[Report] Filipinos are export goods for their country, here is what interests those waiting for a Croatian visa

Filling empty job positions with workers from third countries is not a trend that will disappear overnight. Estimates suggest that we will certainly need around 200,000 fresh pairs of hands this year. Part of that number will come from young people from the Philippines who are there, ugly but true and precisely stated – export goods. However, they are exceptionally valuable and protected, so much so that they are protected by a special ministry, but still goods.

 

Somewhat understandably, as Filipinos are sought-after workers, capable of working in many industries (in Japan and Taiwan, they often work in the electronics industry), but Croatia primarily wants them for their experience in tourism. Although it seems like a completely tourist-oriented country with its more than seven thousand islands, the contribution of tourism to their GDP revolved around 10-12 percent, but after the pandemic, the percentage plummeted to less than six. The share in Croatia, according to estimates, is around 20 percent (only 11 percent if considering the customs value).

 

Although the birth rate of Filipinos decreased from three children per family in 2017 to an average of two children in 2022, the fact is that their population continues to grow vigorously. Currently, there are about 115 million of them, with Manila alone officially counting around 12.5 million souls. Unofficially, there are even about 20 million (a huge number of people are not registered in any records nor possess any official documents as proof of existence). Thus, the capital alone swallows Croatia five times over. And while Europe ages, Filipinos are a young nation. The average age of Filipinos is 24 years, while for Croats it is 44!

 

Precisely because they are young (and it does not hurt that they are Catholics), Filipinos are ‘exported’ globally. They work in New Zealand, the USA, Australia, the Middle East, China, Taiwan, and Japan. However, they are increasingly moving from the East to the Old Continent, where they mainly fill job positions in Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, and increasingly in Croatia. According to statistics from the Philippine Ministry of Overseas Employment, nearly two million left for overseas between April and September last year. Since 2019, almost 12 million! In Croatia, there are approximately 11,000 (there are no exact records).

 

So many people have easily navigated globally (and still navigate) seeking better-paid jobs largely due to their culture, adaptability, and knowledge of the English language. English, in fact, along with Filipino, is an official language (Filipino consists of about a hundred languages, but the largest number of speakers speak Tagalog and Cebuano).

 

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However, the main reason why so many are now arriving in the stagnant Europe is primarily that they regulate the employment of their workers legally better than any other third-world country. There are employment agencies in the Philippines (united in PASEI, Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc.), and they are additionally protected by a special ministry. They strive to conclude various bilateral agreements with the countries to which Filipinos are sent to protect their most valuable asset (such agreements are currently underway with Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia).

 

Despite this, many Filipinos, especially in Europe, find themselves illegal. After experiences in the Middle East or Taiwan, they directly move, say, to Germany, and even to Croatia. Many fall for various enticing ads on social media and find themselves in exploitative positions completely unprotected and unregistered.

Raising awareness of such offers and moves, along with a strong emphasis on not only Filipino but also Croatian legal obligations, regulations, and rules, has undoubtedly been contributed to by workshops that the local employment agency Pinoy385 recently organized in Manila for about two hundred Filipinos waiting for a Croatian visa. Most will work seasonally, in Valamar, Maistra, Arena, thus arriving for six months, but some will find their two-year jobs in Mlinar, Pan Pek, Petrol, Žabac…

 

While they carefully listened to what their obligations are, what the Labor Law and the Foreigners Act prescribe, they did not miss asking, for example, what their rights are if they work overtime, if such rights even exist. Filipinos, in fact, are allowed to work all seven days a week, without rest, without divine punishment for employers. Annual leave lasts seven days, and that is it for the whole year. Paid sick leave is a fiction from novels just like working eight hours a day/40 hours a week.

 

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A large part of these people therefore easily leaves behind family, spouse, children (one of them even a pregnant better half whom grandmothers will take care of). And that is probably the biggest difference between Croats and Filipinos. Croats hold onto parental skirts until their mid-thirties (a deep analysis of the reasons why this is so is another topic), and even when they move for work, they try to return as soon as possible or visit home as often as possible or bring the rest of the family to the new homeland.

 

Filipinos simply do not do that. Not only because in most countries where they work, the chances of obtaining a ‘green card’ are mostly non-existent (many at the workshop asked if, for example, a baby born in Croatia could win the jackpot, citizenship) but primarily because they are used to not looking back. ‘Don’t look back, son’ here has a much darker and heavier symbolism.

 

And a very concrete financial reason. The average salary here is less than 300 euros (about 17,000 pesos). Perhaps enough for a single life, certainly not for families that are poorly acquainted with one of the civilizational achievements – contraception. Almost certainly because that concept is in severe conflict with the Catholic faith they practice very diligently (every workshop began with a prayer, then an anthem, so first God, then the state), but the Government itself encourages them to engage in unprotected marital activities, as a solid birth rate is the main fuel for the country’s growth.

 

Although they generally know nothing about Croatia, and only a few raise their hands proudly saying they have heard of Game of Thrones and Dubrovnik, they are happy to arrive in the ‘land of beautiful nature and good people’. If only they could arrive sooner, not later, because Croatia, with all its legal changes and adjustments, is still the country where they wait the longest for work status.

 

Hardworking, diligent, capable, kind, warm, Filipinos will surely have no problems adapting to Croatian expectations. It will be at least a little easier than for a ‘white privileged woman’ to digest the first Filipino words that encapsulate everything, history, colonialism, poverty, and ‘don’t look back, son’. Yes, mam. Yes, mam.