JiaTong Xie
ASAMST 175
Professor Barrios-Leblanc
March 17, 2014
Feelings That Time Cannot Change
In both The Working Man As First Time Overseas Filipino Worker (2010) by Rommel Marchan
and Mother's Reminder (1997) by Maya Bird from From Saudi with Love, the authors depicted what
it means to be a Filipino overseas worker. Although both poems convey the sacrifices made by these
workers and their sense of nationalism, the poems were written fifteen years apart and show
dissimilarities in the workers' actions and feelings. These two poems are evidence to the changes of
time.
In Marchan's modern poem, the overseas workers find their primary source of strength through
communication with their loved ones, as opposed to the older generation who found support from God.
The overseas workers in modern times expect long distance call[s] through roaming text. These
streams of emotional supprot from kin and friends are proliferating for these workers. Because
modern technology has made it so easy to talk or text across the globe, overseas workers can find
immediate comfort in their work by lifting homeland relatives' unsatisfied smile. This is only
possible because technologies, such as the Internet, have redefined communication between people.
However, more than a decade ago, before Facebook and emails, workers had to use telephones for
long-distance calls, which made it expensive for the people to actively interact from their family.
Hence, in Mother's Reminders, Maya Bird preached that overseas workers try to suppress the
apprehensions that may sprout in [their] emotions and entrust them only in Him. The author tells the
workers to find peace in God instead. As shown, there is a contrast in where the workers find their
source of strength. Of course, the overseas workers may have also taken solitude in their loved ones
through memory, technology have changed where the workers find their primary source of strength.
The workers can now simply go on Facebook, where they are tagged as one of the countless dollarearned Kababayans to find the answers to their worries.
The overseas workers are described as the children of the Motherland in From Saudi with
Love; however, in Marchan's poem, the workers are seen as the fathers to their homeland. In the
modern poem, the immigrant workers are toiling for [their] son's future, which suggests that the
overseas workers are the parents trying to build their motherland. On the other hand, in the 1997 poem,
the immigrant workers are addressed as child[ren] and the Philippines is the equivalent of their
noble Mother Country. One explanation for why the sentiment is changed is that the modern overseas
workers are more empowered than they were before. Marchant, the author, is highly educated, holding
a Master's degree. One can argue that this may be only an individualistic interpretation of the overseas
worker movement. However, the general trend is that Filipinos are becoming increasingly educated.
For instance, in 2011, a mandatory K-12 educational system was set up and from 2013 to 2014, there
has been a 26.33% increase in the number of high school graduates. Because the overseas workers have
became more and more technology and skill focused, as opposed to labor, the workers have become
more powerful. As a result, instead of thinking of themselves as children who can always be cradled if
[they] fall from exhaustion, they see themselves as parents toiling for [their] son's future.
Although some of the conditions of the overseas workers may have changed, their strong
feelings and ties to the Philippines remains. The feeling of sacrifice remains constant in both poems.
Like in Mother's Reminders, where the workers have to go through hard-work, Marchant described
the experience of going to work in foreign land like D-day although the author argued that it can also
be interpreted as V-day. This is a reference to the Allies' attack on Germany during World War II,
where there were tremendous casualties. Marchant also says no one welcomes me... except dull,
oppressing sun-heat, but he is happy to mak[e] of night a day to [lift] homeland relatives'
unsatisfied smile. The mention of making a night his day means that Marchant has worked through
nightshifts, suffering bad living conditions, where he had to turn his biological clock skipping
traditional meals to collect branded items for LBC box for his relatives. From the past until today,
hundreds of thousands of Filipinos have been helping the [Philippines'] economy move through their
personal sacrifices.
Marchant also explains why he is making this personal sacrifice in his other poem titled
Mentors, Molders, Educators. Marchant did not have a good environment in the Philippines, as shown
by no more tracing back the track of despair; the childhood, the third world, the lost career. However,
he still grateful, because the molders from his childhood molds children's wit, making him an
instrument in harnessing intellect... and mold[s] future's best. He is thankful for the Philippines and
is willing to not mourn the fate of being a homesick father and a lonely hudsband. The author lives
with a lot of worries, which he described on his profile page on PoemHunter through [his] written
verses mostly crooked and broken... is a mind bursting. This is a touching materialization of the love
that these foreign workers give to their home country.
The comparison of The Working Man As First Time Overseas Filipino Worker by Rommel
Marchan and Mother's Reminder by Maya Bird shows that the foreign workers' living conditions
change, but there are still equally as passionate for their country.
