Abu Dhabi: The Philippines ambassador has a succinct piece of advice for her community members in the UAE – keep away from the three ‘I’s -- Intoxication, Indebtedness and Immorality.
“Filipinos should guard themselves from these three ‘I’s. Alcohol, illicit relationships and lack of savings often get them into trouble,” Grace Relucio Princesa told XPRESS in an interview at her residence.
“I am like the ‘Mother Ambassador’ telling them to get their acts together,” she said.
“We are a beautiful country. We are a beautiful people. But we have to focus and make the most out of our expat life in the UAE.”
A post graduate in Migration Studies, the ambassador said she is documenting the full cycle of the migration of Filipinos in a forthcoming book.
According to her, one of the biggest banes of the Filipino community is their negative attitude toward saving.
“Only less than 40 per cent of Filipinos in the UAE save money. About 60 or 70 per cent of them are just consumers,” said Princesa. She said the community should take benefit from the Pinoy WISE Movement (Worldwide Initiative for Investment, Savings and Entrepreneurship), launched this year to instil financial discipline among Filipinos. A conference of Filipino expats from eight countries was also held in Abu Dhabi last month to promote savings programmes.
The embassy has also initiated many financial literacy programmes for Filipino expatriates to inculcate regular saving habits, Princesa said.
The ambassador has identified the promotion of tourism as a way to mitigate the many migration woes of Filipinos.
Investment in tourism
One of the practical solutions put forward by the Pinoy WISE conference was to offer unoccupied homes of overseas workers to tourists for bed and breakfast.
“Investment in tourism by overseas Filipinos will ensure an alternative livelihood for the more vulnerable section of the community back home. They will have a choice to work as tourist assistants and not as domestic workers in foreign countries,” she said.
The ambassador said only 5 to 10 per cent of the community can be called ‘distressed.’ “It is still a big number, and we are working with the UAE government on this. But unlike the general perception, 60 per cent of Filipinos in the country are skilled workers, 20 per cent semi-skilled and only 20 per cent are unskilled.”
There are around 600,000 Filipinos. “We are also looking at tourism projects that can employ distressed workers who return to the Philippines. If they have picked up some Arabic language, they can assist Emirati tourists who come to the Philippines,” said Princesa.
To give a fillip to the tourism industry, 2015 has been announced as ‘Visit Philippines’ year.
“We have three Fs to offer the world - fun, friendship and food. There is also a line-up of events throughout the year – fun fiestas, cultural extravaganzas, concerts, political events etc. And we are starting with Filipinos and encouraging them to visit parts of their own country which they never have been to. I tell them not to be a stranger to their own country,” said the ambassador.
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