With the opening of Japan’s doors to Filipino nurses, I feel torn between two lovers, so to speak. My two occupations, as it were. As the executive director of an association of IT companies in Davao, one of my lookouts is to encourage jobs creation in my city. But as a Japanese language instructor, I am (supposedly) not bound by any concerns regarding the proverbial “brain drain” that has been plaguing my country.
The new employment opportunities being offered by Japan is also giving me more business as a teacher of their language. Traditionally, Filipino nurses aim to go to America for work, but now there’s another target destination. The problem faced by Filipinos with Japan as a locus of employment is the language barrier; hence, my good fortune.
However, my being an instrument of more Filipinos finding their way abroad runs counter to my desire to help generate jobs for my fellow countrymen right here in the Philippines. Being in a responsible position within Davao City’s IT industry, it is my commitment to develop and promote the city as a destination for investment and IT services outsourcing. Such activities ultimately provide more jobs that in turn keeps Filipino graduates in country.
One of the compromises I have thought of involves encouraging businesses that require personnel with allied medical education to hire our nursing graduates. This is why one of my main projects now is the development of a business plan for more medical transcription service companies to be established in Davao. However, will these local companies be able to compensate their people as well as Japanese or American hospitals?
In the final analysis, I have no right to interfere with anybody’s wish to work abroad, especially in these times of financial hardship among millions of Filipinos. Rather, it is my obligation to do the best that I can in my two fields of work. Back in university I had a psychology professor who also taught religion, and I once asked her how she reconciled the two. She answered me, “I don’t.”
