How Do Filipinos View Balikbayans?

[rudepnoy4]

i really envy this player right here boomsymousy that you dont have to worry about your life good s@%t homie just sipping some brewed nescafe from your italian cofee maker. you stereotype all balikbayans is not really nice thing to say and coming from a well educated fool (you write better than my white english professor by the way so pls dont embarass boardspacer if he chose not to speak english ) cause each individuals got their own reasons maybe their not as bad ass as you that they have to move out of the country. of course, who wouldn't want such life that you were gladly flaunting. a cook, lavandera, yayas that would wipe your ass and follow u everywhere YES SIR this Yes SIr that . again..who wouldn't want that?? but let's put reality back here, wealthy individuals and families can only afford such things. majority of the people in our country are way below the poverty level...and that's a fact(good s@%t your helping them out. Each individuals have their own opinions..so here's mine.. like you said.."you don't know me", when you are saying that balikbayans are like this..and that..isn't that the same as generalizing every balikbayans? you don't know them too right? In fact, I pity all my fellow filipinos there in the Philippines. Poor and middle class families who would send their children in to a 4 year college hoping to help their families if and when they do graduate..then what? a job in one of the fast food chains, coffee shops, and restaurant..sure that would help their families! So you see, this is just a case between the have's and the have nots..if only our mother county is not f#&ked up enough , then these so-called balikbayans wouldn't have to migrate across the oceans a thousand miles away from their country and families just to earn a living and SEND $$$ to all they have left behind. So it is not true that only OFWs are responsible for all remittance our country acquires. Yes, it's true balikbayans are not modern heroes..unlike OFWs. However, let's not forget that they too are a part of that income Philippines is getting from remittances. Last thing, please don't flaunt your friends and what not that are in the high places or should we say position..because majority of my fellow filipinos there aren't like you. An average Filipino would choose to earn a decent living outside of the Philippines.. and let me ask you this one question? why do they want to leave the Philippines..HOW's THE ECONOMY THERE???? and try to stay away from coffee they make you real agitated peace

[Boardplacer]

I was absolutely not embarassed at all, rudepnoy4....I'm sure you know where I am coming from...Why would I? I purposely made that comment in tagalog to make a point. Mr. Boomouse focuses on all US balikbayans, but uses English to criticize them. But as arrogant and pompous as he is, he didn't seem to get it. There's no point arguing with insecure individual who hides from his own notion about all balikbayans. Obviously, he wants to get the sympathy of OFW's, so he praises and sides with them because he believes he's way better and has achieved more than the OFW's. He denounces the balikbayan achievers, ie doctors, nurses and others who have worked hard and made names for themselves in the US and other countries. When he observes these achievers when they visit the Philippines, he finds faults because these people don't look up to him and he becomes nobody. He gets jealous because nobody pays attention to him. He mentions "free ticket from frequent flyer miles", "tax credits", "department stores sale", "penny pinching misers". These are most likely his realtives' lifestyles in the US. He probably listens a lot to the stories of his balikbayan relatives...so as the concept of genetics, he should have their genes. He touches the issue of raising kids, politeness and all those garbage, but I'm not quite sure if he knows that it's how you discipline and what examples the kids see are important. It's a scary thought..he has kids, right?

 

Neither am I pro balikbayan, but majority of these people had decided to leave because they got tired of Phil. politics. They opted not to be part of the system and the government who have lost the credibility to govern.

 

In closing, Mr Isku is implying that he's intelligent. He might be.. who cares, I don't... I would have kept it to myself..but you won't have the luxury of exchanging these threads if not for a 3rd boardplacer proud Filipino who designed the Intel chip that goes into all the PC's.

[rudepnoy4]

oh my god you nailed it like a carpenter on crystal meth

Edited March 12, 2007 by rudepnoy4

[pinoyparintayo]

nilalahat mo kasi boomouse eh...iyan nakakita ka ng katapat..hwag mo nga naman lalahatin.. karamihan iung mga balikbayan na wala siguro d2 sa atin, tapos nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na mapetisyon puntang amerika, nagkatrabaho doon. Then when they come home to visit, sila ang akala mo ay kanila na ang US.

 

I am sure there are those who are decent and professionals. peace na lang tayong lahat. god bless us all!

[MRyoso]

masyado niyo naman pinalaki yung post ni boommouse

 

theres nothing wrong with it

[Cmayfrayna]

dami pera..hehehe dami pasalubong hehehe

[Guest Leviticus]

Leviticus, I'm sorry that you had that bad experience. Your female friend was an a$$hole. Not all balikbayans are like your friend. She's one of the few who try to flaunt her sudden change in "status." I wouldn't be surprised if you chuck her in your list of ex-friends. She's not worth being anyone's friend if that's her attitude.

 

Sheez, sarap niyang kulamin. :evil:

I think alam nya na mali siya because nagtetext siya sa akin, nagpaparamdam na gusto magusap. Texting me with things like: "punta kami ng pinsan ko sa quiapo" or "dito ako sa greenhills, want to accompany me?"

 

keep silent na muna ako. baka mamaya gawin nanaman na last ako ipakilala lalo na sa mga pinsan nya na yan.

 

basta, ang perception o pagdating sa mga balikbayan is to approach them with caution.

[charmed shannen]

I used to think that balikbayans reek with green money or lapad or whatever foreign currency until my siblings work abroad. I learned that life is really hard overseas. They do things they wouldn't even dream of doing here. I have two sisters in abroad, one working in Dubai and the other one is living in the States. When they were here, it's easy for them to dole out money. Ngayon di mo na mahingian.

[tamisuplada]

some of you may think that there's nothing wrong with boomouse's post and that pinalaki lang. comments like his are very divisive. i've been on both sides of the fence and i can say that there is nothing right about it. my family left for abroad when i was 9. after 19 years of living abroad in 3 different countries (gaining dual citizenship in one of them), coming home as balikbayans every year, my father decided to come back home to retire after my mom died. i've been back here for almost a decade. in every single country we lived in and visited we were met with warm filipino families with good hearted, enthusiatic RESPECTFUL kids. dignified filipinos who worked hard, sure, but took pride in their contribution to the society that adopted them. and those who did work hard and smart were compensated for it. sure i did meet the occasional mahangin but when i think about it, they were already mayabang before they left. and as far as having bosses who were non filipinos, sorry but that's where you are greatly greatly mistaken. my mom was department head and her boss, nope wasn't filipino, but answered to a brilliant filipina. my father worked for a fortune 500 company and had only 2 people above him and hundreds of whites, african americans, hispanics, asians etc. under him. my 2 sisters that decided to stay have no bosses black, white, yellow or brown above them. they own their business with the help of the government. all this coming from a family that before we left for abroad had no electricity, no running water, had to take baths in the dark so neighbors can't peek into the holes of our bathroom, my oldest sister would go door to door asking if someone would like a manicure/pedicure to make some money. i remember being bitten by a rat as a child. talk about an undignified life. if it wasn't for my aunt's petition we would be dead or worse. but here's what impresses me about filipinos. whenever we came home we were met with families and friends who were genuinely happy to see us. once in a while someone would ask “akin na lang to” but we understood why they would say that. the same filipino hearts were here at home, too. good, affable, eager, hospitable hearts. make no mistake, the reason why balikbayans “jumped ship” is the exact same reason why locals treat some balikbayans as “gatasan.” the administration, past and maybe even present failed you and me. allowed us to live in filth and squalor, gave some mother’s no choice but to prostitute their daughters just so they will never have to see another one of their children’s eyes roll in the back of their head from hunger. so to say in general that balikbayans are such and local are that, only creates an atmosphere of us against them.

i asked my father yesterday if he found it undignified to have 2 white bosses, he said "that's like asking me if i felt superior to my white assistants." he also said, don't ever get on that slippery slope of thinking "i'm better than you."

so if it feels like napalaki yung post ni boomouse, mea culpa. and i that’s what i meant to do.

[tamisuplada]

can someone please educate me... how in the heck do they know if a remittance is from an OFW or from someone who migrated permanently to another country. when we used to send money to my lola nobody asked if we were immigrants or on a working visa. and now that my aunts and uncles send money to my cousins nowhere there is it indicated if it came from a OFW or emmigrant. also, in the school i used to teach in, every other student was being put through by a relative who migrated to another country and their tutuion is paid for when their relative comes back as balikbayan. does that count? it's an honest question and i'm clueless.

[tamisuplada]

As for the medical missions... don't you hate a saccharin veneer when you see through it? I do and I say so in spades.

 

but ya sure won't say it to their faces wontcha!

 

aarhg!! you got me so worked up you're going to make me miss work in the morning :glare:

[boy popoy]

Dapat isguron tagalugin ko na kasi mukhang masyado kang nagandahan sa english ko nahirapan kang intindihin. Ang pinaguusapan ko lang mga balikbayan. Ibang yun sa OFW. Hindi pareho ang OFW sa balikbayan. Ang OFW umalis sa bayan para magtrabaho pero meron siyang intensyon na bumalik at manirahan sa Pilipinas. Ganoon ako noon. In usapan dito, pag meron nang sapat na assets na naipon para manirahan sa Pilipinas ng matiwasay ay puwede nang bumalik at manguyakoy na lang.

 

Ang balikbayan umalis sa bayan para manirahan sa ibang bansa at doon na maglagi. Hanggang hindi ni naabot ang matiwasay at stable na kabuhayan sa ibang bansa, hinsi nila maiisip na umuwi ng pansamantala sa pilipinas. Kung naka pag establish na sila saka na lamang nila iisipin na umuwi sa Pilipinas at bisitahin ang mga kawawang kamaganak na siguradong matutuwa sa mga pasalubong nila na matagal nang inipon mula sa mga sale sa mga department store lalo na sa bayan ng kano.

 

Tama ka 30% ng GDP galing sa OFW hindi ito galing sa balikbayan.

 

Yes. I look myself in the mirror each day. I also thank the OFWs for shoring up the country's foreign exchange reserves although the current strength of the peso is a result of the US working to devalue the dollar to export more and Japan trying to keep their yen at parity to stay competitive with US goods.

 

As for balikbayans, well, hindi naman yata nakakadagdag sa foreign exchange reserves yun mga pasalubong na pinapadala mula sa mga nabili na sale sa JC Penney, Mashall Fields, at kahit na sa Nieman Marcus.

 

So, intindihin mong mabuti kaibigan... hindi kasam ang OFW sa usapin na ito. Mga balikbayan lang. At kung maganda ang English ko pasensya ka na sayang naman ang nagastos ng pamahalann ng pilipinas kung wala akong tatutuhan sa pagiging "isko."

 

 

halos pareho lang ang OFW sa Balikbayan. the only difference being yung OFWs werent lucky enough to get permanent residence dun sa country na pinagtatrabahuhan nila. if these OFWs would be able to get permanent residence and be able to tag their family along too, e malamang babalik nalang sila dito for vacations and retirement just like many balikbayans.

[rudepnoy4]

tamisuplada your one feisty woman i like that haha

[Guest airmax]

i view them as ordinary pinoys

[muffy69]

Woohoo! Discussions and arguments are heating up here. I really do love this thread (second only to the thread regarding problems with bosses). :cool:

 

Different kinds of people have different ways of perceiving and treating us. I try to weed out those who view me in a negative light and treat them with tongue-in-cheek. I try not to socialize with those who think of me as their cash cow or those who scorn me for acquiring an American twang (a twang I wasn't conscious I had because I've been speaking that way after learning English from the puppets of Sesame Street). I don't owe them anything and won't apologize for my choosing to stay in the US. They're not the ones who keep me alive.

 

I work hard to earn my money ... money that I wouldn't be earning in the Philippines where I was a full-time college instructor in Manila.

 

Some would agree and others wouldn't but I still go to the Philippines for a long vacation instead of going to other countries. There's no place like home.