipinos: A sleeping giant

FILIPINOS, in general, have always excelled wherever they are.

One such Filipino was our national hero, Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal, who obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree in Madrid, Spain, in 1885. He was a European-trained ophthalmologist, one of very few specialists at the time, when specialization was not even popular.

Rizal, believing in the brilliance of his people, exhorted the Filipinos to regain their pride in themselves and in their race.

Some say the history of the Filipinos in the United States dates back to 1763, when the Manilamen, as Filipinos were called then, all sailors on the Manila Spanish Galleons, jumped ship and settled in the bayous and villages at St. Malo and Barrataria Bay, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans.

However, other records show that Filipinos, then known as “Luzonians,” first set foot in 1587 on Morro Bay San Obispo, now known as California—13 years before the British arrived in the 1600 in what we now call America.

To set the record straight, they were Filipinos, and not British or American Indians, who first set foot in America, some 426 years ago. Technically, the Filipinos are not foreigners in the United States!

Today, there are more than 3 million Filipinos in America and about 11 million overseas, approximating 14 percent of the total population of the Philippines, which is at present almost 99 million.

Remittances from Filipinos abroad this year are expected to reach 22.5 billion US dollars. Without this infusion of money to the Philippine economy, the government would literally be in a grave crisis. The global Filipinos are indeed a vital and powerful lifeline for the Philippines, its government, and its people.

Filipinos have a literacy rate of 96-98 percent and the majority are fluent in English, a great advantage. No less than 47.9 percent of Filipinos in the United States have at least a Bachelor’s Degree. Twenty percent of the world’s seafarers are Filipinos. There are 1.2 million

Filipino cruise employees around the world.

In the USA alone, there are 22,000 Filipino physicians and more than 50,000 Registered Nurses and other allied caregivers, thousands in businesses, electronics, media, law, art and sciences … the rest in stores, restaurants, casinos, and in almost every facet of the economic and social infrastructure of the states they live in, serving their communities.

So, imagine a world without Filipinos!

Most hospitals and clinics, factories, casinos in America would be handicapped severely, if not paralyzed and closed, without Filipinos.

Filipinos at home and abroad are indeed a Sleeping Giant, and we have every reason to be proud as Filipinos.

All the global Filipinos need to do today is to wake up from our slumber, unite and claim the glory of a people long victimized and dominated, no longer by past foreign powers and conquerors, but by our own fellow Filipinos, our very own elected officials in the government, whose plunder of our nation, through pork barrel scams and other despicable means of robbing our national treasury, has disenfranchised, marginalized and neglected our people, more than 30 percent of them now languishing in the gutters of poverty, robbed not only of clothing, food, and shelter, but of their dignity, honor, pride and a future.

As these corrupt officials fill up their pockets and bank accounts, the poorest of the poor Filipinos go to bed (or, often as not, on sidewalks) at night hungry, not only with empty stomach but with empty hope and empty dreams.

Fortunately, in 2010, the Filipinos at home and abroad have elected by an impressive landslide a man of integrity and honor.

While the progress of fighting the deeply-rooted culture of corruption is slower than we all would like to see, there are many encouraging signs of the change we all dream and hope for.

The ongoing investigation of former president Gloria Arroyo, the impeached and expelled Chief Justice Renato Corona, the “Pork Barrel” scam mastermind Janet Napoles and those legislators implicated, and other corruption investigations, are all healthy omens of the Filipino people’s earnest battle against corruption.

The impressive economic boom in the Philippines and the excellent international credit rating of the country today are the fruits of an honest and transparent leadership from the top.

I only hope and pray that the one who succeeds Noynoy Aquino in 2016 is equally a leader of integrity, honesty, and transparency. Otherwise, we shall be back to square one and squander all the changes and progress achieved so far.

Filipinos around the world, at home and abroad, must come together, even in our diversity, even without unanimity, and unite for a common cause, and inspire our people towards responsible citizenship, and our nation, towards good governance and ethical leadership. When united, this sleeping giant could harness super power and clout.

Just think about it: If each of the 14 million Filipinos outside the Philippines contributes just one single dollar, we could easily and painlessly have $14 million war chest overnight, to help in our fight against poverty in our country. Not to mention the people power potentials of our Filipinos back home!

What we, Filipinos, need is a revolution … not a revolution of arms where blood shall be shed and stain our soil, but a revolution of principles, priorities, attitude and discipline, where sweat and tears instead shall be shed to bathe our nation clean.

The miracles and providential signs developing in our country and among Filipinos around the world today are a manifestation of positive things to come.

All decent and law-abiding Filipinos embolden my sustained faith in the Filipino people. They represent what is best in humankind, and their nobility and compassion towards our fellowmen, regardless of race, color, creed and religion, ensure the Filipino a rightful place in history.

The Filipinos are not only the source of hope for our people but the foundation of dignity and pride for the Philippines. I have an abiding faith that the Filipinos are destined for greatness.

Leaving this world after this life is not a tragedy.

Dying without making a difference, without significance, without leaving an inspiring legacy behind for the future generation to cherish, is.

I am, therefore, making this clarion call to all of you within the reach of my voice today, and to all within the reach of yours tomorrow, to unite and join the crusade, the revolution and come together for a noble cause, to serve our poor, to renounce corruption and recapture our dignity, honor and pride as a people and as a nation.

Let us come together now as our brothers’ keepers, as our nation’s loving patriots, to serve a cause nobler and greater than our individual selves, and, someday soon, make OUR appointment … with destiny.

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