By Greg Macabenta
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas, chaired by Sec. Imelda Nicolas, is holding the Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora at the Philippine International Convention Center. The three-day conference (from September 27 to 29), organized in cooperation with U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance (USPGG) and National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), is an ambitious effort to harness the potentials of overseas Filipinos for national development.
NaFFAA, of which I used to be national chairman, is the largest coalition of Filipino organizations in America. USPGG, with TLC Beatrice CEO Loida Nicolas Lewis and lawyer-activist Rodel Rodis, as chair and president, respectively, started out as U.S. Pinoys for Noynoy-Mar, which campaigned actively for the Aquino-Roxas tandem in the last presidential elections. It metamorphosed into its present structure on the premise that, having helped PNoy win, Filipino-Americans should help him succeed.
While overseas Filipinos – both OFWs and those who have become either permanent residents or naturalized citizens of their adopted countries – have already been actively helping the Motherland, mainly with billions in remittances, there is still much that they can do for the Philippines in the areas of health, education, investments, technology transfer and tourism development. This is the thrust of the Global Summit.
But to be in a better position to help the Philippines, overseas Filipinos need to be empowered in their adopted countries – socially, economically and politically. In the U.S. this is being achieved, although laboriously. In Europe, the Middle East and around Asia, most of our kababayan are still trying to emerge from servitude, reminiscent of the Pinoy experience in America in the early 1900s.
An empowered overseas Filipino community can be a potent force. This was demonstrated in the lobbying efforts in the U.S. Congress that resulted in the passage of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans, and in the support given to then Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. and now Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario in his fight to keep the Philippines in the investment portfolio of CalPERS. Medicare portability, the Save Our Industries Act and the Spratleys controversy are three issues of importance to the Philippines that Filipinos in the U.S. are now actively focusing on.
Tourism promotions is one major concern where an empowered overseas Filipino community can be of great help.
In this regard, overseas Filipino media – mainly newspapers and TV - can be among the most potent vehicles for helping achieve empowerment – but only with a better appreciation of their tremendous capabilities and how to put them to effective use.
There is a lot of talk about exploiting New Media, but this is a field that still needs to be fully understood and mastered. Social media, dominated by FaceBook, is still like a Tower of Babel, with sometimes-heroic and mostly-clumsy attempts at communications management mixed with a flood of irrelevant chatter.
On the other hand, overseas Filipino print media and TV are just waiting to be put to proper and effective use.
I’m delivering a paper on this topic at the Global Summit. My thesis is simple enough. If you’re a Pinoy newcomer in a foreign country and you want to know how you can meet your kababayan or where you can buy bagoong or eat Jollibee or how you can send money or a balikbayan box home, you only need to pick up a Pinoy newspaper. You can find them, whether you’re in Tel-Aviv, Singapore, Sydney or London and most especially if you’re in California, New York or Chicago.
Pinoy media, particularly the international TV operations of GMA Network and ABS-CBN, will also keep you abreast of the latest showbiz gossip and the political circus in the Philippines.
But if you want to know about vital issues in your adopted country that affect you as an overseas Filipino, you’re out of luck. You’ll hardly pick up any stories in overseas Filipino media on developments in the White House or on Capitol Hill or in the parliaments or state assemblies or city halls that are written or reported in terms relevant to you.
Overseas Filipino media should logically be skewing mainstream news to your needs, but they don’t. They’re too busy telling you what’s happening in the Philippines. ABS-CBN produces Balitang America and its equivalent in Europe, the Middle East and Australia, which report on news and issues relevant to the Filipino communities in their specific coverage areas. But these are limited efforts and only serve to underscore the unmet needs of overseas Pinoys.
The mainstream media report the news in general terms. Whether or not they specifically affect you as a Pinoy is up to you to figure out. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack, most Filipinos in the U.S. failed to appreciate the impact of the Patriot Act on them – in many cases, to their grief.
The bottom line is that, instead of helping Filipinos assimilate and integrate, Filipino media tend to perpetuate their status as mere visitors and strangers in their adopted countries.
Small wonder that, in America, where over 40 percent of people of Filipino descent are U.S.-born, the youth know very little about their parents’ Motherland.
For mainstream societies and governments in countries where Filipinos reside in large numbers, Filipino media should be the logical source of information on the Philippines and our people. Filipinas Magazine, published by Mona Lisa Yuchengco for 13 years and by me for almost five years, did exactly that. It told of Filipino achievers in the American mainstream and generated pride among young FilAms. Unfortunately, the magazine lost too much money and had to close down.
As far as I can tell, only Filipino Reporter in New York has taken steps to build a link with the mainstream. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and State Governor Andrew Cuomo both write regular columns in the newspaper.
Years ago, Alex Esclamado, as publisher-editor of Philippine News, used his newspaper as a bully pulpit to promote the interests of the Filipino community, including farm workers’ rights, equitable benefits for Filipino World War II veterans, and the right of Filipino doctors, accountants and other professionals to practice their professions in the U.S. He got results.
Unfortunately, overseas Filipino media have difficulty surviving, even under benign economic conditions – worse, in recessionary times. Understaffed and underfunded, they take the point of least resistance and resort mostly to “download journalism” or picking up stories from online editions of Manila publications. Not surprisingly, only Pinoys are interested in them. Why would the White House or Capitol Hill be interested in Pinoy showbiz tsismis or the inquisition in the Philippine Senate?
In these times, when our government can use every available resource to promote Philippine interests abroad, efforts should be undertaken to tap overseas Filipino media. Hopefully, the Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora will appreciate their potentials and take the necessary steps to harness them.
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas may be the logical government agency to take on this challenge.
(gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)
NaFFAA, of which I used to be national chairman, is the largest coalition of Filipino organizations in America. USPGG, with TLC Beatrice CEO Loida Nicolas Lewis and lawyer-activist Rodel Rodis, as chair and president, respectively, started out as U.S. Pinoys for Noynoy-Mar, which campaigned actively for the Aquino-Roxas tandem in the last presidential elections. It metamorphosed into its present structure on the premise that, having helped PNoy win, Filipino-Americans should help him succeed.
While overseas Filipinos – both OFWs and those who have become either permanent residents or naturalized citizens of their adopted countries – have already been actively helping the Motherland, mainly with billions in remittances, there is still much that they can do for the Philippines in the areas of health, education, investments, technology transfer and tourism development. This is the thrust of the Global Summit.
But to be in a better position to help the Philippines, overseas Filipinos need to be empowered in their adopted countries – socially, economically and politically. In the U.S. this is being achieved, although laboriously. In Europe, the Middle East and around Asia, most of our kababayan are still trying to emerge from servitude, reminiscent of the Pinoy experience in America in the early 1900s.
An empowered overseas Filipino community can be a potent force. This was demonstrated in the lobbying efforts in the U.S. Congress that resulted in the passage of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans, and in the support given to then Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. and now Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario in his fight to keep the Philippines in the investment portfolio of CalPERS. Medicare portability, the Save Our Industries Act and the Spratleys controversy are three issues of importance to the Philippines that Filipinos in the U.S. are now actively focusing on.
Tourism promotions is one major concern where an empowered overseas Filipino community can be of great help.
In this regard, overseas Filipino media – mainly newspapers and TV - can be among the most potent vehicles for helping achieve empowerment – but only with a better appreciation of their tremendous capabilities and how to put them to effective use.
There is a lot of talk about exploiting New Media, but this is a field that still needs to be fully understood and mastered. Social media, dominated by FaceBook, is still like a Tower of Babel, with sometimes-heroic and mostly-clumsy attempts at communications management mixed with a flood of irrelevant chatter.
On the other hand, overseas Filipino print media and TV are just waiting to be put to proper and effective use.
I’m delivering a paper on this topic at the Global Summit. My thesis is simple enough. If you’re a Pinoy newcomer in a foreign country and you want to know how you can meet your kababayan or where you can buy bagoong or eat Jollibee or how you can send money or a balikbayan box home, you only need to pick up a Pinoy newspaper. You can find them, whether you’re in Tel-Aviv, Singapore, Sydney or London and most especially if you’re in California, New York or Chicago.
Pinoy media, particularly the international TV operations of GMA Network and ABS-CBN, will also keep you abreast of the latest showbiz gossip and the political circus in the Philippines.
But if you want to know about vital issues in your adopted country that affect you as an overseas Filipino, you’re out of luck. You’ll hardly pick up any stories in overseas Filipino media on developments in the White House or on Capitol Hill or in the parliaments or state assemblies or city halls that are written or reported in terms relevant to you.
Overseas Filipino media should logically be skewing mainstream news to your needs, but they don’t. They’re too busy telling you what’s happening in the Philippines. ABS-CBN produces Balitang America and its equivalent in Europe, the Middle East and Australia, which report on news and issues relevant to the Filipino communities in their specific coverage areas. But these are limited efforts and only serve to underscore the unmet needs of overseas Pinoys.
The mainstream media report the news in general terms. Whether or not they specifically affect you as a Pinoy is up to you to figure out. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack, most Filipinos in the U.S. failed to appreciate the impact of the Patriot Act on them – in many cases, to their grief.
The bottom line is that, instead of helping Filipinos assimilate and integrate, Filipino media tend to perpetuate their status as mere visitors and strangers in their adopted countries.
Small wonder that, in America, where over 40 percent of people of Filipino descent are U.S.-born, the youth know very little about their parents’ Motherland.
For mainstream societies and governments in countries where Filipinos reside in large numbers, Filipino media should be the logical source of information on the Philippines and our people. Filipinas Magazine, published by Mona Lisa Yuchengco for 13 years and by me for almost five years, did exactly that. It told of Filipino achievers in the American mainstream and generated pride among young FilAms. Unfortunately, the magazine lost too much money and had to close down.
As far as I can tell, only Filipino Reporter in New York has taken steps to build a link with the mainstream. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and State Governor Andrew Cuomo both write regular columns in the newspaper.
Years ago, Alex Esclamado, as publisher-editor of Philippine News, used his newspaper as a bully pulpit to promote the interests of the Filipino community, including farm workers’ rights, equitable benefits for Filipino World War II veterans, and the right of Filipino doctors, accountants and other professionals to practice their professions in the U.S. He got results.
Unfortunately, overseas Filipino media have difficulty surviving, even under benign economic conditions – worse, in recessionary times. Understaffed and underfunded, they take the point of least resistance and resort mostly to “download journalism” or picking up stories from online editions of Manila publications. Not surprisingly, only Pinoys are interested in them. Why would the White House or Capitol Hill be interested in Pinoy showbiz tsismis or the inquisition in the Philippine Senate?
In these times, when our government can use every available resource to promote Philippine interests abroad, efforts should be undertaken to tap overseas Filipino media. Hopefully, the Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora will appreciate their potentials and take the necessary steps to harness them.
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas may be the logical government agency to take on this challenge.
(gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)
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