It is heartbreaking to view one's homeland as a country in perpetual distress - mostly because it is geographically in the path of annual storms and typhoons, but mainly aggravated by man-made neglect and mismanagement of environmental measures to cushion the impact of such natural calamities. The country known as "pearl of the orient", with nature's gift of endless miles of white sands, green forests, lakes, ocean teaming with marine life- is a sad picture of perpetual disaster.After many years of living abroad, one is not totally liberated from the placental ties with the homeland no matter how hard one tries to distant oneself from the socio-political developments taking place. Many are forced to leave the Philippines for reasons that are politically and economically-motivated. In the dark days of the dictatorship, it was necessary to flee to avoid more repression if not imprisonment. But in the mid-70s, the Filipinos leaving the country were is search of economic security and prosperity. They formed the population of overseas Filipinos whose regular remittances to their families became the country's main source of hard currency.
There are no words enough to honour the contributions of overseas Filipinos. No matter how severe their setbacks are in their search for jobs abroad and despite the tragedies suffered by many in the hands of unscrupulous recruiters, the feeling of loyalty to blood and belongingness remain strong. Such strong emotional commitment is often exploited when in times of severe calamities, we are driven by a strong conscience to help the victims of typhoons back home.
There seems no end to feeling a bad conscience for the disasters that perpetually confront the Filipinos. We, living abroad are always sorry for what we are and have become, because the rest of the countrymen are not doing so well, and because the political management of the country never gets better. How long are we, for reasons of birth, going to be hounded by the abysmal failures committed by political leaders with no conscience?
(Photo: Courtesy of Jayline)
