I remember using the word “diaspora” in my previous columns about Filipinos going abroad either to seek greener pastures or to transfer residence altogether. I mostly talked about the positive side. Pinoys are so talented they would eventually conquer the world.
Our singers were the first to do this. I watched those reality singing shows and Filipinos that participated in them did not disappoint. It came to a point that even the judges like Simon Cowell always expect a good performance from Filipino singers. By that I mean not only homegrown Pinoys but Pinoys or their children living abroad like in the US. Which was why I got to know Jessica Sanchez and rooted for her.
The latest Filipina to make us proud is not foreign bred but homegrown. I am referring to Alex Eala of the Women’s Tennis Association or WTA. Eala is homegrown from Quezon City but so loved the game she accepted a scholarship at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain at age 13. She is now 20 and is about to turn 21.
We, of course, know the story of Manny Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight division world champion. He is also homegrown. Another is Wesley So who may now be representing the US but is another Philippine-born woodpusher like my idol before, GM Eugene Torre. I do not know about the new singers carrying the Philippine flag but I am proud of them all.
One advantage of this diaspora is that it allows Filipinos to transcend the limitations offered by poorer countries, especially in sports facilities. Pinoys trained abroad develop a kind of superiority in competition and nutrition that homegrown talents usually do not possess.
I remember when my cousins, the children of the older sister of my late mother, visited the Philippines for the first time. They towered over us physically because their height mostly exceeded six feet. I can blame that on genetics because my mother, an Ortega, belonged to a clan with Spanish blood, while my father, a Wenceslao, belonged to a clan with native even Japanese blood. Meaning short in height.
My cousins in the US ate mostly bread while we Filipinos in the Visayas “mais kinakain.”
We are short but stocky. When I saw my cousins for the first time, I could not imagine them to be our relatives.
And this is the sad part of the diaspora. We who are in the Philippines end up being separated from our relatives who are abroad and vice versa. Many of us do not even know the names of our relatives now living abroad. Social media minimizes this point but there is always no substitute for meeting relatives face to face. I always have fond memories of my cousins from the islands of Camotes, for example, but many of them now live abroad. When they marry and have children, those children will no longer have memories of their native land. Good if they have resources and manage to visit the Philippines. If they don’t have the resources, the estrangement becomes permanent.
And for a country proud of its close familial ties, that is sad. That is the negative aspect of the diaspora.