Galapagos of migration?

"Migrant money buoys the economy. Migrant departures split parents from children." Over lunch "lofty talk of opportunity abroad mixes with accounts of false travel documents and sham marriages" to bag a visa. One out of every eight Filipinos today works abroad. Remittances from overseas workers last year topped $12 billion. And anecdotal evidence indicates family abandonment cases are surging. So, the paragraph above is about the Philippines , right?

Wrong. This is a New York Times quote on migration ripping West Africa's Cape Verde. The article offers a glimpse into how over 200 million migrants worldwide recast societies in a planet "where borders are closing." Cape Verde 's searing experience "makes this barren archipelago the Galapagos of migration," writes Jason De Parle.

Islas de Galapagos, ("Islands of the Tortoises") are desolate Pacific islands, 600 miles west of Ecuador. Studying its plant and wildlife led the naturalist Charles Darwin, in 1835, to conclude that different species, over time, adapt to their environment. At certain times of year, fog blankets the Galapagos. Thus, 17th-century sailors claimed the "enchanted islands" were "mere shadows."

"Is the Philippines the "Galapagos of migration" in Asia ? One asked after reading De Parle's earlier NYTimes Magazine cover story on Filipino OFWs. "A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves" tracked three generations of a Pasay City swimming pool cleaner's family who became an OFW. "In no other sizeable country do remittances loom as large as 14 percent of the national GDP…But no country ever broke free from penury just by remittances."

Of $127 billion migrants sent home in 2004, Asians accounted for $53 billion. The total now exceeds $300 billion last year, World Bank estimates. That's almost triple the world's foreign aid budgets combined. The money renovates tattered houses, buy subdivision plots, pays for medicine and tuition, seed small businesses --- plus cell phones, fancy clothing and, in some instances, mistresses, karaokes and booze. Sapagkat kami ay tao lamang.

Cash shoved migration up policy agendas of "receiving nations", like the US or Canada, and "sending" countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka -- and yes, even the Britain. British Broadcasting Corporation reports that 3,200, out of 8,000 UK nurses flew to Australia , due to National Health Service budget cuts. Over 165,000 Malaysians cross the Johore bridge daily to jobs in Singapore .

Nearly half the migrants from poor nations move to other poor nations, De Parle observes. Chinese shopkeepers chase markets on Cape Verde . African peddlers fleeing homelands torn by war and worse poverty. As Zimbabwe crumbles from the Marcos-style governance of Robert Mugabe, thousands flee next door.

Migration is a universal phenomenon and that involves survival Thus, an unspoken global migrants creed has emerged: "If a place is no good, change it." That is inevitable in what one academic calls : "The Age of Migration."

But "this is also the age of migration alarm," De Parle notes. Even before September 11, hurdles were growing, like the "3-S Strategy," Asian Development Bank noted. Entry visas are go only for "skilled workers for short-term employment in specific sectors." Language skills are tested and visa processing is longer, costlier.

"European ships patrol African coasts to intercept human smugglers and new fences are planned along the Rio Grande " between the US and Mexico," he notes. "Countries that want migrant muscle and brains also want more border control…and fear bonfires of religious and cultural conflict."

Migration today is at record levels. More women are migrating. Marlou Schrover of Leiden University notes that in migration history, men, as well as the poor, the desperate, and the exceptional have attracted more attention than other migrants. And the "death of distance" due to the jet, internet, telephone - have made cultural differences smaller.

As migration grows, the desire to experience its economic rewards grows even faster. Less obvious but more worrisome is the frustration of people desperate to migrate but who cannot. "What characterizes the world today is also the feeling of involuntary immobility," says Dr. R. Carling of Oslo 's International Peace Research Institute.

Migration supply rich economies with brawn and brains of migrants. Remittances feed and shelter the poor, underscoring family devotion. But constant emphasis on departures strains family bonds and erodes marriages. It also increases inequalities between migrants and those who can't leave.

A country that cannot hold on to its best and brightest compromises its future. Such countries find they must reinvent themselves as nations beyond borders. Migration drains the Philippines of essential skills, ADB cautions. Spoonfeeding individuals and governments puts off tough reforms. "Relying on remittances - and the prospect of going abroad one day - can alienate," De Parle notes.

That alienation finds its expression in song. In Cape Verde , the song "Sodade" conveys "longing, longing, longing for my island." And De Parle remembers Filipino migrants in Dubai belting out "It's So Painful, Big Brother Eddie," a 1980's Tagalog classic "that immortalizes every Filipino migrant's fears." --- since we never got our act, at home, together.* ( E-mail : juan_mercado@pacific.net.ph )

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