OFW from Bulacan taunted for P50 tip to airport porter

Hello mga kababayan!! I'm Edwin Austria, 24 years old, tubong Bulacan. I'm working here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for more than one year and I just wanted to share my experiences in the Philippines during my vacation. Okay let's start. It was April 21, 2007 when my plane landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It was 5:10 pm when I finally reached the lobby of the airport. I was very happy that time (because) it was 18 months of nostalgia and now I can finally meet my family in the Philippines. By the way, it was my first vacation, and first time to experience being an OFW, which they call the new heroes of our nation. So, I thought I will experience a preferential treatment or a VIP treatment (as if I am very special, baka special child manapa). But.....nothing!!!!! So, when I walked through the lobby, I heard a very loud music playing and singing folk songs welcoming us! I thought that's really genuine and a sincere gratitude for all the OFW's. But later on it caught my attention that at the side was a huge box asking for a donation (whahahah!! What is that?) So, I continued walking!! And then when I finally met my family outside the lobby, there's one guy who kept on following us and asking to help us! So without any suspicion I let him help me, and then we put all the balikbayan boxes in the car, then later on, this guy asked for money in exchange for his goodwill (goodwill daw oh). When I gave him fifty pesos (P50), he said, "Boss ito lang!! Parang di ka naman nag-abroad, ah". WOOOOOOOWWWW pamatay sa linya, for one meter of pulling my cart 50 pesos is not enough!! My goodness! I'm very surprised about it, and it's very sad to know that Filipinos are known to be hospitable but along with this hospitality is a corresponding price on it!! It's really my first time to experience that kind of thing! Okay!! When we finally left the airport, I looked outside, tried to look for an immense change but it seems that there's no change at all. (Yahh!! I know one year cannot make the Philippines change instantly) However dealing with same problem all over again, (whoaah!!! when these problems will end?) It gave me an impression that there's no more hope for our country to move forward! Pity our country. When we reached home, it’s time to relax and take a rest for a while! When I turned on the television (its late evening newscast) and after hearing all the news on TV, it frightened me to go outside most specially in Manila. Endless killings, bombings, stealing and other politically motivated crime! So I just turned off the television coz there's no Good News at all so, it's better to sleep. The following day, I was awakened by the loud honking of car horns and noises coming from the jeepneys, and the loud voices of the people outside (tsismisan, of course) and because of the high temperature in my room (hindi kinaya ng bentilador, aba 8:00 A.M pa lang yun eh). I had to get up and take a bath. When I turned on again the television, it was a Koreanovela (I forgot the title) showing, so it made me think again, am I in the Philippines or in Korea? (OO, sige na, naging tagasubaybay din ako ng mga Koreanovela nun), but to be honest when you are away from your homeland, you are longing for Filipino shows even if it's BADUY!! Korean shows are made for Korean; Filipino shows are made for Filipinos, but it appears that Korean shows are for Koreans and Filipinos as well!! And Filipino shows are just for baduys and jologs!! (whahahahha). Moving on, after spending my two weeks of meeting up my friends, my officemates, classmates and everyone ( Whahah, I'm just away for about 13 months, mukhang ang tagal kong nawala ah), I asked my sister to accompany me to the mall, so the following day (Friday) we went together to MOA (Mall of Asia), We took the public transportation from our home, and on our journey (journey?????), I met my sister's classmate in high school. She was on her way to work in Manila. She looked so professional and nice. We were all together in the jeepney ride, on the bus, and the LRT (this train was made for sardines, kasi mukha kaming sardinas sa sikip). After that roller coaster ride (whehheeww!!), I saw my sister’s classmate turn from a very fresh and professional-looking girl into a worn-out, poor lady. She looked so distressed because of the traffic and sweat (grabe init sa atin!!) plus the pollutions (of all kinds), and so are we!!! (waaaaaaa), we looked fresh before and we looked like vendors after. Whahahahah! I have so many things to tell all of you guys about my vacation. But I guess it will make you bore (boring naman talaga kwento ko eh!!) Oo nga pala!! My uncle ran for Mayor in the last election (he was an incumbent vice mayor, and three-time councilor-always on top) so I'm with him during the campaign period (am I?!!???). My uncle went to every barangay to campaign. Everyone is saying that he would definitely win as Mayor (‘coz he really is a public servant). He mingled with different people from all walks of life, and campaigned even on very hot and rainy weather. However, on the night before Election Day, there was a group of people going house to house (gapangan time!!), buying votes for my uncle's opponent. My uncle didn’t give away even single centavo for this immoral thing of vote-buying). On the day of the election, we saw so many orange ribbons along the street. If you have an orange ribbon infront of your house, it means your vote has been bought. We later on found out that even my other relatives, family friends, and my father's churchmates had orange ribbons in front of their house (traitors!!). So, what can you expect? My uncle lost in the mayoralty race. He lost to an opponent who had never been to any municipal or even baranggay position. The only thing that he has is MONEY! My uncle fought fair. I will prove it with dignity, but I guess there's no such word as "FAIR" in an election. When I see my kababayans in my town, I see a Ninoy Aquino in their faces (mukha silang tiglilimang daan!). Hopeless. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! If that's happening in the local election, how much more in the national elections? Good luck! Before, I was used to all of these things. I can say that it was part of my everyday life previously. However, upon experiencing to work abroad and to live in a totally different country, I can now see and spot the difference. Saudi Arabia is not a good country to live in by the way (in my own opinion) but comparing these two nations makes our country hopeless. We are far behind Saudi Arabia when it comes to progress and development. But we are lot better than them when it comes to skills and knowledge. It's very sad, that a country like Saudi Arabia (even Dubai, UAE) is remarkably developing because of us Filipinos. They are benefiting from our skills and knowledge! And it's too ironic that Filipinos are recognized all over the world (most especially here in Saudi Arabia) when it comes to skills, and yet our own nation (syempre puro Filipino sa bansa natin) is not moving forward and many of us are still suffering from hunger and from a very poor economy. Please try to think of it, I just came back here in Saudi Arabia and yet I'm saying all of these bad things, how much more if I would be able to live or work in a rich and developed country like USA, UK, CANADA and etc. Maybe I can say more about our country. I know there's always hope for us, all we need to do, is to help each other and our country as well. We, the OFWs already made our contribution to our economy's growth even though we are not benefiting from it. Most of the time We are being neglected by our government. We don't even receive support from when we needed its help the most. And we have to swallow and accept the fact that the government is only looking after the dollars we are remitting and not us, the OFWs who are suffering from different abuses and sacrificing our whole life just for our families in the Philippines. But still we are hoping that in the future our country will prosper and we will keep supporting our country as much as we can. I think that the least thing that we can do is to HOPE, HOPE and HOPE. When it’s time to say goodbye to my family (my departure date: May 21, 2007) I felt sad and I almost cried (ayaw pang aminin eh pero hindi ako umatungal!! whahahahah). I was sad because I was thinking that if only I had a good job there in the Philippines, I will never leave our country. Sad because if only our country is moving forward, maybe I would still stay with my family, waiting, and hoping for a good opportunity to come in my life in the Philippines. I was also sad because I was leaving behind my very happy and perfect family (para sa akin) there in the Philippines for money and for a better life which our government can't provide. Finally, I was said because I was leaving our country (my homeland! even there were so many bad experiences during my vacation, I still want to settle there for good because our moral values and cultures are still the best compared to other countries. I'M STILL PROUD TO BE PINOY!!! AND WILL ALWAYS BE PROUD TO BE A FILIPINO WHEREVER I MAY BE! (eto na yung tagline) Thanks for reading my very dreary letter and I'm looking forward to my vacation next year (Ano naman kaya ang ikukuwento ko???) P.S : Maawa na naman kayo sa OFW, aba pababa nang pababa ang dollars (lumiliit tuloy sweldo namin) eh patatas nang pataas naman ang bilihin (parang Spaghetti)!! HU HU HU HU!!! Ingat!!!! EDWIN AUSTRIA