February 11, 2009

More of what I learned in the Philippines had to do with the issues of human trafficking and the lack of choices/options that women have in hierarchical situations in the midst of poverty. There were many older white males who were in the company of young Filipino women in Dumaguete. I was told that many of them are European pensioners who have made deals with the families of the young women. The families benefit financially and the men benefit in the ways that men benefit from such arrangements. A woman cannot benefit equally because she is not equal in power, voice, or say. If the girls/women are of legal age the men may marry them.

I was taken to a resort on the sea one of the days I was with my friends in Dumaguete. It was an uncomfortable visit with me as it was clear that it was an exclusive and elite resort -- certainly one that the majority of Filipinos could not afford to enter and spend time at. There were white people being waited on by young Filipino women. I tired quickly at the resort, and in the totality of my stay in the Philippines, of being called ma'am. I began to wonder if it was an address of respect or submission. I wanted to say: "Don't call me that! We are equals!" but I knew that it was part of the culture and I did not want to be disrespectful of that.

I learned at the resort from a mutal friend of the friend who I was staying with that the approach to economic growth in the Philippines currently consists of people being encouraged to leave the country and send money home. I noted in a newspaper article flying back to Nanjing via Hong Kong that the current Filipino President was recently in a Middle Eastern country promoting the use of Filipinos as salespeople. This reminds me of the situation on the US/Mexican border. However with the current US economic crisis I think that many people are having to make hard decisions on whether or not to return to Mexico -- if they can't have a job in the US or Mexico, at least they can be with their families in Mexico.

I continue to contemplate my journey to Japan and the Philippines and I continue to learn more and have more revealed to me through revisitng what was said and what I saw.