Unused talents
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- Unused talents
- Language
- English
- Source
- Volume XIX (6) June 1967
- Year
- 1967
- Subject
- Personality and culture -- Philippines
- Personality and culture
- Rights
-
- Abstract
- [Do we really have in the Philippines more talented persons than what the country truly needs? Or is it not a question of lack of initiative and daring on the part of the talented individuals?]
- Fulltext
- ■ Do we really have in the Philippines more talented persons than what the country truly needs? Or is it not a question of lack of initiative and daring on the part of the talented individuals? UNUSED The Philippines has not exploited in a more serious and organized manner its skilled manpower. Often, one hears laments about the number of unemployed and the low income of those in the rural areas who represent 80 per cent of our popula tion. In the same breath there is the problem of a “brain drain,” with doctors, teachers, and engineers leav ing for more lucrative fields abroad. Our reference to skilled manpower is, of course, from a broad mean ing ' of the term; the rural areas do not produce many technicians, b u t certainly this rural manpower group is skilled in various cottage industry work, such as wood carving, embroidery, and so on. • • • There is some merit in the observation that we have a surplus of technicians who find their talents unused here. They therefore go TALENTS abroad. These technicians, if they do not stay perma nently abroad, will bring in money from their work out side. Likewise, the skilled workers producing items for export are growing in num ber. Demand for their pro ducts is increasing. It is a paradox that while our land is underdeveloped because of lack of vast technological and industrial complexes, our manpower appears overdeveloped in skills, creating a "brain drain” or producing items for export. The eco nomist may have explana tions for all these, we merely make the observation that we have manpower resources at various levels that could be more fully exploited by directing our attention to areas in the international market where these skills are needed. • « • There is now a movement within the local movie in dustry to attract more foreign June 1967 15 producers to make their films here because it can be made here quite efficiently at much lower cost. Likewise embroi dery firms turn cloth into dresses and ship them back because they can do high quality work here at extreme ly low cost. And our doctors, nurses, and teachers have gone abroad because there is little room for their skills in our urban areas here al though they are needed in the rural areas. US and Ca nada have been luring Fili pino technicians because they are easy to train with a minor language barrier; and most important, they are willing to work for less under what would be regarded abroad as below average conditions. Fashion designers have been trying to crash the world market for sometime. Our musicians and entertainers have been servicing most parts of Asia. Our folk dan cers have gone to most cul tural centers of the world. Our painters have been striv ing for international recog nition for sometime. The point is that we have many skills that cannot be absorb ed by our own domestic needs that could be harnessed for world needs. — Alfredo R. Roces. SALTY TEARS Her mother usually jumped to her defense at the slightest provocation but this time she hesitated. “But, Dora,” she protested, “how can you say he doesn’t love you? Why, with my very own eyes I saw him cry over your hand when you cut your finger.” “Certainly,” her daughter explained, “he did that to get salt into the open wound.” 16 Panorama
- pages
- 15-16