Overseas Filipinos can help our country

I was so pleased reading Conrado de Quiros' column "13 Signs." (Inquirer 4/10/07) But let me react on the seventh sign he cited.

De Quiros hit the nail right on the head when he said some of the Filipinos would rather go to countries where they treat slaves better.

I can't blame Filipinos who leave the Philippines to work temporarily in other countries or to stay there for good. Life abroad, especially in First World countries, is really good. When you ask an overseas Filipino why he or she left the country, his or her reply is usually this: "Because here in our adopted country, the government treats its citizens well, and there is a justice system that functions well, unlike back home. Dito ka na lang! Mas aasenso ka pa dito, sa Pilipinas wala nang pag-asa, eh! Sayang lang kung dyan ka lang mamamalagi (Just come over. You'll be successful here unlike back there in the Philippines, there's no more hope. You're just wasting your abilities if you stay there)."

When I ask them:"What is the braver thing to do? Leaving your country for good and not looking back even though you know your heart still beats for it? Or, after a few or many years abroad, after learning so much about justice, progress, freedom, discipline and sanity from your adopted country, you decide to come back to your land of birth, unite it and do something to improve the lives of your countrymen?

What is the most honorable and courageous thing that our so-called modern day heroes can do to save our morally torn and poverty-mired country?

(taken from the Letters to the Editor PDI April 28,2007 issue)