Put simply, it’s when our best minds and workers leave the country for greener pastures. 1 out of 10 Filipinos either work or live abroad. These OFWs or Overseas Filipino Workers are the crutch that supports this country’s wobbly economic leg. As much as I’d like to bash those who’ve abandoned our country, I can’t. I’m an OFW child, I know where my parents sacrifices have gotten me. It’s afforded me the chance to grow up in Saudi Arabia, travel the world, and graduate from one of the best (definitely the most expensive) university in the Philippines.
But how come I get this nagging feeling that something is wrong?
I would say 30% of my closest friends are now abroad. Childhood friends who grew up in Saudi have decided to follow in the footsteps of their parents. Friends from my university days are slowly flying out to seek their fortunes elsewhere. I’m proud of their successes. I too went to the U.S. for 6 months and mulled over earning a living there. But in the end, I went back.
If I stayed, I’d be a certified worker bee. Part of the 8 million strong Filipinos who lived to earn money. Those 8 million probably have to do it for their family but I don’t need to earn for my family. I just need to earn enough to take care of me. So that allowed me to dig an even deeper hole for myself. Where am I needed most?
Duh? Obvious Ba!
Those thoughts came flooding to me as I confronted the problem of brain drain for the Young Spikes Competition. Along with my partner JP Palileo, we did our best to fix this age-old dilemma. Here is our solution:
Our answer to Philippine Brain Drain. It garnered a runner-up position.
The winning answer to Philppine Brain Drain.
This board was done by friends from TBWA-SMP who got first place.
Both of them are great ideas. The only question now is how to get those ideas out into the world. Can someone produce these please? (Para masabi ko naman: "Advertising can too change the world!")
Congrats to all the young creatives who joined. This was a drain braining brief to crack! Hugs go out to my bestie Ali- the winning AD, who was a former partner in another agency. Thanks to Adobo Magazine for the photos and for the feature which you can read here.
