12
THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 9 | June 2014
EDITORIAL & OPINION
100 Million strong
By Michael Henry Ll.
Yusingco
I
propose that we momentarily suspend the view
that the burgeoning Filipino population can be
a burden on the government. Corollarily, let us not look at Filipinos as the innocent
flock that needs to be guided
by the church nor as a collection of ignorant and poor citizens
begging to be “saved” by politicians. Indeed, let us treat Filipinos as a critical economic resource. Not simply the passive recipient of progress, but actually
the main driver.
If we accept the potential of
the Filipino population to be
drivers of economic growth,
then it would be very hard to ignore the immense size of this
virtually untapped natural resource. According to projections
by the National Statistics Office,
around 52 million Filipinos by
2015 will be of productive working age. By next year therefore,
at the very least half the population can potentially form part of
It is also worth mentioning
K-12 model for our primary and
developing economies. The
the wo rk force to power the ecosecondary educations seems to that some groups in the private
country has invested heavnomic engines of the country for
point to the right direction for a sector have contributed greatily in education and trainthe next couple of years.
couple of reasons. There is now a ly to tech-voc education in the
ing, boosting innovation
I emphasize the word potenfirmer commitment to improve country. For example, the Founthrough intensive research
tially because as of January this
Science and Mathematics in the dation for Professional Training,
and development, and deyear the labor force participacurriculum while there is re- Inc. (FPTI) have established techveloping modern and action rate (LFPR) remains to be
newed priority towards techni- voc schools In Metro Manila, Lacessible infrastructure.”
only 64%. Meaning, next year
guna and Cebu
there will be
and continue to
a huge pool
fill in job placeof around
THERE can be no doubt that treating the Filipino
ments with
18 milpopulation as a burden has not worked for our
their graduates.
lion worksocio-economic aspirations. The plain fact is
Ostensiing age FilFilipinos are an economic asset, a hundred
bly to make the
ipinos who
million strong.
population as
will be unthe main drivemployed.
er of economic
Obviously,
Recent developments per- cal and vocational education in development entails giving edthe ultimate goal is to make sure
ucation, both formal and techthat these 52 million Filipinos taining to the Philippine edu- public high schools.
Indeed, having a good num- voc, unprecedented premium.
cation system provide reasons
are productive.
The challenge therefore is to be optimistic. Firstly, the de- ber of people with technical and And even if education of the
how to translate this huge num- cision of some universities to vocational skills is indispensable population is not the avowed deber into tangible economic ben- change their academic year to in a high-functioning economy. velopment goal, the same should
efits for the country. In their align with the international ac- Clearly, such is the case here in still play a prominent part in the
book South Korea Since 1980, ademic year can enhance their Australia. At this juncture it is whole program. If the goal is to
authors Uk Heo and Terrence linkages to universities over- important to note that the Phil- open the country to millions of
seas. In turn, this improved in- ippines’ Technical Education tourists then at the top of the
Roehrig wrote:
stitutional connection can bol- and Skills Development Au- strategy list to attain this must be
“Korea’s successful
ster their research and develop- thority is currently in the thick the training of Filipinos in hospiknowledge-based develof establishing institutional links tality services. Or if the objective
ment programs.
opment experience offers
is to exploit the mineral resourcSecondly, the move to the with the TAFE system.
many valuable lessons for
es of the country, then the first
priority must be to enhance education in geological science, engineering and technology. The
point is that whatever economic
policy the government may formulate, education of the people
must never come second in its
implementation.
Of course, I would rather see
education as a priority economic policy itself and not simply the
means to achieve an end. Indeed,
I simply want the government to
comply with Section 17 of Article II of the Constitution:
“The State shall give
priority to education, science and technology, arts,
culture, and sports to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social
progress, and promote total human liberation and
development.”
There can be no doubt that
treating the Filipino population
as a burden has not worked for
our socio-economic aspirations.
The plain fact is Filipinos are an
economic asset, a hundred million strong.
HUMMING, from page 11
erywhere. If you are not capable
of appreciating the small things,
you may even miss out on the
big things. Believe me, there is
a lot of inspiration inside you
and out there that are just everywhere for the taking.
Thirdly, you must make it a
discipline. Yes, you must make
the first two rules a practice until it becomes second nature to
you. The capacity to be enchanted by everything is a wonderful
gift that will bring you great opportunities to be creative and
whole!
Take note that there is a
MILLIE MARCIAL-PHILLIPS
Publisher/Managing Editor
The MESSAGE. Bringing into focus
Filipino presence in Australia
TITUS FILIO
Copy Editor
Ang Kalatas is published every first Saturday of the month circulated in various parts
of NSW. News articles, opinions, syndication and columnists do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of the publisher and editors of Ang Kalatas and are solely
theirs. All editorial and advertising materials submitted by the advertisers are subject
to the paper’s advertising and editorial standards and discretion. All rights reserved.
lightness component to all of
this. By this I mean one must be
able to not take oneself too seriously. There will be times when
you will be more creative than
at other times. For the moments
when you are not inspired, relax
and just accept it. Shrug it off.
Try not to be too judgmental towards yourself.
To be enchanted is to be
able to suspend disbelief. It
means that we must entertain
the thought that anything is
possible. Without this, we will
not be able to detect the ‘impossible’ even if it does happen.
Editorial: [email protected]
Advertising: [email protected]
PO Box 18, Quakers Hill 2763
Phone: (02) 8211 0243
Mobile: 0450 073 591
Notice how the saddest people
on earth are also the hardest to
please? They are also very serious people. They are stuck in a
world of expectations, meanings they can’t suspend or drop
for the sake of entertaining other possibilities.
I leave you with a quote from
German essayist Hugo Von
Hofmannsthal. He says, “Reality
lies in the greatest enchantment
you have ever experienced.” I
truly believe this. Reality can
be the greatest ‘escape’ you can
ever have if you are capable of
inspired living.
Printed by:
mpd – printing the news everyday,
Unit E1, 46-62 Maddox Street
Alexandria NSW 2015. 2010