“People got to eat man.”

I was recently speaking out my thoughts to a colleague of mine about the unfortunate brain migration of IT consultants from the Philippines to other parts of the world.

I voiced out some concerns mostly pertaining to why they are not even trying to make it here in the Philippines. I observed that almost immediately after college, people start applying for immigration visas.

This silly colleague of mine, obviously siding with the “immigrant-wannabees”, simply muttered “dude, people got to eat.”

Just short of acting out my imagination of slapping the back of his head and saying “Moron,” I simply smiled and nodded then left.

“People got to eat?” (I thought) or more specifically “IT people got to eat?” IT resources have one of the highest salaries here in the Philippines and you’ve got the nerve to imply that they can’t afford to eat or live in the Philippines. For a typical IT guy to have been in the industry for about 3-5 years, he would already be making at least anywhere between PHP 40-60K a month. Even at 40K a month, one can surely live an acceptable life. Any higher than that and it’s a bonus already.

I don’t have any qualms if the reason these gifted individuals (IT brains have a good blend of logic and creativity) leave is because either NASA or the US Armed Forces hired them. God knows one’s chances of making it as an astronomer or working on the navigation module of a Stealth Fighter here in the Philippines.

I guess it’s safe to assume that the reason most of the middle class decide to uproot themselves is because of the environment or just plain greed (i.e. an offer of 3x your salary). But c’mon guys, you will never ever really be an American, or an Italian or Londoner. You were born a Filipino and will always be a Filipino. You have a duty to at least try it out here in the Philippines and not immediately drop everything you're doing to leave only because your green card got approved yesterday.

We are a democracy and one of the recipes for a successful democracy is a strong and growing middle class. Otherwise, the cycle of entertainment, both figuratively and explicitly, in Philippine politics will just carry on.

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