MANILA // Wiping tears from her eyes, Vivian Segundo entered the throng of people waiting at the arrivals area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Her family crowded close around her, welcoming her home for the holidays.
Like hundreds of other families that flock to the airport each day as Christmas approaches, they had waited hours for the arrival of a relative working overseas.
"I can't explain how I'm feeling. I'm happy and I'm so excited to be with them this holiday," said Ms Segundo, moments after exchanging heartfelt embraces with her parents and sisters.
She is one of about nine million Filipinos - one tenth of the population - that is scattered across the globe. More than 3,000 people leave the Philippines every day to work abroad, and the money they send home each month helps keep their families afloat. Last year, those remittances contributed a record US$14 billion (Dh51bn) to the national economy, or about 10 per cent of the gross domestic product, according to government figures.
Ms Segundo has lived in Athens for the past four years. She does "housekeeping, babysitting, walking dogs - whatever job I can find".
She went to Greece because she knew her family needed more money than she could contribute by working at home. But she misses them badly, she said, and she sometimes has doubts about the choice she made. "It's like, 'what am I doing here?' I'm away from my family. What for?"
Ms Segundo and others like her are clearly missed by their families as well. At the airport, a crowd of excited people pressed up against a barrier fence waiting for their relatives to clear customs and immigration.
The mass homecoming takes on a festive atmosphere each Christmas season as families pile into rented vans and travel across this city of 11 million, and even from rural areas, to the airport to greet their loved ones. Many bring food, and they picnic in the parking lot as they wait.
Michael Santiago sat in a van with his one-year-old nephew as his father and brother packed up and prepared to drive back to a town a couple of hours outside of Manila.
"For 28 months I haven't visited my home," said Mr Santiago, who works as an office assistant in Saudi Arabia. "It feels great, especially now having my nephew. It's the first time to see him."
He will visit for a little more than a month before heading back to his job. "The employment there is much better. I am getting better wages," he said. Mr Santiago's mother said she was proud of him. "He is a very good son," Ms Santiago said. "He loves our family very much. He wants to help out family with the finances; that's why he decided to go."
Although Mr Santiago has a secure job to go back to, there are reports that other overseas workers decided against coming home for the holidays this year out of concern they could lose their jobs in the global financial crisis.
The government is also worried about that possibility. Jesus Dureza, a presidential spokesman, told reporters that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the president, has ordered the labour and foreign affairs departments to prepare a contingency plan in case of mass layoffs of overseas workers.
Mr Dureza said the government is particularly worried about the economic recession in the United States, where about two million Filipinos work.
The Philippines is the world's fourth largest supplier of migrant labour, according to the government (only China, Mexico and India send more workers overseas). Filipinos work in a wide variety of jobs, notably health care and maritime trades. One third of the world's seafarers - about 270,000 people - are from the Philippines.
Many others, like Ms Segundo, find employment doing unskilled domestic work. They are the ones most at risk from the financial crisis, analysts said. As the economic crunch hits middle and upper income earners, they will look for ways to cut household expenses, including laying off their domestic help.
But for Ms Segundo and others arriving home, such concerns will have to wait until after Christmas. They will spend this holiday season basking in the warmth of their families.
"We're so happy because we haven't seen her for such a long time," said Ms Segundo's sister, Maydel. "It's just so nice."
jferrie@thenational.ae
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
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Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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