The issue may come to pass unnoticed, but I believe that it has much to say about the current plight of Filipinos who migrated to the States in search of greener pastures. The news story published last Sunday about the situation of Filipino nurses based in New York has bolstered my intense disdain to the conditions that have spurred the rampant emigration of Filipino professionals to the sites of their exile and likely subjugation.

The news story related that 10 Filipino nurses are currently facing a jail term and deportation for allegedly jeopardizing the lives of terminally ill children they were in charge of due to their sudden resignation. The nurses earlier complained that they were subjected to demeaning and unfair working conditions in a hospital operated by Sentosa Health Care. According to the news report, the case involved the unprecedented use of criminal law in a labor dispute.

Among the nurses implicated in the case is Elmer Jacinto, a former doctor who topped the medical board exams in the Philippines – a perfect example of a disillusioned professional who dreamt of pursuing a more lucrative career outside the country.

While it is easy to point out the travesty behind the case, I believe the tragedy lies in the obstinate refusal of some of the nurses to believe that such a farce can occur in the sanitized, perfumed avenues of a First World country. Maria Theresa Ramos, one of the defendants lamented, “It’s really devastating for us... How can it happen in America?” Most of them, meanwhile, have already settled in other hospitals while grappling with the criminal justice system of the States.

Here I am, secretely wishing for the American dream to fall apart, gathering tragedies, no matter how malicious it seems on my part. Secretely, I’ve been hoping that my parents lose hope in the dainty suburbs of California, especially my father, an Architect working as an underpaid carpenter – let them realize that it’s not worth it and come back home.

This might not sound like the usual angas that has pervaded this column recently. This has always been the case: secretely wanting for things to fall apart, be it the current world political and economic order, or the simple illusions that the rut we are in is unchangeable.

As I have suggested before, even if we lose everything, we must confront the overwhelming reality that we always have a choice. There will always be room in the struggle, especially for those who are exiled here and abroad.

No aftermath can sound so dire to pin us into submitting to the devastating prospects of living normally.#Philippine Collegian

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