I- INTRODUCTION

Brain Drain: The Truth to This.

Board Exams, Bar Exams, NCLEX, Civil Service, the different kinds of
examinations meant to determine the level of qualification for employment worldwide.
Philippines have its topnotchers in these examinations, but, where are they now? With
amazing jobs, higher wages, and better lives offered in other countries, did our geniuses
actually leaving for good? Brain Drain. Is there truth to this?
Brain Drain or otherwise known as Human Capital Flight is the emigration of
trained and skilled individuals to other nations or jurisdictions, due to conflicts, lack of
opportunity, health hazards where they are living or for some other reasons. The term
“Brain Drain” has gained wide usage in the year 1960s when growth of migration of
skilled personnel from developing countries to developed countries accelerated. Brain
drain can occur either when individuals who study abroad and complete their education
do not return to their home country, or when individuals educated in their home country
emigrate for higher wages or better opportunities. The second form is arguably worse,
because it drains more resources from the home country. This phenomenon is perhaps
most problematic for developing nations, where it is widespread. In these countries,
higher education and professional certification are often viewed as the surest path to
escape from a troubled economy or confused political situation.
Among the countries in Asia and the Pacific, the country with the largest amount
of brain drain is the Philippines, with 7,924,188 migrants. With these, the great majority
have a tertiary education. The first wave of Philippine labor migration to the United
States was based on skills needed in the farms, factories, and military facilities, the
second wave included many more professionals. Doctors, nurses, and engineers traveled
to the United States in the 1960s to support its booming economy while young American
men were busy fighting in the Vietnam War. It was also at this time that the U.S.
Government started to encourage Filipino graduates to study in U.S. universities through
generous scholarship and exchange programs for master and doctoral degrees. Many of
these students stayed on as professionals and became American citizens. This second
wave was small and short lived, but it started the phenomenon now known as “brain
drain” as it attracted some of the best and brightest graduates of the top Philippine
universities. Up until now, the so-called “Brain Drain” continues to live through these
developing countries. Until when will this Human Capital Flight end? If this Brain Drain
crisis continues to pave its way, just what will possibly happen to the Philippines?

This Concept Paper seeks to specifically answer the following questions:

• What factors perceived are as identified that lead people to go abroad?

• What are the effects of the massive migration system of Filipinos to the Philippine
Health Care and economic stability?
• What are the effective means to encourage Filipinos to establish their consensus
to stay in our country and not be lured of the things that the other countries can
offer?
II – FACTORS AFFECTING FILIPINO DIASPORA

Indeed, we cannot deny the boom of population in our country today. Mostly
everyday, hundreds of people are taken to the hospitals seeking for help and medical
assistance. Yes, many are attending to those unfortunates but are they really the experts?
The chronic shortage of personnel to serve new and continuing demands upon public
health has now assumed crisis proportions. In some professional categories, staffs of
public health agencies have decreased nationally in absolute numbers. Too few trained
workers are entering to replace those who are leaving [Schaefer, D.P.A., and Hileboe,
M.D., M.P.H., F.A.P.H.A.; 1967]. Table1.1 shows the estimated Filipino migrants living
the Philippines for greener pastures. It includes the total Domestic employment
conditions and overseas migration as of 2005.

In spite of the pitiful situation of the Filipinos, we make it a habit to risk

everything for our loved-ones. We do anything to the extent that we prefer to stay away
from them in exchange for their happiness. What are really the factors affecting this
rampant fleeing? We cited two major causes which lead to the uncontrolled migration –
the push and pull factors.

Push Factors

• Not enough jobs

• Few opportunities
• "Primitive" conditions
• Political fear
• Poor medical care
• Not being able to practice religion
• Loss of wealth
• Natural Disasters

Pull Factors
 • Job opportunities
• Better living conditions
• Political and/or religious freedom
• Enjoyment
• Education
• Better medical care
• Security
• Family links

Push Factors

Push factors come in many forms. Sometimes these factors leave people with no
choice but to leave their country of origin. Following are three examples of push factors
driving people to emigrate from their home country.

Lack of Jobs/Poverty

Economics provides the main reason behind migration. In some countries jobs simply do
not exist for a great deal of the population. In others, the gap between the rewards of
labor in the sending and receiving country are great enough so as to warrant a move. For
instance, India has recently experienced a surge in emigration due to poverty and lack of
job opportunity. . The greatest challenge facing India is creating enough jobs for its
burgeoning population. India's unemployed have never been properly estimated but they
could total 100 million. The number of skilled workers coming out of Indian universities
has never been higher. Meanwhile, the number of domestic jobs available to them is
minimal. Only about 0.7m jobs a year have been created in the past few years, most of
them in the public sector. This will not keep skilled workers in the country. Many instead
go to the United States, where their skills and their lower wage demands are sought after
by high-tech companies. As the population grows at 20 million per year, and more and
more students graduate from technical universities, India may experience a great deal
more emigration. “As to the Philippines, key reasons include poor remuneration, bad
working conditions, an oppressive political climate, persecution of intellectuals, and
discrimination. Researchers cite lack of funding, poor facilities, limited career structures,
and poor intellectual stimulation as important reasons for dissatisfaction. Other key
reasons for emigrating are personal ones. These include security, the threat of violence,10
and the wish to provide a good education for their children” [Pang; 2002].

Civil Strife/War/Political and Religious Persecution

Some migrants are impelled to cross national borders by war or persecution at

home. Some of these migrants end up in receiving countries as refugees or asylum
seekers. The 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defined the
qualifications for such migrants and bound signatory countries not to return these
newcomers to places where they could be persecuted. An example of this factor at work
is the conflict in Tibet. During the first half of the twentieth century, Tibet was ruled
politically and religiously by the Dalai Lama, the head of the Tibetan Buddhist religion,
but lived in the shadow of neighboring China. In 1950, Chinese troops took over the
region, disassembling the existing political structure and persecuting religious figures,
and in 1959 a Tibetan rebellion was brutally suppressed. Tibetan refugees assert that a
million of their countrymen have died in the last half century as a result of Chinese rule.
In order to escape this fate, many Tibetans have fled over treacherous mountain terrain to
India and Nepal. Despite the existence of many real conflicts such as in Tibet, however,
many developed countries believe that would-be refugees and asylum-seekers are in fact
mere economic migrants looking for an easier way to enter a rich country. For example,
the United States has declared that most people from Haiti are leaving the country
because it is the most impoverished in the Western Hemisphere and deny that social and
political strife is widespread enough there to justify allowing Haitians into the United
States. Haitians arriving in the United States after a dangerous trip by sea are therefore
detained in secure locations and have to pass a rigorous examination of their
qualifications as refugees or asylum-seekers or otherwise they will be returned to Haiti.
At the same time, people arriving from Cuba are generally allowed to mix in with the
population while awaiting a decision on their status, which is usually granted because
they come from a Communist dictatorship. Haitian-Americans and their supporters have
protested what they call an unfair distinction between the treatments of the two groups,
but the U.S. government maintains that Haiti, though not a perfect democracy, is not a
dictatorship such that Haitians deserve immediate consideration as refugees.

Environmental Problems

Environmental problems and natural disasters often cause the loss of money,
homes, and jobs. In the middle of the nineteenth century, for example, Ireland
experienced a famine never before seen in its history. By late fall 1845, the main staple of
the Irish diet, the potato, was practically wiped out. With the government not clear on
how to respond, people started dying of starvation. The famine killed hundreds of
thousands and forced millions of Irish to flee. These emigrants were also encouraged to
leave Ireland by their English landlords, who often rented out unseaworthy vessels that
became known as "coffin ships," and by the British government, which offered cheap
fares to Canada. The large population of Americans and Canadians of Irish descent,
especially in Boston, New York, and Chicago, can trace its ancestry to this period.

Pull Factors

Whereas push factors usually drive migrants out of their countries of origin, pull
factors generally decide where these travelers end up. The positive aspects of some
receiving countries serve to attract more migrants than others. Following are three
examples of the pull factors attracting migrants to receiving countries.

Higher standards of living/Higher wages

Economics provide the both biggest push and pull factor for potential migrants.
People moving to more developed countries will often find that the same work they were
doing at home is rewarded abroad with higher wages. They will also find a greater safety
net of welfare benefits should they be unable to work. Aware of this situation, migrants
are drawn to those countries where they can maximize benefits. For example, Mexican
migrants coming to America do not move in order to escape unemployment at home.
Rather, it has been estimated that 80 percent of those who leave Mexico have jobs before
they go. But, the wage gap between American and Mexican workers has widened since
the creation of the North American Free Trade Area. U.S. wages are in fact an estimated
13 times Mexico's. Thus, Mexican migrants come to America because they are attracted
by the higher hourly wages, not simply to find any work at all.

Labor Demand

Almost all developed countries have found that they need migrants' labor. Rich
economies create millions of jobs that domestic workers refuse to fill but migrant
workers will cross borders to take. In 2001, the British minister of foreign affairs, Robin
Cook, gave a speech in which he argued that the country needed to continue taking in
foreign workers to meet labor demand. He said, "Legitimate immigration is the necessary
and unavoidable result of economic success, which generates a demand for labor faster
than can be met by the birth-rate of a modern developed country." The speech was
unpopular, however, because many British citizens are concerned about immigration
changing the national culture. Likewise, Ireland has recently seen a surge of immigration
because its economy prospered during the 1990s. Ironically, Ireland, which had sent so
much of its population abroad over the last two centuries, started receiving immigrants
seeking work. This has caused conflict among native Irish and the newcomers, including
discrimination not unlike that faced by Irish who had previously immigrated to other
countries.

Political and Religious Freedom

Throughout history the Jews have faced persecution or discrimination in most

parts of the world. Especially in the late nineteenth century, long-standing hatred against
Jews in the Russian Empire exploded in "pograms," attacks on Jews that led to murders,
rapes, and arson against Jewish homes and stores, often encouraged and assisted by the
government. Hundreds of thousands of Jews from across Eastern Europe fled to the
United States, Canada, and South America, while others joined the old Jewish community
in the Holy Land, then controlled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, to help reestablish the
independent Jewish state the Roman Empire had destroyed almost 2000 years before.
Hundreds of thousands more Jews moved to Israel in the late 1940s in the aftermath of
the Holocaust and after being expelled from Arab countries as a result of the war over
Israel's creation. (At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled from Israel, and
they and their descendants live in neighboring Arab countries.)

III- EFFECTS OF THE NEVER ENDING DIASPORA

The countries with the largest numbers of Filipino permanent residents are the United
States, Canada, and Australia. In the United States alone, there are reportedly 2 to 2.5
million Filipinos with a median family income of about $60,000. The five states with the
largest populations of foreign-born Filipinos are California, Hawaii, New York, New
Jersey, and Illinois. Combined, these five states constitute 71% of total foreign-born
Filipino population in the United States (Commission on Filipinos Overseas). In addition,
it is estimated that there are approximately 1.5 million undocumented Filipino migrants
living primarily in the United States, Malaysia and Singapore. Temporary workers
number about 3.4 million and are found primarily in Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Hong
Kong. “Globalization has opened a lot of opportunities for Filipino professionals. The
diaspora of Filipino professionals is mainly related to the performance of the Philippine
economy as well as the general feeling of hopelessness the country is plagued with."
[Benitez-Chua; 2006].

We have noted several reasons why Filipinos choose going and living
abroad. There are a number of factors included and all of them are fairly reasonable. On
the other hand, even if those reasons are good enough, there are other elements to be
reflected upon. The naked effects of it on our health care system and our economy may
not be noticeable to the blindfolded eyes of Filipinos, but good or bad it may be, it might
possibly cause a drastic setback to the Filipino race.
Economic Outcome

For a large number of Filipino families, the money sent home as remittances by
their love ones abroad is a lifeline - their only means for staying afloat. Most workers,
though, once resorting to finding work overseas, are forced to continue that for the rest of
their working lives. When they return to the Philippines, there are still no jobs for them to
fill as there are millions of unemployed Filipinos also looking for work

This chart shows how remittances are sent to family members remaining in the
Philippines:

Courtesy of http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2001/of00tx.html

The Philippine government has heavily encouraged this migration phenomenon to

help stimulate its economy. This has not come without heavy cost, though. These costs
are born very heavily by Filipino people more especially by Filipino families. According
to Philippine economic indicators, the remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
exceed foreign direct investment in the country. Remittances per annum amount to about
US$12-14 billion, which only includes those working legally abroad, whereas many
OFWs working in domestic and other service work are undocumented.
 The Philippine government relies heavily on the remittances the OFWs send to
their families to compensate for the lack of spending on social services such as health and
education, to boost domestic consumption and to cover its yearly budget deficits. And the
sad truth is that the income from the labour migration business is mostly spent in this way
and not on productive investments, which means that the migrant workers will work
forever abroad, in order that their families can simply survive and because there are even
fewer options for them to return to the country, whose economy is bankrupt and corrupt.

This dramatic increase in labour migration has created a large population of

transnational migrant families. Thousands of children now grow up apart from one or
both parents, as the parents are forced to work outside the country in order to send their
children to school, give them access to quality health care, or, in some cases, just provide
them with enough food. Remittance estimates are imprecise, however, because
remittances often move through private, unrecorded channels. Yes, the Philippines has
annual OFW remittances of 12-14 billion US dollars, excluding the non-formal channels,
and NO that does not compensate for the social costs of migration and the development
of the country. Despite this enormous amount of remittance or cash inflow, labour
migration does not significantly improve the development prospects of the country of
origin. The Philippines have had great difficulty in converting remittance income into
sustainable productive capacity. In addition, most Third World countries are able to
exercise little control over the composition of their labour exports—rather, they are
determined by foreign labour markets, and may bear no relation to "surplus" labour at
home. The Philippines has focused quite deliberately on "producing" skilled labour for
foreign markets, but remains passive in the face of international supply and demand.