The flight of local talent and manpower

Media

Part of Panorama

Title: The flight of local talent and manpower
Language: English
Source: Panorama XIX (5) May 1967
Year: 1967
Rights
Fulltext: ■ Commencement Address of Vicente G. Sinco de livered at Foundation College of Duxnaguete, April 30, 1967. THE FLIGHT OF LOCAL TALENT AND MANPOWER It is high time that we take note and consider with some degree of apprehension the way population move ment within our own coun try is taking today. This sub ject is just as important as the high rate of our popula tion growth which has been characterized by some as ap proaching the point of ex plosion, whatever that means. Certain phases of it are fraught with compelling sig nificance as they touch vital problems related to particu lar groups. Let us begin, however, with the observable fact that there has been a general tendency in most of our communities for people to drift from the farm and rural areas to the urban cen ters. Not a few people have felt and followed an urge to move from the barrio to the poblacion of the town; and not satisfied with life in an ordinary town, others often times transfer their work and residence to the provincial capital. And there are still others who go even to other provinces or other islands. This marked desire and decision of many of our peo ple today to move from one place to another in our coun try was not noticeable about 50 or 60 years ago. Popular education is undoubtedly one of its causes. It has been producing a yearning to im prove one’s lot in life in a way that makes the pastures beyond the river look much greener and fresher than the pasture where one is on. Bet ter roads, faster means of lo comotion and transportation, cheaper fares have given this spirit for change an impetus and an actual and practical feasibility. Under these con ditions, one ceases to think of the inconvenience and trouble of travel. Trucks, busses, automobiles, motor boats, and airplanes have erased impediments and 52 Panorama obstacles from the mind of those urged by the spirit of adventure in the hope of locating their fortune some where on this side of Para dise. Not a few have reached even remoter places to satisfy the stirring of the wander lust. In the history of human progress, migrations from communities with poor na tural resources or limited im provement opportunities into new and open territories have frequently occurred. They have promoted the tre mendous development of such countries as the United States, Canada, Brazil, and other continents. In our own land, they have made Min danao and other parts of our country more populous and more alive. In the case of Mindanao, the migration of our own people into its vast but once sparsely inhabited areas has had not merely so cial and economic implica tions but also a distinctive political significance in the sense that it could prove a protective potential against a possible occupation of por tions of it by unfriendly aliens. It could forestall un foreseen troubles and con flicts which are likely to arise when a large and open terri tory is left vacant and un touched by the industry and the Watchfulness and care of its owners over a long span of years. This dispersion of our peo ple over all parts of our country has had beneficial results not only to the region receiving the newcomers but also to the places they va cated. It relieves population pressure on food, standard of living, and other economic needs in one place and opens to enterprising immigrants opportunities or possibilities for development in the other. The process is comparable to the free and balanced dis tribution of the blood in a healthy human body. Its even distribution over all the vital organs strengthens the whole system, prevents ordi nary diseases, improves the color of the skin, keeps the luster of the eyes, produces a pleasant feeling, and in creases the joy of living and loving. Comparable to these conditions is to be found in the country whose people are evenly and widely distribut ed over the entire expanse of its territory, without con May 1967 53 gested ports, crowded cities, and crammed communities. But culturally and socially a significant problem has been created by what appears to be a flight "of certain ele ments of our people from the provinces and provincial cities to our national metro polis, Manila. It involves men of higher intelligence, individuals of higher than average talent, and potential leaders. They are drawn to it by what they deem to be better educational and cul tural institutions, greater op portunities for personal or professional i m p r ovement, and wider fields of operation and service. These appear to be laudable motives. But it is highly doubtful if in the majority of cases, these mo tives are realizable in the City', or if most of them are really capable of making the most out of the opportuni ties there. It is quite certain that in many instances they are merely drawn into the metropolis by its gay lights or, by a sense of what is known as prestige value de rived from the so-called ex perience of Manila, educa tion, Manila job, Manila re sidence. There is another group in volved in this flight to the metropolis. They are not really highly material and relevant to the purpose of our discourse this evening but they should be men tioned here even only in an incidental manner as consti tuting another problem worth knowing. I refer to that much larger group made up of the rank and file of ordinary citizens, manual workers, semi-literates, illi terates, and parasites. With out first finding out the truth of the stories they hear about the numerous jobs available in Manila, they swarm into the capital with high hopes for a better life but only to discover that the stories they heard were mere fairy tales. Manila is indeed a business and industrial cen ter, but it is still industrially and commercially incapable of giving jobs to one million workers and government and political positions are not unlimited in spite of the fact that Congress, the Central Bank, the Philippine Na tional Bank, and a few other institutions have some open ings at times, but oftentimes they are swarming with male 54 Panorama and female clerks, reception ists, secretaries, typists, mes sengers guards, janitors, and other employees. This group of ordinary, simple, untrained, and gulli ble folks is the principal cause of the heavy and speedy concentration of population in Manila and suburbs dur ing the last 20 years. When before the War Manila with its principal suburbs had but 4 or 5 hundred thousand re sidents, at present its popu lation is fast approaching the 3 million mark, most of whom are huddled together in crowded residential houses and apartment buildings and many thousands are mere squatters barely existing in miserable barong-barongs lo cated in filthy surroundings. The resulting condition has been the creation of an en vironment in which disorder, filth, unemployment, and crime have made parts of the metropolis patently unsafe and undesirable. Unlike the drift of our people into the less popu lated parts of our country which has been necessary and beneficial, this movement to the Metropolis is uncalled for and has not advanced and does not promise to advance the interests and general well-being of the Filipino people. It began as a necessaiy consequence of the last War when Manila was des troyed and depopulated. As the seat of our government and the principal business, center of the nation, its activi ties at the time called for more helpers than the City could supply for the repair and re building work that had to be done. But what began as an unavoidable movement, which should have been tem porary and regulated, has continued since then in a disproportionate scale and thus has produced a condi tion which may be consi dered socially alarming. Considering the question by itself, the centralization of a country’s business, cul ture, and education in one fixed city or community is not that desirable condition which can place the entire national structure on a high and solid plane. It is con ducive to the neglect, in va rious degrees, of many or even all other areas of the country. Politically it could have certain definite advan tages to be derived from may 1967 55 unity of planning, adminis tration, and decision. But in most other matters, cen tralization can easily result in plugging springs of fresh initiative in other places, or in depriving other groups and communities of oppor tunities to develop their strength in their own ways and for purposes most suit able to their conditions and needs, or in dwarfing the sense of responsibility of com munities to work out their salvation. Coming back to our own particular problem, it is quite obvious that, as it is, the concentration of our in terests, talents, and attention in Manila will continue to produce an unfair distribu tion of opportunities among the ' people of this country. Those living in that center and its environs enjoy more opportunities for material growth and comfort than those living in far away places. And yet the average man living outside of Manila is as much a taxpayer and a loyal citizen as he who has his residence in Manila. He is as much in need of the benefits of good hospitals, schools, social and cultural centers as any one living in Manila. He is as much in need of economic assistance in one form or other as he who lives in our Metropolis. That this condition of things is bad enough. That it has given rise to an odious comparison is in some sense painful and galling to those who have given this matter some thought. But the situa tion is rendered more diffi cult to change by the flight of talent, superior intel ligence, and high skill from the provinces to Manila. Coupled with this is the dis inclination of the products of the educational and training centers of Manila to go back to their provinces and to live there and help actively in the work of improving their com munities. But the adverse effect of this socially egotistical deci sion is aggravated at times by certain events and conse quences that are not often clearly envisaged. When, peo ple of high competence, ta lent, and ambition leave or ignore their communities, the tendency is for these places to fall into the hands of peo ple of lesser abilities and lower ideals. These charac 56 Panorama ters are often indifferent to the general welfare and dev elopment of the community or are not sufficiently moti vated to strive for its social, economic, or civic improve ment. Thus, these selfseekers intentionally or not, are left free to take advan tage of the flight of the com petent and their absence from their midst. These men of lower caliber are prone to assume the leading role in the local activities without knowing exactly what goals they should strive after and what means should be em ployed. In many cases their principal objective is to gain power and to enjoy the pri vileges and perquisites of public office without conscienciously observing the obligations and responsibili ties ' that' should inseparably go with every power trusted to every man. Under men of this type, the community may not necessarily go to seed but its growth is bound to be slow, uneven, and gross ly disproportionate to the amount of time, effort, and money actually spent. The strength of a country does not depend upon one man. Napoleon did not win the victories of France alone. The health, happiness, and glory of a nation depend upon a contented and edu cated citizenry well and even ly distributed socially, cul turally, and geographically over its entire territorial ex tent. These elements of greatness depend upon an equitable dispersion of able and honest leadership over its inhabitants. A person cannot be physically strong when only one particular part of his body, such as the heart or the stomach, is dev eloped while the rest of his organs and limbs are neg lected, and, therefore, slug gish, slow, and feeble. The Philippines cannot be truly strong when talent, high com petence, and demonstrated skill are concentrated in her metropolis. A well-balanced national development may not be expected to take place when towns and provinces of the country are left in the hands of second-or third-rate men and women intellectual ly immature, morally myopic, and emotionally incapable of those ineffable feelings of altruism and love that can compel one to suppress his personal and selfish motives May 1967 57 for the good of his fellow men and his native land. This flight of talent to our metropolis is more detri mental in its effect on the Filipino nation than the socalled brain-drain of Filipino professionals from the Philip pines to the United States. Resorting again to a loose analogy, this constant flow of qualified men from the provinces to Manila is like the case of internal bleeding that happens to an individual in distress. Physicians tell us that internal bleeding is hard to control and is often fatal in its results. The socalled brain-drain to coun tries abroad, on the other hand, has a number of de finite advantages to the in dividuals involved and to the natipn at large. In many cases the ability of the indi vidual professional is enrich ed and his economic position is improved. In the great ma jority of cases, his foreign sojourn is temporary, often times lasting but a few years. In most instance they are doctors of medicine and nurses invited to the United States or Canada because those countries need their personal services, services which are distinctively and indispensably humanitarian. Even in the case of other types of Filipino professional, invitations are almost always extended to them from the countries that desperately need technical assistance. As a whole, this migration of our talented men and skilled women in answer to invita tions from other nations should be a cause of pride to us. They signify an act of international recognition of Filipino competence, ta lent, and ability. The flight of the talented to the metropolis drains the provinces of many of its best men and women. It will con tinue as long as certain fac tors persist in leading the provincial population into the belief that the best things in our country are obtain able only in Manila — the best schools and libraries, the best hospitals and physicians, the best engineers, architects, dentists, and other profes sionals, the best theaters and entertainments, the best stores and dwellings, the most beau tiful parks and garden. There is a great deal of truth in this; and, in addition, the seat of our national govern 58 Panorama ment and most of the coun try’s industries are there. These advantages and at tractions are real. Their pulling power cannot be de nied and ignored. But nei ther should their baneful effect be ignored on’ the towns and provinces deserted by talented sons and daugh ters who are greatly needed to lead in their educational, civic, economic, and social development. After all what we need is a nation flourish ing and happy in its entire length and breadth and not just a flourishing but lonely metropolis standing as an oasis in the center of a huge cultural desert. The problem is, therefore, one of dispersion of activi ties of different varieties. The government cannot do everything, but it can do much to promote an effective policy of development. Per haps a system of dispersion of economic, cultural, and social institutions could be profitably studied and intro duced. It is clearly not po litically objectionable as is the widely discussed and des cribed system of decentraliza tion of political authority. The metropolis should not; have all the monuments, parks, museums, and other cultural institutions that en hance civilized ways of liv ing. Provincial communities should have their share in these symbols of refined and sophisticated material and spiritual development. Gov ernment support should be generously given to provin cial or local schools, hospi tals and other institutions, both public and private, so as to spread as widely as pos sible the use of the taxes collected from the people for their benefit. The effectiveness of any government decision and action, however, depends upon the attitude and the conviction of the individual. And this is the thought I wish to leave with you for your consideration. The com munity and province in which you and your parents are settled should be your seat of operation. It is there where you can do the best for yourself, your neighbor, and your nation. Opportu nities abound in the towns and provincial cities await ing to be discovered and used for good purposes by the en lightened and honest indivi May 1967 59 dual, the inspired worker, the good neighbor. Outside the shadows of our great Metropolis, on the dusty streets of our towns, in their shops, schools, hospitals, and offices, and on their farms, you and I should live and enjoy the strenuous but fruit ful life. Wise men have proved to us that oftentimes acres of diamonds are right under our feet in the place we have actually been living. In the Vision of Sir Launfal, we read about the great and no ble Knight wandering for many years all over the world looking for the precious Holy Grail only to find it in his old age right in his own an cestral home. These and other instances are not sug gestions that we must live a life of withdrawal and seclu sion, that we must turn our backs to the challenge of dis tant assignments and stations, but rather that we should not overlook or belittle the op portunities, the call for ser vice, for happiness, or fulfill ment which confront us as men of thought, of developed curiosity, of trained imagina tion, of firm resolve and de cision right in the provincial community, large or small, where our skill, our talent, our training, our education could be of real and effective use. — V. G. Sinco. 60 Panorama
pages: 52-60