Filipino And Filipinoization Of The Philippines

With difficulty in communicating during job interviews, finding a job for John was a hurdle. This led him to accept his aunt’s job offer in McDonalds because she had connections with the manager through her friend. There he met a lot of Filipinos and Mexicans who recently migrated as well. He says, “There I met a lot of Filipinos who just came from America too, so it wasn’t hard fitting in with my coworkers. However, the job was demanding and I soon learned not everyone in America are nice, in fact I had to deal with many rude customers who thought I was beneath them because of my job.” He expressed how some customers even made fun of his coworkers for being “FOBs” or “Fresh Off the Boat” because of their heavy accents. The worse treatment

The reason for this can be traced back to the roots of the colonization of the Philippines. Antonio Tiongson, Edgardo Gutierrez and Ricardo Gutierrez authored the book, Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse stated, “The glorification of the United States through the colonial educational system; the historically specific recruitment of Filipino nationals to serve in the U.S. armed forces as health practitioners and as low-wage laborers; and the differentials in wage and job opportunities between the two countries: all provide pressure to migrate to the United States” (126). The United States in the past has looked elsewhere for cheap labor and the Philippines were one of them. Tiongson and Gutierrez elaborated on how it was an ideal formula of neocolonialism for both the United States and migrant workers. The United States needed individuals in the health sector such as nurses, but also low wageworkers like those who worked in the farms. Many Filipinos in return were willing to accept these occupations for the salaries they can be earning. In fact, John stated the money he was making in McDonalds, which was minimum wage, was more than what he earned in two weeks from his old job back in the