Chapter 3: Migration in the Eyes of Filipino Children |
| Before we discuss the findings, first of all, we have to determine how many children in the ages 10-12 years had one or two parents working abroad at the time of the survey in 2003. Since this is not readily available, it was necessary to estimate this number.3 Based on data on the number of families as of 2000 and the projected growth rate of 7.5 percent between 2000 and 2003, there were some 14,414,879 Filipino families in 2003. The next step was to determine the number of families which had at least one child in the 10-12 years age group. Using the 2000 Family Income and Expenditures Survey data, it was estimated that 21.1 percent or 3,463,540 families had at least one child in the 10-12 years age group. Based on some assumptions about the distri-bution of married migrant workers (with due consideration to the gender distribution and whether they were land-based or sea-based workers), it was estimated that 2.7 percent or 91,790 families of deployed migrant workers had at least one child in the 10-12 years age group. Thus, of the universe of 3,463,540 families with at least one child in the ages 10-12 years old, the overwhelming majority, 97.3 percent or 3,279,960 were non-migrant families which had children in the 10-12 years age group. These estimates were used in projecting the distribution of respondents in the sample survey to their actual distribution in the population. Unless otherwise stated, the findings reported here are based on weighted data, which refer to the population not just the sample. Profile of the Children Background data on the children are summarized in Table 2. More female children than male children (54 percent vs. 46 percent) were in the ages 10-12 years (Grades 4-6). There were a number of children who were younger or older than the 10-12 years age group. Overall, the mean age was 10.72 and standard deviation was 1.15 years. The type of school the children attended shows a clear difference between the children of migrants and the children of non-migrants: 40.9 percent of OFW children were in private schools compared with 14.9 percent among non-OFW children.4 The children were distributed into the following grade levels: 35.6 percent were in Grade 4; 29.7 percent in Grade 5; and 34.6 percent in Grade 6. Most of the children belonged to heterogeneous classes. A higher percentage of children of migrants belonged to middle and upper sections than children of non-migrants (30.4 percent vs. 25.2 percent). Some variations can be noted in the profile of the children's households. The children of migrants belonged to households that were bigger (especially notable is the larger household size of children whose two parents were abroad, 8.19) and had more workers compared to the children of non-migrants.5 On the other hand, the children of non-migrants were part of households that had more adult members as well as more children compared with children of migrants. Parents' Migration and Occupational Profile The migration and occupational background of the children's parents are displayed in Table 3. For the children who had parents working abroad at the time of the survey, 17.82 percent of the migrant parents were seafarers and the rest were land-based workers. The latter were distributed as follows: Middle East, 48.59 percent (Saudi Arabia alone accounted for 34.48 percent); Americas (11.89 in the US); East Asia, 19.38 percent (11.03 percent were in Japan); and Southeast Asia, 7. 25 percent (2.73 per-cent were in Brunei); Europe, 6.64 percent (2.92 percent were in Italy); and the rest were in Oceania and Africa. Among migrant fathers, Saudi Arabia was the top destination (47.63 percent), with the United States as a distant second (11.10 percent). The single largest occupational category for migrant fathers was seafaring - 38 percent. If we consider only the land-based migrant fathers, the largest numbers or 45 percent were in production-related occupations (particularly as repairmen/technicians and construction workers); professionals made up about a quarter, 24 percent; and the third largest numbers were in services, 15 percent.6 Migrant fathers had been working abroad for an average of 6.6 years, with seafarers averaging about eight years.7 There were also more cases of seafarers - 47.1 percent - who first left for abroad when the respondent children were less than a year old. A large majority of migrant fathers (86 percent) had visited their families. The last visit of fathers, according to 62 percent of the children, was less than a year ago. Among migrant mothers, Japan was the topmost destination (17.60 percent), followed by Saudi Arabia (14.99 percent) and the US (13.07 per-cent). Almost all, 99 percent, of migrant workers were land-based workers. Some 63 percent of migrant mothers were in service occupations, usually as domestic workers or caregivers; about 23 percent were working abroad as professionals, either as nurses (11.33 percent) or as performing artists (7.31 percent). Migrant mothers had been abroad for a shorter period of time compared with migrant fathers. On the average, mothers had been working abroad for 4.8 years (almost two years less than the migrant fathers). More than half of migrant mothers first left when their respondent children were a little older, between five to nine years old. Majority of migrant mothers (77.3 percent) had returned home to visit their families. Some 58 percent of the children said the most recent visit of their migrant mothers was less than a year ago. Turning to non-migrant parents, like their counterparts working abroad, majority of non-migrant fathers (40 percent) were also in production-related jobs. Close to 27 percent of fathers whose wives were working abroad were not working - this is more than twice the percentage of non-working fathers (9.8 percent) whose wives were also non-migrants. On the other hand, most non-migrant mothers (47 percent) whose husbands were also non-migrants were not employed at the time of the survey. The figure is higher among those whose husbands were working overseas: some 68 percent of seafarers' wives and some 60 percent of the wives of land-based workers were not working. For non-migrant mothers who engaged in economic activity, re-gardless of the migration status of their husbands, most of them were in sales. Among the children of non-migrants, some of their parents had actually worked abroad but had returned to the (Philippines and were classified as non-migrant at the time of the survey). Some 5.6 percent of fathers of children of non-migrant families had worked abroad. Migration through Children's Eyes Awareness of Migration It seems that the large scale migration of Filipinos is not widely known or appreciated among children. Asked whether they had ever heard of Filipinos migrating abroad, only a little more than half (55.9 percent) answered in the affirmative (Table 4). The children of migrants were more aware of this phenomenon than their counterparts in non-migrant families. The most popular source of information on migration came from the media - TV, radio, newspapers (62.5 percent) - and about a fifth said that migration was covered in their subjects in school. Much fewer (11.5 percent) reported that migration figured in family discussions. Moreover, children in OFW families reported less family discussion on the issue than children in non-OFW families (7.1 percent vs. 11.7 percent). Children's view of migration is very economic _ four out of five respondents attributed the migration of Filipinos to economic reasons, primarily because of need, and secondarily in order to better their lives. Children of migrants were asked if their family had ever discussed why their parents went abroad; only 51.7 percent said yes. Children with two parents abroad appear to have been more involved in discussions about their parents' departure than children from other migrant families. A substantial number of children thus appear to have been left out in the decision-making of their parents concerning migration. It may be recalled that some children reported that their parents had been migrating since they were babies (or before they were even born in the case of some). Children also viewed their parents' migration as rooted in economic reasons. Feelings about Parents' Migration How do the children regard their parents' migration? Across all groups of children of migrants, those who expressed that it was against their will is clearly a small minority, less than three percent said so _ a notable exception is the larger share of children of migrant mothers, 6.5 percent who were against their mothers' departure. More than half said that they accepted their parents' migration, while another 35 to 39 percent were more ambivalent about it, i.e., they found it difficult but they were coping with it. Vignettes from the FGDs with adolescents reveal the varying degrees of acceptance of their parent's migration and their coping strategies (see Box 1 and Box 2). If someone in the family had to migrate, in general, the popular choice was the father, 49 percent, according to all the children, and much higher, 66.1 percent among the children of migrants. Few children mentioned the mother as the preferred migrant, except among the children of migrant mothers. The multiple roles mothers play in the day-to-day lives of their families are part of the reasons why children, mothers and fathers would prefer women to stay (see Box 3). Economic difficulties, however, incline family members to adjust to the situation (see Box 4). There seems to be a tendency for the children to consider the parent(s) who had actually mig-rated as the likely candidate for migration. Those whose mothers were migrants were likely to name their mothers; those who had migrant fathers offered their fathers as the preferred migrant. In the case of children with both migrant parents, many of them mentioned their mothers and fathers as the likely migrants. Comparisons: Migrant and Non-Migrant Families, OFW and Non-OFW Children Data on how OFW children and non-OFW compared their families and their conditions reveal interesting contrasts. The analysis below is limited to children who were aware of the migration of Filipino workers. The comparisons of family indicators before their parents' migration and the present (at the time of the study) reveal both continuities and changes. A little more than half noted no change in their economic status (56.3 percent); about half (49.1 percent) said that their family ties (closeness) remained the same. Where changes were reported, the less positive ones (decline in the family's economic status, the family being lonelier, the family being less united, or the family being less close) were only true for the minority of the children (ranging from 4 percent to 16 percent, or less than one-fifth of the children). In general, the direction of the changes is for the better: improved economic status, the family being happier, more com-plete and closer. The impact of the parents' migration on the children's assessment of their traits followed the same patterns. More than half said that they were not any less or more responsible at the time of interview compared to when their parent(s) were present. Children's sense of independence showed a three-way split. Half of the children did feel that they had more freedom and the majority said that they were happier than children of non-migrants. Close to half (42 percent) said that they faced fewer difficulties in life than non-OFW children. When non-OFW children compared their family and personal conditions vis-à-vis OFW families and children, they viewed the latter group in more problematic terms. This reinfor-ces earlier observations about the different appreciation of respondents from migrant and non-migrant families of the consequences of migration (Asis, 1995). Compared to their own families, non-OFW children saw OFW families as being economically better off, but in other respects, the largest percentage considered OFW families as less happy (37.4 percent), less united (49 percent) and less close (51.3 percent). Compared with the children of migrants, children of non-migrants viewed themselves as more responsible (44.6 percent). More than half (54.2 percent) considered themselves as less independent and about the same percentage (53.7 percent) said they were less lonely. The largest percentage of the children of non-migrants (38.1 percent) said that they were as free as the children of migrants.8 The children of migrants were more likely to claim that they were freer and had fewer difficulties in life. Most children in both groups considered themselves to be less lonely compared to the other. Migration Intentions Close to half of the children (47.3 percent) reported that they had entertained thoughts of working abroad someday (Table 5). Not surprisingly, more children of migrants said that they had plans of working abroad than the children from non-migrant families (60.4 percent vs. 47 percent). Among the children of migrants, those with migrant mothers were the least likely to signify an intention to go abroad. A recent survey among adult Filipinos, the 2001 Pulse Asia study, recorded a smaller percentage (20 percent) of respondents wanting to go abroad. The higher percentage of migration intentions among the children may reflect a lack of awareness about migration restrictions, among other reasons. In Parreñas' (2002: 51) study of young adults left behind, almost all said they would not want to leave their children to work abroad because they would not want their children to experience what they had gone through. In the FGDs with the adolescent sons and daughters of migrants, they raised many considerations, thus the answer is not a pat yes or no (see Box 5). The dominant reason for wanting to go abroad among young children was mostly economic, especially among the children of non-migrants. Interestingly, non-economic reasons also figure in the migration intentions of the children of migrants. This was also evident in the FGDs with adolescents (see Box 5). Among the intended destinations, close to half (48.8 percent of all the children) had set their sights on going to the United States. Ranked second were East Asian destinations, which were mentioned by about a quarter of the children (24.2 percent); Japan took the largest share among the East Asian destinations. The Middle East, a major region of destination of Filipino workers, also figured highly (11.3 percent). The remaining regions were mentioned by less than three percent. As to their intended occupation abroad, children mentioned occupations which are known to be marketable abroad. More than half (52.5 percent) aspired to take up professional jobs overseas. Under the professional occupations, 30 percent indicated that they planned to work abroad as doctors, nurses and related medical personnel. Engineers (7.4 percent) ranked next to medical professionals, followed by some 5.5 percent who wanted to work as entertainers. Overall, sea-based occupations did not figure in the aspirations of the children, except among the children of seafarers - about a third (32.0 per-cent) said they wanted to work abroad as seafarers, a case of children following in the footsteps of their parents.9 Are migration intentions in any way related to plans to change citizenship? One concern that cropped up many years ago is that elementary school children reportedly wished to acquire another citizenship, a development that many associated with the eroding sense of nationalism brought about by overseas migration. On the contrary, according to the findings of Canieso-Doronila, some 61-76 percent of Filipino youth said they wanted to live and work in the Philippines (cited in Asis, 1995). A survey of school children in the 1990s in a number of migrant sending communities found that while many children had intentions to go abroad in the future, fewer said that they would like to change their citizenship (Asis, 1995). In the studies of Cruz (1987) among high school and college students in the 1990s and the 2000 National Youth Survey (2002) conducted among Filipino youth, 62.6 percent in the Cruz (1987) study and 81 percent in the National Youth Survey (2002) said that they preferred to keep their Filipino citizenship. A 1996 survey of young Filipinos in the ages 15-21 (n=1,200) found that about 93 percent of respondents were quite proud or very proud to be Filipinos (Sandoval et al., 1998). In the present study, some nine out of 10 children said that they would rather be Filipino citizens, with slightly more children of non-migrants saying so than the children of migrants (98.6 percent vs. 95.2 percent). The chil-dren's reasons, however, suggest a rather essentialist basis, which would be subject to changes later on. The largest majority based their choice on taken-for-granted notions such as "because I was born here" or "because my parents are Filipinos." Alternatively, about half of the children also recognized the positive aspects of the Filipino people or the country (28.5 percent) and those who expressed love for Filipino culture or country (17.6 percent). ---------------------------------------- |
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