OFW's in Thailand On the Move Against Low Salary
I wrote this blog because recently, I've read online posts of OFW's complaining about salaries saying: they should earn high salaries because they are better than farangs, farangs are only backpackers who come to teach in Thailand, etc. Posts further say that job posters with low salaries shouldn't be allowed, telling Pinoys not to accept low salaries, campaigns against low-paying agencies and etc. Another thing that moved me is that, from various posts I read, most of the posts and comments were "wrong grammar". Well, I don't say I am perfect in my grammar because I am not. What I want to emphasize in this blog is reality.
Let me site some points about truth.
1. Not all Farangs are backpackers. Not all Pinoys are good.
Not all NES are backpackers. We can find very excellent NES teachers in International Schools. IS don't hire backpackers of course. And IS only hire specialized teachers. Meaning, subject teachers must be degree holders of the subject they are teaching. Where can we find backpackers? They are in the government schools and mostly in provinces. Yeah I believe degree holder NES's don't actually accept salary offers from government schools, maybe not all. Not all Pinoys are good. True. We must accept the fact that not all of us are good (in speaking English) even if we finished education degree. Similarly, we can find well-versed, specialized Pinoys in International Schools too(also in government schools). I know a Filipino who is teaching Biology in an International School and he is getting big salary. He has PhD units. Not only him, there are also other excellent Filipinos who are in other IS's. And I know Filipinos who are not degree holders teaching in the government schools. (Equivalent to backpackers am I right?) Not to mention those who earned their degrees from Recto. There are also non-Ed grads who can teach better than Ed grads. There are nurses, AB's, accountants, engineers, IT grads who are better teachers than real teachers too. I am not attacking my race here, I just want to show them the truth.
2. Racial Discrimination
If we feel like we are discriminated because we are Pinoys, that's normal and that's not supposed to be because we are Pinoys but because we are Asians. Racial discrimination existed long time ago and I don't wanna discuss about it anymore because we already know how great its effect is. In fact, there is already a law against racism in most countries. Sad truth here in Thailand is because we are not discriminated by Caucasians but by our co-Asians. The parents only wanted their children to have NES teachers because they wanted them to speak near-native English. So the school would look for Farangs because of parents' demands. Sometimes parents even think all white skinned are Native speakers. Can we blame them?
3. The Salary
Lately, I saw many posts complaining that Pinoy salary is very low. It is because we accepted the job with that salary that's why we are getting only that much. Funny right? Why complain? If we don't like the salary we can find other options. If there's no other choice but to accept 13K, then don't complain because it is our choice. But what's more funny here is that, we don't complain about our own salary, it's the other Pinoys who complain about our salary. Lol. They blame us for accepting 13K. It's so ironic. They even fight against those who are posting jobs with low salaries. Literally fight and say bold words against low salary job posters. Is it proper?
Just some info, if NES gets the average of 100K salary in International Schools, NES in government schools get only around 35K and around 40K in Bilingual and Private Schools. Pinoys in International Schools get more or less 50K, average of 25K in some government schools and the rest gets 20K below.
So wherever we go, we are always lower than Farangs and that's reality that we need to accept. Reason goes back to the economic status of our beloved country PI.
4. Pinoy Attitude
On the dark side, Pinoys are known to be arrogant, loud and proud. On the bright side (para patas), Pinoys are hard-working and hospitable. Of course, sikat tayo jan.
We are arrogant, loud and proud because we can't face situations peacefully. We always fight against people. Even our own people. Wherever we are, whether in our own country or abroad, we always fight. Maybe even within our own homes, lol. Look at how Pinoys react in every post there is in social media Groups and Forums, isn't it true that every post would really result to kapwa pinoys fighting? Isn't it true that comments are always out of the topic which would result to misunderstanding, disagreement and personal insult? Things to ponder upon huh?
Another one very famous Pinoy attitude is crab mentality. We like to put others down because we think we are better than them. We do this not only to our kapwa pinoys but unknowingly to NES's also. When we say they are only backpackers and we are better than them, that is one clear way of trying to put them down. Are we good enough to do that? Some of those Pinoys who are sitting in school offices are sometimes the ones pulling co-pinoys down. In order to put ourselves up, we take advantage of our co-pinoys. How about those Pinoys who keep on posting in FB discriminating kapwa pinoys and other races but wrong grammar naman ang post nya? If someone will post, kokontra ang isa, co-comment ang marami at mauuwi sa pagtatalo. And how about those who are pinoy scammers who victimized kapwa pinoys?
We can't blame ourselves why we are like these, can we? These attitudes rooted from our forefathers and these would be very difficult to change, unless we'll put a lot of efforts to start within ourselves.
Opinion (Marami ang magagaling, pero mas marami ang hindi kabilang na ako,hehehe) And we don't expect a UP Summa Cum Laude to end up working here.
Okay, why do we say we are better than them? Is it because they are only backpackers? Maybe we forgot the fact that even though they are only backpackers, they still speak good English. Look at how we speak English.(of course not all of us) Viri hivi aksent. And viri wrong grammer. We can't even speak English randomly and simultaneously.
Maybe we think we are good because we are teaching zero-English kids and we are with those local teachers who can't speak English. Of course we are far better compared to them. We are only good in front of them? Hehehe... And we believe we are the best because our Thai Director gave us perfect evaluation score even though he can not read, speak and understand English. Can we still boast if we are surrounded by NES people? Can we speak straight English with correct subject-verb agreement in front of these people? Baka broken ang English natin o baka tayo ay mag sign language nalang. Hahaha...
Why can't we speak fluent English is because we don't practice it every day. We don't use it at our regular conversations with Pinoy friends. They even complain because we are so loud in the English Department and we speak Tagalog all day even in their (non-pinoys) presence which I agree is impolite. Kasi ba naman, pag nagpa ingles ingles ka jan sasabihin naman sayo na ang OA mo magtagalog ka nalang para mas maiintidihan kita..hahaha, nagppraktis nga eh para maging bihasa. Same is true among Cebuanos, you'll be humiliated if you speak Tagalog within the group. So how can we improve kung palaging ganito ang ugali natin?
If we are to evaluate government schools having English Teachers for 5 years. Let's see how the students are doing. Can they speak straight English? What do we expect from them after 5 years? How much the students have learned within that span of years directly reflects on how much the teachers have taught them. If you are the teacher, did you meet your learning expectations? Did you meet it within the time frame? How did you assess them? What did you do to when they failed. Ask yourselves.
Teaching is not only about evaluations and pay days. The greatest joy of being a teacher is when you see that your students are learning from you. When you see that you have done your best and your best was good enough.
I don't forget about us being hard working people. And that's what NES people like about our skilled workers in Canada and America and even in the Mid East. We are "all-around" people. We can do any job so long as we earn (and send money back home for our families). We (whether degree holders or not) can be domestic helpers, chefs, singers, construction workers, truck drivers, housekeepers and everything else. We are helpful and we are very talented especially in making crafts and visual aids and of course we are happy people. We are very talented in Basketball and in Music. These are the fields where we excel.
But here in Thailand, our job is to teach English conversation. We are in the competition against people who speak native English, and we are not so good at that compared to them (NES) because it is their first language. And so what are we fighting for here? We want above 20K salary for every Filipino? How can we materialize this? I think huh, this would be a big task to do. This can't be achieved unless PM would make it a law. Lol...
Am I discouraging people in pursuing the move? No, I am just laying out the truth.
Number 1 truth why Pinoys accept below 15K salary is that, it is so much better than nothing. And that is true. That is reality. Even Engineers (one of the highest-paid occupations in PI) come here and landed in 15K. Why? Because they think and they know for sure that it is better compared home. What about teachers in PI. Even principals in PI gov't. schools left their positions only to come here ending up to 17K. And how much more for nurses who are working in Call Centers. Nurse nag call center? They still chose to come here and chose to receive that salary rates. (don't get mad at me for exposing this because the whole world already knew about the PI economic status)
Bakit nga ba? Kasi sa atin, mas bulok ang systema. Imagine sasahod ka lang sa pribadong paaralan ng walong libo? Magkano ba yan sa baht, anim na libo? At magkano ba ang labintatlong libong baht sa peso? Sa palagay ko ay nasa labinlimang libo. So alin ba ang mas mabuti? Syempre don ka sa labinlimang libo diba? Mas nakakaranas pa tayo ng masaganang pamumuhay dito sa ibang bansa compara sa atin. Kaya di natin masisi ang mga kababayan natin na kontento lang sa 13K. Total sarili lang naman nila ang binubuhay nila. Pero sa mga may pamilya, kung pinili nila ang 13K at nagrereklamo sila, pwd naman silang maghanap ng mas mataas. 13K para sa simula at mas mataas na kapag may karanasan nang magturo dito. Ganon lang yon.
Ganito kasi ang sitwasyon. Pagdating mo dito syempre may utang ka sa Pinas na pinangbili mo ng tiket sa eroplano at baon na pera. Maswerte ka kung sa loob ng isang linggo magkaka work kana. Pero pag dumating ang isang buwan at wala ka pang nakitang trabaho kundi yong trece lang, abay tatanggapin mo na kasi ubos na ang baon mong pera. Kesa maghihintay kapa ng ilang buwan sa kahahanap ng 20K. Maayos na yon kesa sa wala diba? Maayos na yon kesa sa hihingi ka pa ulit ng pera galing sa Pinas. Inutang mo na nga pamasahe mo at baon, ngayon uutang na naman sila ulit para ipadala sayo? Nako, sakit sa ulo yan. Sila ay naghihintay ng padala mo, hindi yong ikaw ang maghihintay ng abuloy galing ulit sa kanila. So tatanggapin nalang ang trece at syempre maghahanap ulit ng mas mataas habang nagtitiis sa trece. Ganon lang yon. Ganon ang realidad dito sa buhay OFW sa Thailand.
Base sa sariling karanasan ko, isang buwan din bago ako nagka work at sa unang trabaho ko po sampo lang ang sahod namin sa isang unibersidad bilang guro ng EFL kasi sampo kaming kinuha at dose lang ang load namin. Tinanggap ko yon kesa maghihintay pa ako ng mas malaki at di ko naman alam kung kelan. So tinanggap ko yon pero at the same time naghahanap pa din ako ng mas malaki. Kaya pagkatapos ng isang buwan napasok ako sa biente. At kasi nga di pa din sapat ang biente di pa rin ako huminto sa paghahanap kaya pagkatapos ng isang taon napunta ako sa biente-singko. That was six years ago.
Siguro naman po pare-pareho lang ang karanasan natin sa simula (pwera nalang don sa iba na di dumaan sa mababa) kaya di natin dapat sinisisi ang ating mga kababayan na tanggapin ang ganong sahod. Kasi di naman po sila magtatagal jan kung talagang hindi sapat yan para sa pangangailangan nila. At makakakuha naman po sila ng mas mataas kung talagang may bakante na qualified sila. Don sa mga nagtatagal, ibig sabihin non kontento na sila sa tinatanggap nila at sa work load. (Gaya halimbawa don sa una kong work, sampo ang sahod at dose ang load, mababa ang sahod pero magaan naman ang trabaho)
My write up is getting long and the ideas are getting messy. Hahaha...We can aim for greater things and we can make it without taking advantage from other people. In this sinful world we are living in, it would be very difficult to change other people's attitudes. Best thing to do is to look at our own selves and see whether we have done our best for the Lord. Because no matter what happens, we still believe that God is our ultimate Helper. Let's go back to our own shells and ponder upon: Is God happy with what I'm doing today?
PS: This blog is purely writer's opinion.
