1.
Spend your vacation, your dollars and other foreign
currencies, in our Philippines. It is understandable for our OFW's, balikbayans and Pinoy expats to vacation in other
countries. The world is truly beautiful and majestic. But
please spend some of your vacation time and some of your
dollars in our Philippines. Every dollar that you bring into
our country will help build our Philippines. It will help
our tourism industry. It will mean more sales and more jobs
for our local industries. It will mean an increase in our
country's international dollar reserves. It will help
stabilize the peso. And ultimately, it will help stabilize
our economy.
2. Encourage and teach your relatives back home to be
good citizens & good Filipinos. Whether or not you are
sending money to your relatives in the Philippines, you are
one of their heroes. They look up to you as a role model.
They listen to every word you say. Please teach them to
become good Filipinos, to become good citizens. They can
start with my book, 12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do
To Help Our Country. Please ask them to help me spread the
message of the book. In particular, please ask them to "Buy
local. Buy Pilipino." A recent article in TIME Magazine said
that the most crucial factor for economic progress is not
foreign investments, but economic nationalism â?" i.e., when
people learn to support their own country's products.
3. All OFW's, Balikbayans and Pinoy Expats should do
more during elections in RP. In the next and all
future elections, OFW's, Balikbayans and Pinoy expats should
do more by helping your relatives back home in choosing the
right leaders â?" the national ones especially â?" for our
country. Your relatives at home will listen to you. This
means that as OFWs and expats, you need to surf the Internet
and read the news so you'll know which candidates should be
elected to offices. There are organizations and websites
which can help you decide.
If it is true that there are at least 8 million OFW's all
over the world now, and if it is also true that every
Filipino has at least 4 relatives, then the 8 million OFW's
have at least 32 million relatives back home in the
Philippines. This means that the OFW's and their families
alone can determine the political leadership in the
Philippines, our government, and eventually our nation as a
whole.
4. Buy Pilipino, wherever you are in the world. If you
look at the Japanese and the (South) Koreans, wherever they
are in the world, they buy and patrionize their own
products. They are like that too in the Philippines. That's
why there are so many Korean stores sprouting all over the
country now. The Chinese, Thais and Malaysians
are almost like them too, but in a less passionate manner.
We Filipinos have a preference for imported products â?" the
so-called "colonial mentality" - believing that Spanish and
American products, ideas and ways were better and superior
and that ours were inferior. But that's history. Our
Philippines is different now. There are many good Filipino
companies with equally good Filipino products or brands.
Look at Bayo, Kamiseta, Bench, Penshoppe, Jollibee, among
others. In fact, some of the best branded products you see
in New York, London and Italy are made in our Philippines.
Please be an ambassador of the Filipino, by wearing
Pilipino. Show to your foreign spouses and officemates and
to the world, the elegance of our culture and beauty of our
people. All these things begin with each one of us.
5. Adopt a poor child as a scholar back home.
According to government sources, around 40% of our people
are poor. But according to our bishops from CBCP, the figure
is much higher than that, possibly at 53%. Since we have a
population of almost 86 million now, imagine how many of
that is 53%. Most of the poor are children, a great many of
whom are out there in the streets, because their parents
cannot afford to send them to school.
My proposal is this â?" let's adopt scholars among our poor
street children. World Vision is an international
foundation which offers scholarship for poor children. It
has been operating in the Philippines for years. It looks
for 2 groups of persons â?" the first are those poor
children who really want to study hard, and the second are
those who have extra funds and are willing to sponsor 1
scholar for only P450 per month. Yes, for only P450 a month,
you can sponsor 1 scholar under World Vision. World Vision
can give you the name, age, address and personal profile of
your scholar so you can even mentor, visit, talk, or write
to your scholar.
If there are 5 million Filipinos and OFW's today who are all
wiling to sponsor 1 child each under World Vision, that
would mean 5 million poor children can be adopted as
scholars. These scholars will have a better future and will
someday become our partners in building our nation.
This could be one of the fastest paths to progress and
social transformation in our country. And this is a very
Christian way. Even Jesus Christ, who was born very poor in
a manger, had to be adopted by Joseph.
6. Support a charitable organization. There are many
good charitable organizations that truly help build our
Philippines to become a better place for all of us. Gawad
Kalinga, Pondo ng Pinoy, Caritas Manila and World Vision,
among others. These groups are beyond the dirt and mirth of
politics.
Like most of us, you too are busy. Often, you will have not
the time to help others. Charitable organizations are there
to allow us to help others while we are busy. Every little
help that you send will help one poor Filipino, often one
poor child, in our country.
7. Teach your children about the Philippines, and to
love it and its people. Teach your children and your foreign
spouses, wherever you are in the world, about our
Philippines â?" the home of the Filipino people, and the
birthplace of our race.
Let your children and your foreign spouses hear it from you
â?" that you appreciate and love our Philippines. Because if
they hear and see it from you, their beloved, they too will
appreciate and love our Philippines. Or they will find a
way, sooner or later, to appreciate and love it, because of
you. I see that all the time, everywhere, in practically all
the fathers and mothers in this world. Their sons and
daughters often carry and continue their parents' loves,
causes and advocacies.
If you make your children see and hear that you love our
Philippines, believe me, someday your children will grow up
with love and admiration for the Philippines in their hearts
and minds.
8. Speak positively about our Philippines and our
people. Sure, there are things that will disappoint and
dishearten you in the Philippines, especially if you look at
our government and the politicians who run it and those
businessmen whose companies earn so much but who pay very
little to their employees.
But there are also many good things in our Philippines. We
are a race capable of greatness and excellence, and you see
this in the likes of Lea Salonga, Dr Josette Biyo, Diosdado
Banatao, Efren Reyes, Ninoy Aquino, Jose Rizal, among many
others. We are essentially a breed of honest people, and you
see this in the likes of Nestor Sulpico, the Filipino driver
in New York who, on 17 July 2004, drove 43 miles from New
York to Connecticut, USA to return the US$80,000 worth of
rare black pearls to his passenger who forgot it at the rear
back seat of his taxi. We are a people of truly good
hospitality even to strangers. We are a very caring and
forgiving people. There is so much humanity and Christianity
in us as a people. I really believe that, someday, we can be
one of the most beautiful peoples on earth.
Let us focus on our beauty and strengths, and build from
there. You and all the Pinoy expats and OFWâ?Ts should be,
and could be, the best ambassadors for our home country and
people. Rafael Salas, the founder of the United Nationsâ?T
Population Fund, said that every Filipino is an ambassador
of our country.
9. If you are remitting funds to your relatives in the
Philippines, teach them to save 15% or 20% of the funds. If
you are remitting funds to your relatives in the
Philippines, please teach them to save at least 15% or 20%
of the funds. Please teach your relatives the importance of
savings. These savings seem small at the start, but even
only after 2 years of savings, they will see the growth of
their savings and how fast these are growing.
Also teach them to take their savings away from reach and
put them in high-yielding investments like mutual funds or
treasury bonds. There are many good financial advisers in
this area. Teach your relatives to consult one on a regular
basis. The book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is
good start. The book Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo by Filipino author
Francisco Colayco is also very good.
These savings, if handled and invested wisely, could mean
the financial independence of your relatives from you in the
future, or even from themselves.
Teach your relatives to live simply and not to spend so much
on unnecessary consumer items. There is so much beauty in
simplicity. There is so much elegance in modesty.
10. Invest in the Philippines. Finally, if you have extra
funds and are looking for ways to invest them, please invest
in our Philippines. There are good investment advisers who
can help. The Philippines is a growing market â?" an
emerging market, in the language of international banks and
financial institutions. If you have investment ideas that
can cater to the basic needs and desires of these 86 million
Filipinos, you will make it big in our Philippines.
But more than that, every cent or dime that you invest in
the Philippines will help our people and our country. And
when you do it, you become our partner in building our
nation. You become a good Filipino. You become a hero of our
country.
Alexander L. Lacson is the author of 12 Little Things Every
Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country. Recently, he was a
guest speaker at the launch of Ang Bagong Pinoy, an
organisation of concerned Filipinos who are working to build
a better country.
What Pinoys Can Do To Help Our Country – by Alexander L. Lacson
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