Youngblood: Nationalism redefined

By Bobbie Reyes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: July 23, 2009

Almost a year ago, I found myself on a plane to New York City. I wasn’t going on vacation or visiting relatives. I was starting my first year at Sarah Lawrence College, a liberal arts school renowned for its writing program.
The first of my family to leave the country, I was terrified. Doubts filled my mind during the 18-hour trip. But one question kept coming back: Am I performing an act of betrayal to the motherland by leaving at such a young age? The question haunted me.

Answers did not come easily. But after some serious reflection, I am positive that the answer is no.

Socio-economic conditions in the Philippines have been a source of great disappointment and even bitterness, with its sluggish economy, its history of incompetent government leaders, widespread poverty and low standard of public education. As a result, Filipinos from all provinces and social backgrounds look to more developed countries for solutions. In the past 20 years, millions of Filipinos have chosen to study, work, or retire in the United States, Australia and Saudi Arabia, among many other countries. This flight has been called the “brain drain,” a term that signifies that our country’s best and brightest are building their future outside of the country—and in massive numbers, at that.

Out of a population of approximately 90 million, more than 11 million Filipinos have left for greener pastures. At the private Catholic high school I graduated from, a significant number of faculty members have left during the past three years to teach in public schools in the United States at much higher pay. The demand for nurses in the United States alone is estimated to reach 600,000 between now and 2020. It is no longer a surprise to run into Filipinos working as domestic helpers in Italy, Hong Kong and Canada.

Many of these people leave in desperation. Others simply want better standards of living for themselves and for their children. And this is the reason, the decision to get out of the country is commonly perceived, though not so often openly denounced, as acts of selfishness and betrayal of the motherland.

Being a Third World country struggling to develop, the Philippines needs all the help it can get. When we were in high school, our teachers urged us to direct all our efforts to improving conditions in our country. We were encouraged to stay—or come back eventually, should we decided to leave for abroad.

This was how I was taught to love my country. Students at the University of the Philippines, which I attended as a part-time student for one year, are constantly urged to work in the country after graduation to demonstrate their nationalism and as a way of “giving back” to their fellow citizens.

This concept of nationalism was underscored by Patricia Evangelista, who was then a student at the University of the Philippines, during the international public speaking competition conducted by the English Speaking Union in London in 2004. In her speech, entitled “Blonde and Blue Eyes,” Evangelista discussed the Filipino diaspora and stressed the importance of returning to the motherland as an act of nationalism. “Leaving sometimes isn’t a matter of choice,” she said. “It’s coming back that is.”

A few months after she returned from London, she wrote an article in a local newspaper to elaborate on her winning speech, “I condemned the Filipinos who chose to leave,” she said. “They deserved to be pushed down the road to hell on a handcart. Traitors and turncoats, I called them.”

Almost five years later, Evangelista’s piece is still acclaimed as a benchmark of Philippine nationalism. But is idea of nationalism a geographic one? Must one be confined within certain physical boundaries in order to live out what my dictionary defines as “patriotic feelings, principles or efforts”?

The truth is that in a country that seeks desperately to progress, its citizens should consider the world we live in. It is a globalizing one, and as technology, society and people from all parts of the world become increasingly interconnected and interdependent, I cannot see how the dispersal of Filipinos all over the world can be a disadvantage. Aside from bringing in dollars through their remittances, which contribute to the growth of the economy, Filipinos overseas have other very real impacts on Philippine society. For one thing, the competition for local employment is alleviated. Those who criticize the diaspora often claim that it is the best people (or the best students) who migrate, leaving the Philippines with mediocre teachers, mediocre nurses, and other professionals. But these critics underestimate Filipino talent. Our pool of talent is not that small. There are many gifted people in the country, a fact that many fail to appreciate. Those who leave open more opportunities for those who choose to stay.

Filipinos working abroad are living proof that we are indeed global citizens, competent and capable and equipped with the skills necessary to thrive in foreign places. As we witness fellow citizens climbing to the top of various industries and professions in New York, London and Paris, don’t we all beam with pride? More than just advancing their interests, they also serve as ambassadors proclaiming by their achievements the greatness of Filipinos and what they can contribute to society.

This is the kind of nationalism I know. This is the kind of nationalism I feel. This is the kind of nationalism I believe in.

To quote Evangelista again, “Leaving sometimes isn’t a matter of choice. It’s coming back that is.” I left, and it was fully my choice. And I have never felt my identity as a Filipino as strongly as I do today, thousands of miles away from home. I don’t know when, or if, I will ever go back for good. But I know that I have never been prouder of where I come from and that I can make my country proud of me, regardless of where I am.

(Bobbie Reyes, 20, is an incoming sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.)