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It was Easter Sunday of Y2009 and I am at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Time was 12:17pm and my flight was at 2:35pm. So many time to kill and waiting was such a bliss: observing people being cowed to a cordoned area, security people looking smart and menacing, rushing passengers throwing shoes inside the x-ray machine, children topping the baggage weigh-scale, sleeping people hugging their belongings, cleaning personnel delivering perfumed spray in the comfort room, techies playing with their laptop, and ugly faces responding to the un-reliable WIFI. Much of this day’s activities were the pre-departure rituals. The airport terminal was not that busy, though, except for the large contingent of college juniors from Laguna, possibly athletes joining a national University games in the Visayas.

I was returning to my work in Dumaguete City, and Easter Sunday seems to be right day to travel. Monday might be a real havoc, when people were all returning to their work. My plan to go to Ilocos was not realized; most of the vacation-packages were fully booked. Worse, even people of the travel agency seem went to vacation, possibly availing the commission as a form of vacation themselves.

My Holy Week’s vacation was as plain as last year: un-eventful. I had simple joys from the company of my nephews and nieces, my father, brothers and sister. Simple joys of just having them around, while we still capable of being around, and enjoying each other. I seldom join big family re-unions. Not that I was avoiding someone; it was just that re-unions are too overwhelming and I was not very good at that kind of fit.

A few days ago, a classmate from high school died from a heart attack. He was working in America, and died on his sleep. His family was left in the Philippines while he worked abroad. Similar fate may have befallen to thousands of Filipinos; either contract workers, or victims of illegal re-cruitment.

Sad was this state of millions of Filipino families. Or is it really a necessity for Filipinos to find work abroad to sustain a respectable life here in the Philippines? These questions are not really hard to answer. Most of poverty and economic questions were provided by simply linking to http://www.nscb.gov.ph/poverty/FAQs/default.asp. Below is a critical Q&A that is interesting to ponder:

Q: in 2007, what is the minimum income needed by a 5-member family so as not to be considered poor?

For 2007, Filipino families consisting of five members should be earning a combined monthly income of PhP 6,195 in order to meet their most basic food and non-food needs for this year. A sole breadwinner in a five-member family residing at the National Capital Region (NCR) is expected to find a difficult task in bringing the entire family above the poverty line if he/she only earns at most PhP 265 per day.

Knowing the economics of most of my classmates, a P265 per day may not be too hard to attain, unless, luxurious living and greed rule their day. A rough computation, a parking-watch-boy collecting 1 to 5 peso fees per vehicle can easily gain a 100+ pesos a day. And that is not really working. What then is really happening to our country that we can sacrifice family life for a materially-enriched living?

Answers to this are obviously in the realm of sociological and anthropological dimension that would eventually lead us to a deeper question of our current culture: Do we really need to leave our families just to earn money that is more than we do need?

04:21pm August 2, 2009
@home, Dumaguete City, Oriental Negros, Philippines