From the fire, into the frying pan

A DEER terrified by the baying of hounds and sounds of the hunt fled towards a cave as a substitute of utilizing its velocity to fade into the forest, hoping to cover until the hunters handed. Hardly had the deer reached the doorway earlier than he was seized by a lion which laid crouching there, ready for his prey.

Because the deer was being torn to items, his lamentation was “Ah, woe to me! Sad creature that I’m. I hoped on this cave to flee the pursuit of males, however have fallen into the jaws of essentially the most merciless and rapacious of untamed beasts.”

Aesop’s fables stay legitimate and true immediately on how one could transfer from a foul or tough scenario to at least one that’s worse, therefore from the frying pan to the hearth.

To Filipinos from the primary to the present waves, the scenario is reversed: from the hearth into the frying pan — from worse to unhealthy.

Filipinos migrate primarily for financial causes because of authorities neglect, acquiescence or encouragement. From the time Filipino presidents and political events took cost of the nation’s course in 1946, it was Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon’s want that endured by means of the years: “A authorities run like hell by Filipinos than one run like heaven by Individuals.”

And like bats out of hell, Filipinos left the nation in droves, significantly in the course of the administration of Marcos the Father. It was throughout his time — from the Nineteen Seventies to the dictator’s ouster in 1986 (with Imelda and their kids, together with Marcos the Son) that the Philippines earned the title of being the “Sick Man of Asia.”

In a 2000 working paper by Hans Jarle Form, “The Philippines: The sick man of Asia? Financial growth within the Philippines after 1946,” the Philippines had been labeled the “Sick Man of Asia” in the course of the Marcos the Father years after being among the many richest and most superior international locations in Asia from the Nineteen Fifties.

Throughout his rule, Marcos is believed to have stolen as much as $10 billion. On the identical time, between 1970 and 1980 authorities exterior debt elevated from $600 million to over $6 billion, an increase from 10 to twenty p.c of GDP. Within the early Eighties US rates of interest elevated and costs of export commodities fell. Annual debt funds doubled in a number of years. With the intention to maintain paying the debt and curiosity, extra loans had been taken out, growing from $900 million within the late Nineteen Seventies to over $2 billion by 1983.

“On July 15, 2003, the Supreme Court docket of the Philippines dominated that over P25 billion value of Marcos belongings had been thought-about ill-gotten wealth. This adopted a close to two-decade authorized battle between the Philippine authorities and the Marcos household over the custody of those belongings, stored in numerous Swiss financial institution accounts,” official information from the Philippine gov.ph website. (https://hrvvmemcom.gov.ph/ill-gotten-wealth-recognized-by-the-philippine-supreme-court-2/)

The Philippine financial system stagnated, then entered an enormous recession, shrinking by greater than 20 p.c within the mid-Eighties; the debt hit 70 p.c of GDP by 1987.

“By way of the course of Marcos the Father years, the IMF and World Financial institution lent the regime $5.5 billion, with an additional $3.5 billion from overseas governments akin to the USA. Over $9 billion was lent by the overseas non-public sector, akin to banks. One infamous deal was US government-backed loans for the Bataan Nuclear Energy Plant, constructed by US firm Westinghouse” https://debtjustice.org.uk/international locations/philippines#:~:textual content=Throughpercent20thepercent20coursepercent20ofpercent20Marcos’s,suchpercent20aspercent20thepercent20Unitedpercent20States.

Whereas Marcos the Father, crony capitalists and Westinghouse all benefited financially out of the plant…” it by no means produced any electrical energy and was constructed on an earthquake fault line and on the foot of a volcano.”

The VERA Recordsdata reported that “the mothballed energy plant prices the Philippines P40 million to P50 million per yr to keep up, although it isn’t working.”

After consulting with consultants from South Korea and Russia in 2017, the Korean examine discovered that it might value the Philippines $1 billion, or P55.8 million, to rehabilitate the plant. The Russian consultants mentioned it might value “$2 billion to $3 billion and take as much as 4 years to rehabilitate.”

In his first State of the Nation deal with in July 2022, Marcos the Son went nuclear: “We should construct new energy crops. We should reap the benefits of all the very best know-how that’s now accessible, particularly within the areas of renewable vitality,”

The Marcos years, the hearth: https://newslab.philstar.com/31-years-of-amnesia/golden-era.

US higher-paying jobs and higher alternatives amid discrimination — the frying pan. (https://www.rappler.com/moveph/what-it-is-like-filipino-american-time-hate-united-states/)

In August 1951, the Philippine authorities set the every day minimal wage beneath Republic Act 602 at P4 for non-agriculture jobs in and outdoors Metro Manila, however solely P2.50 for agricultural jobs.

Earlier than the “grant” of independence on July 4, 1946, the US minimal wage per hour was $0.40, or $3.20 per day.

From 1946 to 1962, the official alternate fee was P2 in opposition to the US greenback from 1946 to 1962, devalued to P3.90/$ in 1962, and devalued once more to P6.43/$ in 1970.

Right now, the Nationwide Wages and Productiveness Fee reveals the very best Philippine every day minimal wage at P570. On the present alternate fee that might be about $10.27.

The minimal wage in California is $15. For particular person states’ minimal wage, click on on this hyperlink: https://www.dol.gov/companies/whd/minimum-wage/state#:~:textual content=Employerspercent20subjectpercent20topercent20thepercent20Fair,wagepercent20ofpercent20percent247.25percent20perpercent20hour.

Employers topic to the Truthful Labor Requirements Act should pay the present federal minimal wage of $7.25 per hour, or $58 for an eight-work job per day, or $1,160 a month, or P64,408, vs P11,400 for Philippine minimal wage earners.

In fact, that’s from purely financial causes.

The social value of migration (separation from households) is priceless, however the prospect of being reunited by means of petitions and sponsorship by employers from the authorized member of the family within the US by some means eases the ache, particularly for youngsters who had been capable of pursue nursing and associated healthcare schooling and licensure.

The greater than 4 million Filipinos within the US and one other 2 million plus abroad Filipino staff (OFWs) endure the much less intense warmth of the frying pan from the hearth.

Migrants welcome to rural areas

Agricultural and non-agricultural staff (providers and well being occupations) are in demand, wanted and welcome in Canada, Australia, the US, the UK and New Zealand providing non permanent standing in addition to pathways to everlasting residency.

Canada has the provincial nomination program, or PNP (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon).

In 2020, IRCC reveals a complete of 47,583 PR candidates admitted for residency by means of the PNP — 21,840 by means of the Categorical Entry scheme and 25,743 pursuant to the federal and provincial agreements on admission of immigrants.

Sean Fraser, the Canadian minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, has introduced the enlargement of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP), growing the advantages of immigration within the 11 collaborating communities.

Australia’s push towards areas

The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) calls “500,000 additional folks in regional Australia by 2032 to drive prosperity and productiveness.” Immigrants included.

A sign of Australia’s deal with regional migration is the elevated variety of visa allocations for the regional visa subclasses: from 11,200 in 2021-2022 to 34,000 the subsequent program yr.

As well as, the 2022-2023 thrust for state and territory nominations expects 36,283 expert nominated subclass 190 candidates: 25,333 for expert work regional (subclass 491) and 810 by means of the Enterprise Innovation and Funding Program for a complete of 62,426 expert staff within the numerous expert visa subclasses.

Refugees rescue UK rural areas

The UK sees the silver lining from the rise in asylees and refugees.

There have been 48,540 asylum functions (referring to 56,495 folks) within the UK in 2021. That is 63 p.c greater than the earlier yr and the very best quantity for nearly 20 years. It’s larger than on the peak of the European migration disaster (36,546 in yr ending June 2016) and is the very best variety of asylum functions within the UK for the reason that yr ending December 2003 (49,407),” in line with an official assertion from the Residence Workplace.

Migrants to US rural communities

The push away from cities can be the course that US legislators are searching for.

Broad Democratic assist in increasing America’s visitor employee program is a given. The get together has lengthy advocated to supply authorized pathways for undocumented farm laborers and to reform elements of the H-2A visitor employee program.

Robert Leonard, the host of a public affairs program for KNIA/KRLS Radio in Knoxville, Pella and Indianola, Iowa and writer of the paperback Deep Midwest explains why and the way immigrants ought to undertake a rural mentality.

Leonard confirms that in lots of components of rural America, the place most of America’s home manufacturing of meals, gas and fibers akin to cotton and wool, comes from, immigrants and refugees are usually not simply wanted however welcome throughout all 4 seasons. “With out labor, firms die. Whereas your complete nation is affected by a labor scarcity, rural America is especially exhausting hit, partially as a result of many rural Individuals are shifting to bigger metropolitan areas.”

The 117th US Congress launched 5 payments directed towards rural migration.

The frying pan migration seems to be a scorching subject. If you happen to can’t stand the warmth exterior, get contained in the kitchen.